„To jest owczarnia onego Dobrego Pasterza”. Pojęcie „prawdziwego” Kościoła w polskich szesnastowiecznych katechizmach

• Authors: Waldemar Kowalski
• Languages of publication: PL

Abstracts

PL

Artykuł ukazuje, jak pojmowali i tłumaczyli pojęcie Kościoła autorzy polskich katolickich i ewangelickich katechizmów XVI w. Zgodnie z programem Trydentu Kościół katolicki przedstawiany jest jako kontynuator nauki apostołów, silny autorytetem papieża, następcy Piotra, oraz jednością wiary, o której prawdziwości przekonują cuda. Teolodzy protestanccy uczą o kościele widzialnym, który istnieje wszędzie tam, gdzie przepowiadane jest czyste Słowo Boże, sakramenty administrowane są zaś zgodnie z Ewangelią. Razem z Kościołem widzialnym istnieje Kościół powszechny niewidzialny. Łączy on wszystkich idących za Chrystusem, który jest jedyną głową swego Kościoła.The paper focuses on the way in which the authors of Polish Catholic and Evangelical catechisms of the 16th century understood and explained of the idea of the Church. According to the decrees of the Council of Trent, the Catholic Church was presented as the continuator of the teachings of the Apostles, with its power deriving from the authority of the Pope, the successor of Peter, and unity of faith confirmed by miracles. Protestant theologists preach about the visible church, which exists wherever the pure Word of God is preached, and claim that sacraments are administered in accordance with the Gospel. The universal invisible Church exists alongside the visible Church. It connects every person following the Christ, who is the only head of his Church.

EN

The article discusses how the notion of the Church was understood and explained by authors of sixteenth-century Polish Catholic and Evangelical catechisms. Teaching of the constitution of a church was a basic pastoral duty and part of the rudimentary knowledge provided to the faithful.Six Catholic catechisms of the years 1553 to 1600 and thirteen Evangelical ones, which were published between 1543 and 1609, constitute the main source base, the latter manuals being penned under the influence of Luther, Melanchthon as well as South-German and Swiss theologians. Following the Tridentine programme, the Catholic authors present their Church as unified under the Pope’s authority and the only inheritor of the works of the Apostles. The veracity of its teaching is testified to with God’s unnatural interventions. The Protestant authors explain the basically coherent, relevant ideas of the Reformation’s protagonists. They teach about “the visible and outward Church”, which is manifested by all those congregations that are fed by God’s pure Word, and where the sacraments are duly administered. There is also “the inward and invisible Church”, which the faithful confess in the Credo. It comprises all disciples of Christ, who is the only head of His Church. Thus the teaching on the Church presented in the Evangelical sources that are employed belongs to the mainstream of sixteenth-century Protestantism and aptly illustrates the reception of Evangelical theologies in the Kingdom of Poland and in the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. In the analysed sources, arguments for the veracity of Church are always supplemented with the refutation of contradictory standpoints through reference to the Bible and the Church Fathers, mostly to Augustine.Despite strong polemical tone, the Biblical grounds of the Church could contribute to communication and understanding between Christians of antagonistic denominations, and this could sometimes result in conversion. The explanation of ecclesiological rudiments was easier for Catholic clergy, who referred to tradition and emotions, while Evangelical pastors could not ignore the abstract concepts of the “veracity” and “spiritual connectedness” of Christians, which were more difficult to render to the laity.

Keywords

PL

Kościół; polsko-litewska Rzeczpospolita; katechizm; nauczanie religijne; reformacja; reforma trydencka

EN

church; Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth; catechism; religious teaching; Reformation; Trent reform

• Publisher: Polska Akademia Nauk. Instytut Historii im. Tadeusza Manteuffla PAN w Warszawie
• Journal: Odrodzenie i Reformacja w Polsce
• Year: 2016
• Volume: 60

Dates

published

2016

online

2016-01-01

Contributors

author

Waldemar Kowalski

Identifiers

DOI

10.12775/OiRwP.2016.02