The approach and subsequent arrival of the fiftieth anniversary of Vatican II has sparked abundant reflection on the meaning and proper interpretation of the council's texts. Kijas's and Dobrzyński's work offers a distinctive contribution to this endeavor by examining the ways in which three key ideas link the council and the pontificate of John Paul II. To that end, the eight essays in this volume explore the themes of Christ, church, and humanity as forming an “inseparable trinity” in both the council fathers’ deliberations and John Paul II's pontificate (4). These loci and their interrelationships connect council and pope because, according to the authors, both parties saw them as critical to the Christian community's task of rediscovering itself and rekindling its sense of purpose.
Prospective readers should note that this volume does not dedicate significant time to engaging Vatican II's texts; rather, its authors give close consideration to the thought of John Paul II as a way of tracing out the theological and philosophical commitments expressed by the council. Vatican II's teachings, in many ways, reflect an anthropological turn by affirming the nature and experience of the human person as a way to respond to contemporary questions and create common ground. The essays in this volume, in a sense, explore the basis for this turn by examining Pope John Paul's efforts to demonstrate the connection between anthropology and Christology, including the way in which the latter gives the former its form and meaning. At the heart of the christological-anthropological link lies the conviction that real human fulfillment can be found only in Christ's church. The authors of the volume note that Vatican II's efforts to promote a deeper understanding of the Church's relationship to the modern world, while providing the necessary aggiornamento, constituted a formative experience for the young archbishop from Krakow. Reflecting on the council, John Paul noted, “We have taken up this challenge—I was there with the Council Fathers—and we responded [by] seeking a more coherent understanding of the faith” (10). John Paul II understood well that providing this “coherent understanding of the faith” depended on the Church's ability to articulate a satisfying answer to the question “What (Who) is man?” (18).
The essays in this volume focus on the ways that the connections between Christ, church, and humanity illumine issues such as bioethics, the family, human rights, and the role of women. Like Vatican II's documents, most of John Paul II's papal writings have a distinctly pastoral tone. This volume looks at the sophisticated philosophical, metaphysical, and often technical aspects of thought that undergird his positions. A prominent thread that runs throughout the essays is the relationship between freedom and truth and the way that both are constitutive of human personhood. For John Paul II, “The proper action of a human being, what makes one human, is to seek the truth, to know it, and to live according to the known truth. . . . Therefore, the first and fundamental right of the human being is freedom, which begins with freedom of conscience” (23–24). This requires “restoring faith in the capacity to recognize truth” (85). Thus, the greatest contribution that the Church can make to the modern world, according to John Paul II, is to instill within it a deeper sense of the authentic nature of human experience and the existence of real truth.
Kijas's and Dobrzyński's volume is valuable for those who have a particular interest in the thought of John Paul II or who wish to probe the connections between Christology, anthropology, and ecclesiology that pervade Vatican II's documents. It is an important addition to ongoing engagements with the council and the “coherent understanding of the faith” that it sought to present.
