Man − the Way of the Church

Abstract

The article is an attempt at interpretation of the sentence: „Man is the way of the Church”, included in the encyclical Redemptor hominis which presents a programme of John Paul II’s pontificate. Man is the way of the Church as he is the way to man-Establisher of the Church, Jesus Christ. And Jesus Christ is God who − to save man’s humanity when man proved faithless to himself and to his Creator − becomes a man himself. Since then the answer to the question about the reason of God’s way to man, which is characterized by the event of Incarnation (Verbum caro − Deus homo): W h y  did God become a man? (Cur Deus homo?) − is at the same time the answer to the question about the sense of the word „way” in the sentence „Man is the way of the Church”. This answer becomes at the same time man’s only adequate way to get to know the truth about himself (self-cognition), i.e. giving an answer to the question „Who am I?” This answer is also the only adequate way for the Church to discover its identity: „man has to be the way of the Church” as he is „the way of its Establisher, Jesus Christ”, and as „man cannot be understood without Jesus Christ” (John Paul II).