Original scientific paper
Mardešić’s vision of Christianity and politics – before and today
Špiro Marasović
Abstract
As an active and practicing Catholic who has not dealt with the sociology and phenomenology of religion for pure leisure, but more so for his fundamental interest in the adequate and efficient presence of Christianity in social and political life, Ž. Mardešić was greatly dissatisfied with the approach Catholics had towards social and political life before the Second Vatican Council and was also disappointed with the way Catholics had entered into that life in Croatia after having gained independence from Yugoslavia and committing itself to a democratic system. Therefore it was proven to be interesting and of necessity to see what his vision of Christianity and politics used to be and what it is today, which is also the topic and mission of this article. In order for this issue to be enlightened, the author of this article has divided his work into three sections in trying to find the answer to three questions: 1. What does Ž. Mardešić consider politics to be? 2. In his opinion, what elements of Christianity make it socially and politically relevant? 3. What did this relationship bear a resemblance to before and what does it look like today, especially in Croatia after the Second Vatican Council and Homeland War? In searching for the answer to the first question, the author noted that according to Ž. Mardešić, politics is in fact the same as democracy since it is the only social system in which »polis« becomes an area of active responsibility for »demos« and accordingly, a precondition for the possibility of a Christian engagement for the common good. The author finds the answer to the second question in goodness, and not just any goodness; it is a specific Christian goodness, Christ-like and Christ-centred which includes love towards the enemy, which in its core is a self-giving service to others; everything else, he puts under the syntagm of »evil politics« or »politicizing« which is only another form of egoistic rule, a fruit of an ideology and a hotbed of hate. In the third section, the author points to Mardešić’s conclusion that amongst Catholics in a free and independent Croatia »politicizing« rather than »politics« still prevails. More so, that pre-Council Catholicism and not Council Catholicism dominates.
Keywords
democracy; goodness; Catholicism; politics; politicizing; ideology
Hrčak ID:
38797
URI
Publication date:
30.4.2009.
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