The Unity of the Church in the Theological Works of Rev. Stanisław Nagy SCJ

Abstract

The topic of Church unity is one of the most important issues in both ecclesiology and ecumenical theology. The aim of the article is to show, using a diachronic and comparative method, how the concept of Church unity evolved and developed in the theological work of Stanisław Nagy, S.C.J., later a Cardinal. The first paragraph presents the Nagy’s views on Church unity from his apologetic period, which lasted some years after the end of the Vatican Council. The second paragraph presents a new approach to Church unity in Nagy’s thought, which emerged in connection with the ecclesiology of the Second Vatican Council and the inclusion of the Catholic Church into the ecumenical movement. This novelty was expressed in finding common ground between Catholic and Protestant ecclesiology in the recognition of the invisible and visible dimensions of the Church and in clarifying the possibility of a positive assessment of the ecumenical movement in the conciliar documents by applying the distinction between “Christian unity” and “Church unity” present in the decree on ecumenism Unitatis Redintegratio. The ecclesiology of the Church unity present in the writings of Stanisław Nagy, S.C.J., later a Cardinal, is a part of the current of the “hermeneutics of continuity” of which Joseph Ratzinger/Benedict XVI wrote, pointing to the permanence of the identity of the Church.