BOŻE I LUDZKIE SŁOWA SUBSTANCJALNE. ŚWIĘTY JAN OD KRZYŻA, JÓZEF TISCHNER I FERDINAND EBNER O MOCY SŁOWA
DIVINE AND HUMAN SUBSTANTIAL WORDS. SAINT JOHN OF THE CROSS, JÓZEF TISCHNER AND FERDINAND EBNER ONE THE POWER OF THE WORD

Summary/Abstract: My paper is devoted to the issue of susbstantial words. This concept appeared in one ofthe texts of St. John of the Cross. Fr. Józef Tischner, who not only commented on the textsof the great mystic about “substantial words”, but also taught where to look for such words.Tischner’s thought belongs to the tradition of the “philosophy of dialogue” initiated by Fer-dinand Ebner. It is worth looking for traces of thinking in the category of “substantial words”in Ebner’s texts. Although he does not use this phrase, he writes about words in such a waythat it is clear that he attributes “substantial” power to them. The order of considerationswill be as follows: first, I will discuss John’s understanding of “substantial words”, showingthe context in which he addressed this issue, then I will recall and comment on Tischner’stexts in which he writes about “substantial words”, and finally I will discuss these fragmentsof Ebner’s works in which one can find intuitions similar to those emerging from the texts ofSt. John of the Cross and Józef Tischner. Discussing the views of these three thinkers, I willtry to show what is the specificity of “substantial words” whose utterance is attributed toGod. I will also try to answer two questions. The first concerns how one should accept the“substantial words” spoken by God. The second is the question of what must happen for ourhuman words to participate, at least to some extent, in the substantial power of God’s words.

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