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RESEARCH OBJECTIVE: The article discusses the interplay between language, cognition and culture from a cognitive diachronic perspective, focusing on the relation between religion and metaphorical thought. It investigates the role of the conceptual metaphor UNDERSTANDING IS LIGHT in religious discourse, using the example of The Revelations of Divine Love, written by Julian of Norwich, a late medieval anchoress. THE RESEARCH PROBLEM AND METODS: The paper draws on the Extended Conceptual Metaphor approach, Zoltán Kövecses’s elaboration of the Conceptual Metaphor Theory (CMT). The universalist bias of CMT means that the theory tends to ignore the sociocultural context of historical data, prioritising the influence of universal human embodiment on metaphorical thought. Using Kövecses’s approach, the paper shows how the gap in CMT methodology may be bridged to yield more reliable results. THE PROCESS OF ARGUMENTATION: The present study connects Kövecses’s approach to Cognitive Linguistic research into sociocultural situatedness. To exemplify the problem, the analysis examines the cognitive‑cultural underpinnings of Julian’s use of the metaphor UNDERSTAND‑ ING IS LIGHT. RESEARCH RESULTS: The analysis shows that the metaphorical conceptualisation pattern may well derive from Julian’s sociocultural situatedness. The paper indicates that the anchoress’s metaphorical thought should be seen as embedded in the late medieval sociocultural context, rather than being considered solely in terms of universal aspects of embodiment. CONCLUSIONS, RECOMMENDATIONS AND THE APPLICATIVE VALUE OF RESEARCH: The study concludes that the idea of sociocultural situatedness may be pivotal in the analyses of historical texts. It seems important to incorporate this idea into Kövecses’s approach, which may inform the methodology of cognitive diachronic research into metaphorical conceptualisations. Furthermore, the results may be applied to teaching students how to approach historical texts, helping them gain a better understanding of the relation between metaphorical thought and culture.

The dynamic secularisation of Polish young people and the fact that many of them are opt­ing out of religious classes prompts a critical analysis of the current model of Religious Education and the development of proposals that respond to contemporary socio-cultural challenges. In others words this article will seek to outline potential directions for modifying the current Religious Education model intended for secondary school students in Poland. This paper attempts to provide a synthetic answer to the following questions: Why is Religious Education in secondary schools today not leading to the expected results? What elements of it are inadequate for contemporary conditions? What should the model of Religious Education for young people look like in the context of a decline in religiousness? Where and how should catechesis be provided? This paper contributes to the discussion on the shape of Religious Education for young people in a changing society.

RESEARCH OBJECTIVE: The research investigates how young boys progress in life after the loss of their fathers. It explores the adjustments they make, the coping mechanisms they develop to navigate life, and the male roles they assume in the family. Additionally, it examines how family can aid and support their coping and adjustment process. THE RESEARCH PROBLEM AND METHODS: This study utilises a case study methodology focused on gaining an understanding of the lives of two adolescent boys who experienced the death of their fathers in the early formative years of their lives. THE PROCESS OF ARGUMENTATION: The paper focuses on five themes- family dynamics, life transitions with and without their fathers, post-loss reassignment of family roles, present circumstances, and future goals. RESEARCH RESULTS: A qualitative analysis of the data revealed that participants’ belief systems, family support, and striving toward future goals helped them to be resilient in this event. CONCLUSIONS RECOMMENDATIONS AND APPLICABLE VALUE OF RESEARCH: While most research typically emphasises the negative impacts of death on people, this study demonstrates how individuals’ can be resilient, dependent on both person-related factors and environmental factors. To help adolescents who are grieving become resilient, the paper offers intervention and coping strategies through counselling, the availability of support networks, and combined efforts by the state and educational institutions.

RESEARCH OBJECTIVE: Governments across the world were forced to impose social distancing and lockdown measures to prevent the spread of COVID-19, caused by coronavirus SARS-CoV-2 that emerged in December 2019. Following the declaration of COVID-19 as a pandemic, the disruptions, including restrictive measures such as school closures had severe impacts on the physical, emotional and mental health of all people, especially children with special needs. There was also scant data, particularly in low-to-middle-income countries. Existing literature stems mostly from western countries, thus the need to perform a comprehensive review on this topic. THE RESEARCH PROBLEM AND METHODS: The primary objective of the systematic review is to understand the impact of COVID-19 and restrictive measures such as school closures on the educational outcomes and physical and mental health of school-going children with special needs. THE PROCESS OF ARGUMENTATION: This systematic review used the PRISMA 2020 checklist where four databases and grey literature were searched for full text articles, peer reviewed publications in the English language that were published during January 2019–December 2021. RESEARCH RESULTS: The literature search identified 1294 publications, of which 25 key papers were selected. These studies investigate the impact on children with special needs across the globe, with a majority of papers from Europe. We found that COVID-19 and the digitalization of schooling had severe impacts on the physical and mental health of children with special needs and their parents/caregivers. CONCLUSIONS, RECOMMENDATIONS AND APPLICABLE VALUE OF RESEARCH: These studies highlight the need for an inclusive school environment to ensure that the learning outcomes for children everywhere are achieved. Further, a hybrid model that includes classroom learning with novel inventive methods would be beneficial for children with special needs.

This paper presents sociocultural profiles of the Ostroh Bible (1581) and the King James Version of the Bible (1611) in terms of their agency, authoritative status and regulative functions. Despite scholarly and popular attention given to both texts, no attempts have been made so far to compare them. This paper intends to break the mold and focuses on the causes and results of the collective agency of the two versions at the textual, paratextual and extratextual levels as well as on the gatekeeping role of these translations and the ways they affected the development of their respective cultures. It is also demonstrated that the OB and the KJV performed the function of “the second originals.” Also subject to analysis are the prefaces to the two editions, which disclose information about important translation figures and deal with issues of universal and sacred history.

This paper presents the question of the dynamics of the sacrament of marriage arising from the wedding vows according to the rite celebrated in the Catholic liturgy. The aim of the paper is to explain what it means to celebrate the sacrament of marriage every day, not only on the wedding day. The theme is developed based on the concept of ritual as a phenomenon involving the activities of introducing a person to a new state of life in society. According to researchers, ritual perpetuates certain values in culture and human consciousness. In the light of theological sources, in Christian rituals, marriage is a theological reality. This means that the sacrament of marriage involves the rite of a man and a woman making four promises concerning their future life together and including their relationship with God. These pledges are a promise of fidelity, love, honesty and accompanying the other person for the rest of their lives, which means ‘dialogue of life’. Sacramentality, on the other hand, signifies a guarantee of access to God’s grace, which is necessary to build a family community according to the Gospel. The sacrament of marriage appears here as a Christian ritual celebrated that commemorates every moment of life together, with references to the grace given by God. Looking at the sacrament of marriage as a ritual makes it possible to see two dimensions of the dynamics of the marital relationship: a horizontal relationship, involving the dialogue between the spouses, and a vertical relationship, involving the dialogue of the spouses with God. Viewed in this way, Christian marriage is a reality unfolding in the individual lives of persons, as well as socially and ecclesiastically.

This paper considers three recent studies on the negative theology of the Neoplatonists and Dionysius the Areopagite. The first is that of Lloyd Gerson, who argues that the One in Plotinus does not lack transcend existence but only definite existence; the second is the contrary thesis of Eric D. Perl that not only the One of Plotinus but the God of Dionysius transcend all being in such a way that they cannot be credited with existence. After some criticism of both the paper turns to the argument of Timothy D. Knepper that even the ineffability of the divine cannot be stated on our present plane of knowledge; it concludes with some reflections on the appeal to present or future experience as alternatives to epistemology as this is commonly understood in the analytical tradition of philosophy.

Apophatic theology is an approach in theology that emphasizes the limitation of human language and concepts in describing the nature of the Divine. Rooted in ancient religious traditions, apophatic theology has gained attention in contemporary discourse for its potential convergence with the scientific method. This paper expands on a novel application of this approach in which the formal methods of science such as logic and mathematics are engaged to inquire into how God thinks and to what degree the modes of human reasoning can be projected on the nature of the Divine mind. This application has been proposed by Michał Heller and is referred to as the logical apophatism. In the course of the analysis carried out in this paper more in-depth understanding of the logical apophatism has been obtained by contrasting it with classical approaches to negative theology such as the Triplex Via and supplementing with recent advances within the cognitive sciences. It is concluded that Heller’s use of the apophatic approach is manifestly non-standard and its novelty consists in the shift of emphasis from the negative character of the language of theology to the logic of the Divine mind and the logic that underpins the workings of the Universe.

RESEARCH OBJECTIVE: The aim of the paper was to discuss a function of passion in professional personal lives of eminent Cracow musicians. THE RESEARCH PROBLEM AND METHODS: The paper raises the problem of the role of passion in the process of shaping musical eminence, answers the question of the scope of experiencing it as well as it manifesting in activities of outstanding individuals. In conducted research and interpretations, the qualitative perspective and biographical method were applied. The leading technique was problem-concentrated qualitative interview, partially structured, carried out with ten eminent instrumentalists. THE PROCESS OF ARGUMENTATION: The theoretical basis for this reading of the experience of educational biographies was provided by the Model of Authentic Vocation of J. Weller and the Dualistic Model of Passion of A. Bonneville-Roussy, G. Lavigne and R. Vallerand. The interpretations of the research material described the topography of experiencing passion. RESEARCH RESULTS: The article describes autonomous passion associated with musical mastery, instrumental motivation to practice, as well as distinguishes important factors that determine the experience of passion, persistence or burnout (tenacity, ambition, community transfer, conflict of motives, work overload), and concretizes the qualities of musical passion of outstanding musicians: professionalization, love of music, integrity, creativity, strength and determination in pursuit of goals, as well as humility in the face of challenges. CONCLUSIONS, INNOVATIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS: Deciphering the senses and meanings that prominent Cracow musicians attributed to passion suggests that it was autonomous, harmonious and instrumental, motivated by the pursuit of mastery, and that the trajectories of the musicians’ professional biographies were a manifestation of a “professionalization of passion,” which formed the core of their educational experience and constituted and defined their life creed.

The aim of this paper is to propose a reinterpretation of the meaning of the lost colossus of Constantine the Great from the Forum of his name in Constantinople, in the light of the iconography of the emperor on the cameo from the cathedral in the Pomeranian town of Cammin. Although the gem was lost during the last war, it is known to us thanks to archival photographs and the plaster cast housed at Göttingen University. On this basis, Gerda Bruns associated the jewel with the statue of Constantine on the porphyry column in the New Rome, and her identification has since been widely accepted by the scholarly milieu. In recent years one has been able to observe growing popularity of this interpretation among researchers, who however refrain in their studies from pointing to the consequences of such a reconstruction of the statue’s form. The author of this paper points out that Constantine purposefully chose the iconographical type of Alexander-ktistes as a model for his own representation in order to allude to his great predecessor and the founder of a number of cities which bore his name. The iconography of the statue became then a part of the programme of the celebrations arranged on the occasion of the dedication of Constantinople, in which numerous references to Alexander played the key role. This new understanding of the colossus, placing its significance within the frames of political propaganda, better matches the actual historical circumstances and the ruler’s attitude towards Christendom than traditional interpretations which recognised the statue as Helios or Apollo, and thus introduced an incoherence — difficult to explain — in Constantine’s attitude towards the new religion. This cumbersome question, which baffled the inquisitive minds already in the Constantinople of the Byzantine era, will be considered unsubstantial if we correctly interpret the monument on the Forum solely in the political and propagandistic context.

The aim of this paper is to present the changes in the perception of the Archbishop of Can-terbury and Catholic saint Thomas Becket in England during the reign of the Tudor dynasty. The author’s starting point is the intellectual currents that emerged in England in the fifteenth and early sixteenth centuries that sought to challenge Catholic traditions. The author argues that in the long run they laid the foundations for a systemic struggle in the 1630s and 1640s against the cult of Thomas Becket as a symbol of Catholic England. The paper uses printed sources by such authors as Erasmus of Rotterdam, Mathew Parker, John Foxe, Francis Go-dwin, royal documents from the Reformation era in England as well as articles and studies by foreign authors. The paper concludes that despite the measures taken, the reformers never succeeded in removing Thomas Becket from the religious landscape of England.

This short paper tackles the much-discussed crux interpretum of 1 Cor 15:29. Biblical scholars have tended to analyse word for word the expression οἱ βαπτιζόμενοι ὑπὲρ τῶν νεκρῶν and present various hypotheses, with the idea favored by the scholarly majority being that of vicarious baptism for the dead. I propose a new reading of 1 Cor 15:29 in its literary and rhetorical context of 1 Cor 15:12–34. Here, what those who believe in Christ do (v. 29), what the apostles do (v. 30), and what Paul does (vv. 31–32), are put together as good practices which become incomprehensible if there is no resurrection of the dead. Vicarious baptism cannot be considered a good practice because it is at odds with Paul’s concept of baptism, and because it was later even considered heretical and aberrant. In this context, the paper proposes to read ὑπέρ with a sense of finality, i.e. “for/in view of,” and to see in ὑπὲρ τῶν νεκρῶν a brachylogy (as Paul employs elsewhere in his letters) for “for/in view of the resurrection of the dead.” Therefore in 1 Cor 15:29 Paul presents the positive example of the people who undergo baptism as a public manifestation of faith, in the hope of taking part in the final resurrection together with all the dead, especially with those who are “in Christ.” To the new reading corresponds this new translation: “Otherwise, what will they do those who have themselves baptised for/in view of (the resurrection of) the dead? If the dead are not raised at all, why then do they have themselves baptized for/in view of (the resurrection of) them?”

Separation, loss, confinement, and change have been imposed on entire populations during the Covid-19 pandemic in the form of lockdowns aimed at limiting the spread of the virus. They are also central to Evagrian asceticism, where they establish the conditions for the change at which the monastic life aims, namely to begin to reverse the effects of the fall by restoring the soul to health. This paper examines how they do so in order to gain an understanding of their ascetic function. Following the Introduction, it outlines Evagrius’ anthropology in order to lay the groundwork for its main theme, the healing of pathos through the practical life. Separation, loss, and confinement are each considered in turn by referencing Evagrius’ descriptions of their ascetic function and his own experience of them. Next, the change at which they aim is described, again drawing upon a range of Evagrian material. The final section of the paper considers how Evagrius can speak to the experience of lockdown by endowing separation, loss, confinement with meaning and purpose in relation to spiritual awakening and growth, highlighting our freedom to choose our attitude to them, and acting as both our guide and our companion.

The disturbing power of the passions or affections, collectively known as πάθος, was the subject of a remarkable debate in Graeco-Roman philosophical schools, as well as in Philo of Alexandria and soon among various early Christian authors. This paper contributes to the recent approach to this subject but also explores new contexts. It examines cosmological (myth), anthropological (the mind – emotions relation) and theological (salvation) ways of addressing that problematic supremacy of emotions. Although it summarises earlier philosophical views, it focuses on Christian documents from the second century and their witness to that ancient debate. By comparison with the diversity of Christian views on the passions, the paper highlights the diverse ‘therapies’ proposed by Christian authors. In conclusion, it points out common motifs among Christian responses to the passions, as well as the differences in their remedies.

RESEARCH OBJECTIVE: The paper is an attempt to articulate the defining features of Ignatian Leadership and to clarify what might distinguish it from other brands of leadership without lapsing into motherhood statements and worn-out clichés. THE RESEARCH PROBLEM AND METHODS: The Ignatian leadership style that is presented is grounded in Ignatian spirituality, which is a source of the Spiritual Exercises of Ignatius Loyola. Hence, the research problem was formulated: how can Ignatian leadership be implemented in everyday practice? The method of critical analysis of sources was applied. THE PROCESS OF ARGUMENTATION: The paper argues that Ignatian Leadership is, in fact, a radical form of servant leadership, since the Ignatian Leader is at the service not only of the Community, but also–and for Ignatius of Loyola, even more fundamentally–of the Mission entrusted to that Community. RESEARCH RESULTS: Concretely, it proposes a conception of Ignatian Leadership as a threeway relationship among the Leader, the Community, and the Mission, in the process, illustrating what magis and cura personalis might mean in one’s exercise of leadership, but also, spelling out, in light of these relationships, the key functions of the Ignatian Leader. CONCLUSIONS, INNOVATIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS: Ignatian leadership is a form of servant leadership insofar as Ignatian Leaders ought to prioritize serving the Community that they lead over their own interests. However, what distinguishes Ignatian Leadership from servant leadership is its explicit and non-negotiable prioritization of service of the Mission as well.

The Enarrationes in Psalmos are an important source for understanding the Augustinian theology of desire, linking it to his systematic theology and his pastoral practice. In this paper I illustrate by overviewing the expositions on Psalms 11 (12), 12 (13), 23 (24), and 26 (27). These Psalms teach us to love, trust, and seek God only, a failure to do which marks the Donatist schism. Augustine mingles ideas from pagan philosophy’s quest for eudaimonia or beata vita—the good, happy, and blessed life—with biblical ideas. We want a stable happiness, and we must pursue wisdom; we can find stability in the rock that is Christ, to follow whom is to pursue wisdom rightly. Our desires must be converted to God, the only complete and perfect good and the source of eternal happiness, whom we must single-mindedly pursue with prayer and faith. While we must desire the eschaton and look to no earthly satisfaction, earthly goods may be received as gifts from God. One thing we can learn from studying the Enarrationes is how closely connected are the ideas of right love, the right church, and the right end; all three go together in Augustine’s theology.

This paper aims to show how, in certain Nubian paintings depicting apostolic colleges, the evangelists John and Matthew can be identified by the attributes they hold, namely books. Theoretically, a book is an attribute that can define many figures involved in writing or preaching, such as saints (especially bishops in Nubian paintings), apostles, evangelists and Christ. However, in these particular paintings I am describing, only two of the apostles are holding books and these are the evangelists John and Matthew. The other apostles hold rotuli, while Peter is singled out through the key. My argument is based not only on the attributes, but also on an analysis of other elements such as the position of the apostles in the whole college, their physiognomic types, and finally the surviving inscriptions. However, we should remember that not all Nubian paintings are preserved intact. In many cases, large fragments of figures, including their faces, are missing. Therefore, several elements must be taken into consideration during the interpretation of the content of the paintings. The research I have carried out can be helpful in identifying the individual figures that make up the apostolic college. It also shows how Nubian iconographers consciously used the language of symbols by differentiating between the earthly and heavenly hierarchies.

The paper is an interpretation of Eph 1:15-23 which is a consequence of the shorter version of Eph 1:15 (without the words: τὴν ἀγάπην). It is an attempt to answer the question of who the “saints” are in this verse and the entire pericope, what background (Hellenistic or Judaic) this concept has, and what was the character of the church community in this city in the post-Pauline period. The method used in this paper consists of historical and contextual analysis of lexicographical end ideological material used in the pericope. The first step is a study of the rhetorical structure of Eph as the instrument for interpretation of the role of the pericope in the meaning of the text. The second part of the paper is presented the binary way of exposition: in the language of Judaism and in the Hellenistic terms. From this perspective the category of “saints” is described. From this analysis it is concluded: “saints” are the group belonging to the Judeo-Christian component of the Church, the political substructure of the Church but not in terms of the separation, but of the pluralistic unity.

In democratic societies, it is taken for granted to withdraw religiosity from public life. In this paper, we point to Talal Asad’s critique of this taken-for-grantedness. Using his genealogical method, he attempts to find the origin of this relegation of religiosity to the private sphere. The concept of secularity, he argues, is primarily an expression of the power of those who insist on enlightened reason. At the same time, secularism becomes, in a sense, a new religion, the only one acceptable in a democratic society. While we point out the causes of the secularization process, we also point out the aspects that are problematic in such a conception of religion. The Church’s response must take into account the process of secularization, but it must not fall into the same logic that led to this process in the first place. We point out the danger that the separation between the sacred and the profane, the physical and the spiritual, is increasing even in the new religious movements. We therefore propose a form of proclamation that involves the whole person and addresses him or her in everyday life.

RESEARCH OBJECTIVE: The main aim is to show the narrative of a woman who experienced critical events in her personal life. THE RESEARCH PROBLEMS AND METHODS: 1. How does the narrator describe critical events based on her family experience? 2. What meaning does she ascribe to the events experienced in retrospect? The presented research is situated in the interpretative research tradition. A descriptive‑theoretical type of case study was used. Empirical data was collected using Fritz Schütze’s narrative interview technique. THE PROCESS OF ARGUMENTATION: The interview began by presenting the narrator’s life story from her childhood to the present day. Attention was paid to her understanding of herself and her life, her relationship with her parents, and critical events that occurred in her family. The empirical material was then interpreted based on Schütze’s process structures, which revealed her current life course, critical events in the family and landmark events in the narrator’s individual biography. RESEARCH RESULTS: The interpretation of the empirical material showed the narrator in the process of change, internal metamorphoses. It revealed poor intra‑family relations, which became the cause of illness, lack of self‑acceptance, and depressive and anxious states. The therapy that she underwent, satisfying professional work and mutual feelings of love allowed the narrator to overcome her limitations, weaknesses and take a critical look at the family relationships that were the cause of her pain and suffering. CONCLUSIONS, RECOMMENDATIONS AND APPLICABLE VALUE OF RESEARCH: The narrative presented in the paper can become a stimulus for change in people who are currently struggling with family problems, illness or suffering: all those people who experience anxiety and loneliness in the space of family life.

Gregory’s Homily 12 on the Song of Songs offers one opportunity to trace the legacies of the compelling claim, in Galatians 6:17, that Paul bears “the marks of Christ” on his body. Gregory appeals to this verse to aid his exegesis of Song 5:7 (a violent passage he calls “repellant in its plain sense”) and develop his claims that “the wound”, after all, is “an admirable thing”. My paper probes social and ethical dimensions of this exegetical and cultural conceptual lineage. It surveys wounds and marks in Homily 12; suggests how other works by Gregory support “striking and wounding” as enacting spiritual healing (ἴασιν); considers contexts for violence in the name of guardianship and instruction in late antiquity; and closes by considering violence enacted in the name of Christianization and “civilization” in Canada’s residential schools. This study embeds Gregory’s treatment of Gal 6:17 in a larger attempt to raise critical questions about the persistence of benevolent understandings of trauma and violence across diverse Christian exegetical contexts and the harms such understandings may perpetuate.

At the beginning of the 20th century, early processes of secularization – especially in working-class families living in large cities – and inadequate teaching methods led to a crisis of Catholic religious education. Teachers and professors highlighted that it was becoming more and more difficult for reli­gious education to reach students and to ensure that they become devoted members of the Church. In this situation, a catechetical movement was established, which was mainly situated in Munich and Vienna, where teachers, catechists, and academics discussed reforms of the commonly used teaching methods in religious education. Conferences and the foundation of journals followed. It is at least from this point that the process of modernization in the field of religious education in the German-speaking context begins. This modernization gained traction after the Second Vatican Council and was also pro­moted by the phenomenon of secularization and pluralization after the 1960s. Against this background, the essay will address the following questions: What led to the modernization of religious education that began around 1900? What role was played by the new openness of catechists and theologians for edu­cation science and the (religious) pluralization of society? To answer this question, the article will focus on developments between 1900 and the 1920s, during the 1970s, and the more or less topical discus­sion about the concept of ‘theology of children’ since the late 1990s. This study will also ask whether this development can be described as the discovery of the child in theology and religious education. Finally, this paper asks what consequences this development has for a denominational religious education in state schools today and in the future.

This article aims to show the connection between the current crisis of adults and the changes that can be observed in the level of religiosity/spirituality of today’s youth. The Roman Catholic Synod on Young People held in Rome highlighted the need to understand young people and their religiosity. Un­derstanding and interpreting the religiosity, ecclesiasticism, and spirituality of today’s youth is necessary if we wish to answer their religious and spiritual questions properly. Nonetheless, this paper considers only one specific aspect of youth religiosity, that is, the connection between the world of adults, espe­cially the crisis that has affected many of them, and the development of young people—especially of their spirituality/religiosity. The first part provides a basic outline of young people’s religiosity and their rela­tionship to the Roman Catholic Church based on the research. The second part reflects on the crisis of intergenerational transmission of faith, critically evaluating the existing channels used for this purpose. The third part is a critical evaluation of some aspects of the life of adults, especially in light of the crisis that has affected adulthood. The last part, containing results and conclusion, emphasizes the necessity and importance of the formation of adults in the Roman Catholic Church. The research is based on a literature review, analysis of data obtained from research—carried out especially in the Republic of Croatia—as well as directions that come to us from the Roman Catholic Church documents.

The relationship between secularity and religion/religiosity is a main topic of practical theol­ogy and ecclesiastical pastoral care. However, several research papers on religious studies show that the thesis that with disappearing institutionalized religiosity, plural and differentiated forms of religiosity increase is not convincing. In fact, the development shows that where people do not experience religion, it becomes irrelevant to them. This fact is an urgent question for the Church: With and from which basic attitude can and will she be able to encounter religious and secular people in such ways that the Christian gospel of human emancipation and redemption can become a reality in their lives? The Church can real­ize such a fundamental attitude in reference to the biblical Exodus and by generating a pastoral exodus.

What Pope Francis describes as “the culture of temporariness” are all the changes taking place in communities and the broad anthropological and cultural context of the Western world. According to the pope, they include new ways of creating and maintaining relations, zapping, consumerism, individual­ism, the culture of rejection, unemployment, and NEET generation. In search for the Church’s response to secularization, the authors decided to explore Pope Francis’ instructions addressed to young people concerning marital and family life in the era of the current culture of temporariness. This is the major research objective of the article. To achieve it, using the method of literature review covering the topic, the authors first present the manifestations of the culture of temporariness among young people. Next, the consequences of the culture of temporariness in catechesis for marriages and families are indicated. In the last part of the paper, Pope Francis’s instructions for young people regarding the threats of the cul­ture of temporariness in their lives and activities of marriages and families are elaborated on.

RESEARCH OBJECTIVE: The purpose of this article is to show, based on UNICEF and UNHCR documents, the problems of migrant children that hinder/impede their inclusion in the education of the host community and to identify ways to deal with these problems. THE RESEARCH PROBLEM AND METHODS: Using document analysis, I will answer the following questions: What threats are children on the move exposed to? What are the priority areas for action? How can they be protected and integrated into the new education system? THE PROCESS OF ARGUMENTATION: The paper presents the causes and risks associated with migration for children, important concepts for educational practice, recommendations and proposed solutions RESEARCH RESULTS: The documents show the risks faced by children on the move. Such children are often marginalized and stigmatized in host communities. Ensuring their well-being (meeting their psychological needs and respecting their rights) is a priority and a necessary condition for them to be able to start education. The discussion shows the importance of education in dealing with difficult conditions or in counteracting negative phenomena (discrimination, xenophobia). Education is treated as capital that is supposed to give these children a chance for a better future. CONCLUSIONS, RECOMMENDATIONS AND APPLICABLE VALUE OF RESEARCH: The following conclusions can be drawn for practice from UNICEF and UNHCR documents: children on the move should have the same rights and opportunities for education as their peers in host com- munities; they need friendly and safe places to live, play and learn; children have resources and experiences that should be considered when organizing educational environments.

Although the Catholic Church nowadays still officially values the ideas of self-sacrifice and the redemptive nature of suffering, academically, there exists a tendency to adapt these ideas to modern values. With the advancement of medical technology, the pursuit of health predominates the mindset of modern people and the practice of redemptive suffering turns out to be an outdated or even ridiculous idea. At the societal level, it is a problem concerning the incompatibility between Catholic dogmas and secular values. At the individual level, it is a question of believing these “empirically unbelievable” religious doctrines without being in a curious form of schizophrenia and insincerity. This paper attempts to examine the difficulties in understanding the Catholic notion of redemptive suffering in the twenty-first century. We attempt to demonstrate that the unintelligibility of this notion lies not in the idea of the willing sacrifice of a person for another human being; rather, it is more concerned with the content and way of suffering, as well as the explanation offered for it. We then suggest that taking the “supernatural Catholic worldview” seriously is an important condition to attain a deeper understanding of the notion of redemptive suffering. Lastly, we will examine whether the notion lacks contemporary significance by looking into some cases in the Catholic communities nowadays.

Early Christian literature contains numerous commentaries on the books of the Holy Scripture, including the Revelation of St. John. Among the many symbols it contains, we can find an intriguing theme related to the sign of a Woman clothed with the sun (cf. Rev 12:1–6). Nowadays, the above-mentioned passage is most often interpreted in the Mariological spirit. An ecclesiological explanation is provided frequently too. It turns out that in the writings of the early Church authors, the reference to the Church was decidedly the dominant one, while the interpretation favoring Mary was almost marginal. A mixed interpretation was formulated too, for example, by Quodvultdeus. It features three images: ecclesial, Christological, and Mariological. This paper will present the statements made by early Christian authors, representing both the Eastern and the Western Church, on the meaning of the sign of the Woman in the Revelation, and on the ways they interpreted it in commentaries on this book of the Bible.

The article is called Sacrament of Eucharist according to “Expositio Symboli Apostolorum” by Johannes Marienwerder. The subject of the analysis is late medieval work of Johannes Marienwerder (Jan z Kwidzyna) (1342–1417) Expositio Symboli Apostolorum (1399–1401). The theme of the Eucharist is interesting for at least two reasons. The late 14th century is the time of extremities: intensification of the postulates of Eucharistic revival and emergence of views which negated Christ’s real presence in the Eucharist. References to a discussion on the subject can be found in Expositio. Second, discussing the views of Johannes Marienwerder on the Eucharist presented in Expositio can provide a supplement for studies of the eucharistic piety of blessed Dorothea of Montau. The following issues are dealt with in this paper. The first section presents the state of debate on the Eucharist in Prague circles in the late 14th century. Postulates of frequent Holy Communion appeared. There were currents negating the Catholic teachings on Eucharist in Prague at the time. The second section discusses the theology of the Eucharist as presented in Expositio.It can be described as a form of apology of the Catholic teachings on the Eucharist. Moreover, the Prologue to Johannes Marienwerder’s work contains a series of brief practical guidelines mainly concerning the celebration of the mass. One should hope that this study will be useful both to theologians and to other scholars who deal with the literary circles of the late Mediaeval Pomesania and also the pre-Hussite period.

This paper traces the history of the negative theology of YHWH from the beginning of the integration of YHWH into the Canaanite pantheon to the post-exilic period in the Torah through the interpretation of the Shema’ Israel from its mono-Yahwistic understanding to monotheism as an expression of God’s freedom. In the second step, the development of negative theology is traced from the pre-exilic proverbs, which understand God as a limit of knowledge, to negative theology in the Book of Job and Qohelet, as well as the overcoming of negative theology in the paradise-narrative in Genesis 2–3 through the freedom of choice granted to man by God.

St. Augustine’s work De bono viduitatis written in 414 is not a treatise but a letter addressed to widow issued from a noble Roman family named Juliana. She with her daughter and mother-in-law attempts to live the consecrated way of life. Under the strong influence of the ascetism and moralism of Pelagius, she begs Augustine to acquire the essential instructions for their devotion. Augustine in his answer proposes the original teaching on the widowhood based on the Holy Scripture, especially on the letters of apostle Paul, and encourages the women in their consecration to observe the goods of the widowhood. Nevertheless, St. Augustine does not write this letter only to Juliana. He desires that this letter will be spread to the other widows as well. The aim of our paper is to analyse the Augustine’s letter to Juliana and focus our interest on the homiletical forms used by St. Augustine. Our argumentation is based on the analyse of this letter and on its comparison with Augustine’s style of preaching. Examining the rhetoric elements used and known by St. Augustine as they are summarized in the Book Four of his treatise On Christian Doctrine it enables us to present the style of Augustine – preacher and consequently to find some similarity and differences.

Augustine’s sermons and exegetical homilies have been recently studied by modern scholars not only from the point of view of their contents but also their rhetorical form. This is true especially in those cases where we deal with authentic speeches reflecting the language culture of his audience. One of the most characteristic features of Augustine’s homiletic style is antithetic parallelism which occurs frequently in his homilies on Psalms and results from the author’s own way of thinking. Here we do not deal that much with the biblical parallelism of thought, present in the Hebrew poetry, particularly in Psalms, prophetic speeches, etc., but rather with that which was introduced in Greek by Gorgias, i.e., parallelism of words and sentence structure (parallelismus membrorum). Antithetic parallelism is often accompanied by rhyme (Gr. homoioteleuton) or by assonance. This phenomenon might be observed already in Indo-European poetics but in the rhetorical context of Augustine’s anti-Donatist preaching it serves quite different purposes. By using these and other sound figures (like alliteration, repetition, anaphora, epiphora, etc.) the bishop of Hippo wants not only to please his audience but also to instruct them and, first and foremost, persuade them to return to the Catholic church. Does he use these figures spontaneously imitating the folk culture of his audience, or is he constantly aware of their persuasive force? These and other related questions have already captured attention of several Augustinian scholars of the last decades, so in the present paper we would like to contribute to this foregoing discussion focusing mostly on the persuasive aspect of selected sound figures occurring in Augustine’s Enarrationes in Psalmos 119-133. Moreover, our aim is to show to which extent they were a part of bishop’s thoroughly considered plan of his homilies, and finally we would like to point out the importance of preserving at least some of these figures in modern translations of Augustine’s homilies.

In the late 4th century, bishops utilized the so-called ius intercessionis right to intervene in order to help those in need, be they the persecuted, the accused or the convicted. These actions of a bishop were rooted foremost in the idea of mercy and it was also due to this right that a bishop became the one to decide about the granting of the right to asylum – a right which was gradually extended to Christian churches at the time. St. Augustine encounters the issue of Christian asylum as the bishop of Hippo Regius in Africa mainly in his preserved correspondence, but he talks about seeking sanctuary in Christian churches also in one of his sermons, specifically in Sermo 302 delivered on the feast of St. Lawrence. This paper focuses on presenting the circumstances of a violent act in Hippo Regius and its implications to potentially sanctuary seeking in local Christian church, particularly on the ground of analysis of post sermonem to Sermo 302.

The purpose of this paper is to indicate how, that is, with the help of which means, Chrysostom in his five homilies “On the Incomprehensible Nature of God” introduces his community in Antioch to the intricacies of the dispute with the Anomoeans, as far as the possibility of knowing God and his essence are concerned. The main differences between those texts and other fundamental polemical sources with Eunomius will also be taken under consideration. John uses both biblical and philosophical terms to underline the negative aspect of theology and his five homilies are not so theologically and philosophically sophisticated as Basil’s or Gregory’s texts, unlike even Gregory of Nazianzus, whose Orations, have a similar overall message. John uses methods adequate to accomplish his goal, which is to preserve the orthodox concept and unify the Antiochian Church.

In this paper we present the life and the character of Theophano, the mother of Basil II Porphyrogenitus, the Macedonian. Some women made spectacular progress up the social ladder by marrying into higher-class families, even sometimes into the imperial family itself and to become empresses as Theophano did. So, social advancement could be achieved through marriage. The power and privileges of an imperial spouse were directly dependent on the emperor. Did it have a catalytic role in the life of Theophano? Through her life we will examine woman’s position in Byzantine Empire. It will be searched if there was any discrimination among women according to their classes and if the byzantine society faced with the same way a vicious life of an imperial woman and of a poor one. Which was the position of the Christian Church for woman? Had Church Fathers forgiven rich and powerful women and had they condemned poor women from lower social class? All these questions are going to be answered through the life and the actions of Theophano, a woman who managed from being the daughter of a poor tavern-keeper, to become the Empress and one of the most powerful and vicious women in the Byzantine history.

This article presents the seals of the Polish monarchs of the Piast and Jagiellonian dynasties held in the archives of the Corpus Christi monastery of the Canons Regular in Krakow. These seals constitute a small part of the collection, which comprises no less than a thousand wax and paper specimen, but they are nevertheless valuable for many reasons, as they possess a great deal of information potential. They have been mentioned in the scientific literature and reproductions of several of them have been used as illustrative material for prestigious publications but have not yet been the subject of separate research interest or description. The oldest of the seals presented in the article dates from 1327 and is an imprint of the seal of King Władysław Łokietek (†1333), while the last one dates from 1549 and is an imprint of the seal of King Zygmunt August (†1572). The article is only an extended introduction to a more thorough and multifaceted study and has a contributory character. A review of the Polish sphragistic literature signals that publications on seal collections in church archives are scarce. Therefore, the proposed article will fill this gap, at least to a small extent, and above all, introduce information about this collection into the scientific circulation.

In the early modern era, when the Swedes waged war outside their own territory, they passed on the duty of supplying food and funding the army to the occupied territories (the war was supposed to feed itself). The practice of collecting contributions was based on the experience of the Thirty Years’ War, which was introduced in Germany by the armies of Gustav II Adolphus. Apart from financial contributions and provisions, the occupied terri-tories had to pay brandskatt, an additional enforced tax to protect the occupied lands from looting and destruction. The aim of this paper is, a.o., to determine the position of brandskatt in the extraordinary war taxes imposed on the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. The basic source is the Warsaw brandskatt register of 1655 found in the Riksarkivet in Stockholm.

Saint Martin is a very popular character in the Christian tradition. His life and deeds have had a considerable impact on successive generations of Christians, beginning with the Middle Ages and he is still present in the minds of believers. The popularity of this saint in Poland and Europe is reflected in many names of churches, parishes, chapels, altars as well as in art, names and heraldry. This paper presents selected local self-government coats of arms displaying an image of St. Martin or attributes associated with him. The full figure of St. Martin in Polish local self-government heraldry can be found on the coats of arms of five rural communes (the communes of Biskupice, Drużbice, Granowo, Mochowo and Wiśniowa), the coats of arms of two urban communes (the commune of Jawor, the town and commune of Pacanów) and the coat of arms of an urban quarter (Słocina – currently a quarter of Rzeszów, earlier – until 1954 – a commune). Only one of these, i.e. the coat of arms of the commune of Poświętne, refers to St. Martin by objects associated with him. Heraldic representations of Martin of Tours can be found, for example, in Germany, especially in Hesse, Bavaria, Rhineland-Palatinate, Mainz, but also in Czechia, Austria, Slovakia, Finland and Ukraine.

Post-modernity, also referred to as postmodernism or late modernity, is a keyword used to describe contemporary social, cultural and religious changes. The first part of the paper presents the socio-cultural and religious context in which Christian education is provided. A fundamental question was put: can the character of St. Joseph still be an effective role model for the contemporary world in such an adverse context. Papal teachings were used when seeking the answer to this question, with particular focus placed on two documents: Redemptoris custos by John Paul II and Patris corde by Pope Francis. It was pointed out that particularly the latter, owing to its fresh approach and existential sense of its author, can provide guidance on where one should seek the answer to this question. There are no ready solutions concerning the way of talking about St. Joseph, so that Christian education does not become an empty, contentless general moral topos, with no consequence. Christian education, inspired by the character of St. Joseph, is a task to be performed by tutors at all times, especially those who try to present him as a living role model for their pupils.

The purpose of this article is to demonstrate the threat that secularization poses with respect to the education process. The modern age is characterized by a secular shift in social relations and in the very concept of the human person. The paper points explicitly to the consequences of the materialization and technologization of life and proposes an integral education model as an alternative for the increasingly secularized society. Every human being is endowed with personal dignity and inalienable rights whose complete justification can only be uncovered within the context of revealed knowledge. Personality formation, which outlines the general purpose of education, includes not only corporeal and spiritual factors but also factors of a religious nature that encourage transformation in the sense of achieving ever higher levels of perfection. It is argued that the integral education model can be applied in the areas of learning and work. The touchstone of any human development that takes into account religious factors is humanization, which is defined as making the world more humane in a constant relationship with God.

From the Past to the Present, Taiwan, as part of the Chinese cultural circle, has experienced distinct changes in family reality. Politics, economy, migration, and globalization have been or are the crucial factors influencing families. Polygamy, extended family, nuclear family, transnational family, same-sex marriage and diversified family construct the contexts of families in Taiwan. These multi-family forms seem to ingratiate themselves with the popular concept of ‘diversity’, which has been articulated since the 21st century. Many people think that ‘diversity’ could eliminate conflicts, because not any part will be ignored; ‘diversity’ shows tolerance and social progress. In fact, there are at the same time, increasing conflicts and problems occurring because of diversity. What would be the potential causes of problems? And how could these problems and conflicts in the families be dealt with? The core solutions seem not easy to find. Since the 1960s, Chiara Lubich’s concepts: ‘unity’, ‘mutual love’, and ‘the model of the new family’ have spread into Taiwan. Her concepts have influenced many families to live in a new way. In this paper, several historical and current family models in Taiwan as well as the relationship between Chiara Lubich’s concept of ‘unity’ and families will be explored to see whether her concepts could be a possible path to reconcile the conflicts of families, and how it could be possibly put into practice.

The primary objective of this paper is to identify and characterize the diplomatic communication of Pope Francis in speeches addressed to the diplomatic corps accredited to the Holy See from 2013 to 2021. The formulated research objective can be presented in the form of the following questions: What is diplomatic communication? What are the characteristics of diplomatic communication of the Holy See? What are its objectives? How is it distinguished from other forms of communication? What issues does Pope Francis address in his speeches to ambassadors accredited to the Holy See? What are the characteristics of these speeches? What language and symbolism does Pope Francis use in this diplomatic message? The answers to these questions will be determined by analyzing the media content of Pope Francis’ speeches addressed to the Vatican diplomatic corps from 2013–2021, available on the Holy See’s official website: vatican.va. The article has an overview and research character. Its indirect purpose is to draw attention to the issue of diplomatic communication in the Roman Catholic Church.

The main purpose of this study is to present the history of the Ulma family from Markowa against the background of the biblical vision of redeemed in Rev 7:9-17. On 24 March 1944, Wiktoria and Józef Ulma and their seven children were murdered by German soldiers for giving shelter to eight Jews. The beatification process of the family from the Subcarpathia region began several years ago and has an unique character. It lies in that the beatification process concerns not only the parents, but all their children: Stanisława, Barbara, Władysław, Franciszek, Antoni and Maria aged from 8 to 1.5 years, and the Unborn child, still in Wiktoria’s womb. This article consists of two parts: exegetical and biographical. The first part contains an exegetic and theological analysis of the text of Rev 7:9-17, which provides a biblical context for the second part of the paper, describing the heroic story of the family.

The myth of the fallen angels, as it is known from the intertestamental literature, narrates the story of the angels who break the divine law, marry earthly women, and beget malevolent hybrid progeny. The latter element of this narrative can be found in the Babylonian Talmud, where it is invested with new significance: these are the distinguished rabbis who are the heavenly messengers’ offspring. I start this paper by outlining the traces of the rabbis’ familiarity with the myth of the fallen angels and then move on to an analysis of the tradition about the angelic origins of the sages found in bShabb 112b. I offer that this passage should be read as exemplifying the practice of associating rabbis and angels that permeates the whole Babylonian Talmud. I base on two methodological paradigms: cognitive linguistics, which allows for the translation of this problem into two conceptual metaphors (SAGES ARE ANGELS and ANGELS ARE SAGES), and the Elyonim veTachtonim – a system of quantitative and qualitative analysis of the traditions involving supernatural entities, which permits to locate all the Talmudic passages utilizing these metaphors and to interpret their place in the broader conceptual network. The data show that the sages and rabbinized biblical figures are frequently juxtaposed with angels, and the main dimension of comparison is their intellectual proficiency. When it comes to the mapping of specific rabbinic competencies onto the angels, the most popular is the ability to engage in halakhic scrutiny and teaching. In sum, this presentation of the sages as angels can be taken as an expression of the sense of elitism entertained by the Babylonian sages and, as such, sheds additional light on the interpretation of the passage in bShabb 112b.

The paper explores the history of Hebrew studies in Poland from the early 16th century to the 20th century. The beginnings of academic studies and thorough research into biblical Hebrew can be traced back to the 16th century as the first lecturers of classical languages appeared at the Kraków University. They were also the first to write textbooks for learning this language, and some of tchem translated biblical books from their original languages. Jewish printing houses had a significant impact on the growing interest in Hebrew studies, both in the Jewish and Christian communities. Passion for Hebrew was still observed in Poland in the 17th and 18th centuries. In turn, the late 18th century and the 19th century were the times of the Jewish Enlightenment (Haskalah) and disputes about the shape of Hebrew. At universities theological studies included biblical Hebrew courses. The 20th century saw the emergence of numerous centres for Hebrew studies at leading Polish universities, offering full-time Bachelor and Master’s programmes, conducting interdisciplinary research, developing scholarly publications in the field and establishing organizations aiming to promote research on Jewish history, culture and language.

Exod 19:3–8 and the description of Israel’s identity as a chosen nation bound by a covenant with YHWH (Exod 19:5–6: special possession, kingdom of priests, holy nation) have much in common both with statements known from deuteronomistic and priestly texts as well as from the so-called School of Holiness. This multiplicity of thematic, conceptual and linguistic connections makes the source classification and dating of this text quite difficult. The only consensus today is that it was written at the earliest just after the Babylonian exile. In this paper, the description of Israel’s identity in Exod 19:5–6 is linked to the priestly concept of the portable sanctuary, in which the specific location of the sanctuary (the sanctuary in the desert) is no longer important and not only the king or the priests are responsible for it, but the entire nation. This vocation is to be realized by the nation’s attitude of faithfulness to God (Exod 19:5a) in everyday life. In this way, sacred space in Israel goes beyond the walls of the temple and even Jerusalem (as according to Ezechiel), nor is it any longer limited to selected moments (visit to the sanctuary), but encompasses the entire life of the nation in all its aspects

Many devoted and well-educated Catholics begin to doubt the need for the Church. Flooded by the plethora of publications about the Church’s dark pages and scandals in the past and today they feel pain and are ashamed. On the other hand, they realize that the Church can be neither a mistake nor a lie. Undoubtedly, Catholics and Catholic theology need today an honest and serious apology of the Catholic Church that will not conceal any of her true weaknesses. This paper seeks to prove that such an apology is offered by Joseph Ratzinger (1927–2022). It is an attempt to recreate it on the basis of his entire intellectual output. His diagnosis of the Catholic Church is bitterly critical, he indicates many ecclesial problems that seem to be carried over from one generation to the next. At the same time, he provides an original apology of the Catholic Church that can surely be helpful in accepting the bipolar truth about her: God’s real presence has been so many times mediated by the disappointing Church. This article’s final part attempts to critically evaluate the effectiveness of Ratzinger’s apology from the contemporary perspective of ardent Catholics.

RESEARCH OBJECTIVE: The aim of this paper is to identify and characterise the specifics of the dialogue of meanings occurring in the portfolio of early education students, considered in the context of the possibilities of educating teachers. THE RESEARCH PROBLEM AND METHODS: The considerations focus on two research problems: What content of the portfolio of early education students demonstrates that they engage the dialogue of meanings with educational issues and their own school experience? What shape does the knowledge about the world as reconstructed by teacher entrants take? To analyse the portfolio, which I treat as legacy data, I use the method of qualitative analysis of text. THE PROCESS OF ARGUMENTATION: In the first part, I reconstruct the relationship between the dialogue of meanings as a component of learning strategies, and the educational portfolio as a tool for monitoring achievements. In the empirical part, I characterise the categories that emerged in the content analysis and show their interconnections with the dialogic assignment of meanings to educational reality. RESEARCH RESULTS: The results of the analysis show that the learning strategy which makes use of the dialogue of meanings and the portfolio enables students to discover the possibility of assigning individual sense to educational reality, not excluding the existence of different perspectives and respecting them. By undertaking a dialogue with personal knowledge and their own experiences, the students gradually went beyond the framework of obviousness and expanded their perspective of thinking about the world of school. CONCLUSIONS, INNOVATIONS, RECOMMENDATIONS: Thinking about teacher professionalism is changing, with the presented analysis providing a view on this matter. It shows the premises and effects of a certain possibility of educating teachers who are open to the complexity of educational reality and to the dialogue preventing its reduction.

RESEARCH OBJECTIVE: The aim of the article is a theoretical diagnosis of the influence of the pace of recent civilisation changes on a selected fragment of the socialisation process in the family. The course of analysis is the specificity of the relationship between parents and adolescent children (aged 15-18), including an attempt to explore the modifications occurring in these areas resulting from the development of information technology. THE RESEARCH PROBLEM AND METHODS: The research problem of this paper is an attempt to answer the question: To what extent do new inter- and intra-generational divisions – appearing as a result of rapid civilisation changes generated by the development of information technologies – modify the socialising dialogue in relations between parents and adolescent children? The research method used was a selective analysis of theoretical works and research reports from sociology, psychology, psychiatry, neurobiology and information technology. THE PROCESS OF ARGUMENTATION: The article presents selected elements of the conceptual model used to analyse the world of contemporary generations. It includes the new division into the world of the present past and the world of the present future, together with their new inhabitants – people of the past and people of the future. RESEARCH RESULTS: As a consequence of the increasingly deepening division of the world of generations, constructing a socialisation dialogue in the relationship between parents and adolescent children has become more complicated. The confrontational-verifying influence of intra-familial socialisation concerning the areas of secondary socialisation is noticeably losing its significance. CONCLUSIONS, INNOVATIONS, AND RECOMMENDATIONS: The modifications of intergenerational relations within the family, occurring as a result of rapid civilisation changes, result in an “unfinished”, incomplete socialisation process of adolescent children, heading towards an unknown form of adulthood with this new cultural capital.

Social enterprises perceive social and environmental issues as primary objectives of their hybrid socio-economic activities. They believe that financial stability is a prerequisite, not a goal. This approach is similar to Catholic social teaching (CST). The detailed content of the social encyclicals is a valuable means of deeper exploration and enrichment of the moral dimension of social enterprise management. The following article analyses social entrepreneurship from the point of view of the fundamental principles of CST and theological premises. The reference to the management of a social enterprise of the supreme personalistic standard and principles such as the common good, subsidiarity, and solidarity allows the moral dimension of this process to be understood more deeply. The paper was created based on a method appropriate to research focused on moral theology and CST. First, the content of selected literature on the subject (social entrepreneurship) and carefully selected theological-moral sources (especially papal documents and publications by CST researchers) were analysed. Subsequently, the results of the analysis were subjected to inference and conceptual work in relation to the adopted general research objective and specific research tasks: the phenomenon of social enterprises was described; the specific features and limitations of the social enterprise management process were identified; the fundamental principles of Catholic social teaching as normative criteria for social enterprise management were reviewed; the possibility of applying the aforementioned CST principles to social enterprise practice was discussed and presented, and the final conclusions were formulated.