Lay people in the Church. Selected historical conditions of the contemporary situation Cover Image

Świeccy w Kościele. Wybrane uwarunkowania historyczne sytuacji współczesnej
Lay people in the Church. Selected historical conditions of the contemporary situation

Author(s): Magdalena Jóźwik, Grzegorz Strzelczyk
Subject(s): Christian Theology and Religion, History of Church(es), Sociology of Religion, History of Religion
Published by: Wydawnictwo Naukowe Uniwersytetu Papieskiego Jana Pawła II w Krakowie
Keywords: ecclesiology; history of theology; lay people; clerics;

Summary/Abstract: The current situation of lay people in the Church is strongly conditioned by how the relationship between laity and clergy (and laity–religious) evolved both in theology and in the practice of Church life in the previous centuries. The article is an attempt at providing a brief account of the history of these relations, beginning from the time when the functional distinction between clerics and lay people originated, through the period in which, in the context of a class society, the concept of states within the Church was introduced, and they were diversified within different perfection hierarchies, to the times when theology completed the circle, once again acknowledging the universal call to holiness in the Church, one that precedes all distinctions.

  • Issue Year: 5/2017
  • Issue No: 1
  • Page Range: 71-91
  • Page Count: 21
  • Language: Polish