Reaktywacja wzorca mężczyzny jako miles Christi
Reactivation of the pattern of man as miles Christi

Summary/Abstract: Early Christianity developed a pattern of masculine spirituality based on the model of a soldier. A Christian was miles Christi – a soldier of Christ. This model referred initially to the spiritual combat between a believer and evil. The Middle Ages equipped this model with the actual military fight. A knight – as opposed to a monk – chose a military combat to defend Christianity, convert heathens of liberate the Grave of Christ in the time of crusades. In modern times, we observe the renaissance of the medieval model. Within the Catholic Church groups of men are forming, who, in their rhetoric, adopted iconography or agendas, refer to the understanding of life as a struggle, and who speak of themselves as warriors, soldiers, knights. The popularity of this model results from the need to manifest the difference between the masculine and feminine spirituality and to recognise one's place within the Church. It is also a response to the emergence of a new paradigm of masculinity which, by criticising the military model, may be regarded as spiritual castration by those men who believe in God.

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