A book reveals the evolution of Saint John Paul II‘s speculative reflection on love and on the human body
From philosophical-theological thought to the magisterium—this is the intriguing shadowy zone, crossed existentially by Saint John Paul II, that Jaroslaw Merecki analyzes in his latest book "Corpo e trascendenza – L’antropologia filosofica nella teologia del corpo di Giovanni Paolo II" (Body and Transcendence: The Philosophical Anthropology in John Paul II‘s Theology of the Body).
The book (142 pages, published by Cantagalli) begins by noting that the popular theology of the body of the Polish Pope is, in a sense, a continuation of Karol Wojtyla‘s philosophical thought. Focusing especially on problems encountered in two of the most profound and original speculative books of the future Pope, "Love and Responsibility" and "The Acting Person," Merecki shows that they reappear, under the new sky of a broader theology, in his magisterium, especially at his Wednesday Catecheses. In fact, today we know that the first part of the wisdom expressed during the Wednesday Audience in St. Peter‘s Square, when the "Pope of the family" spoke about the discussion between Jesus and the Pharisees on the indissolubility of marriage, was prepared by Karol Wojtyla before he was elected Pope. Now, Merecki analyzes, with care and passion, precisely this first part of the catechesis, revealing what occurs at the threshold between philosophy and theology of Cardinal Wojtyla and the magisterium of Pope Saint John Paul II.