Bogoslovska smotra, Vol. 86 No. 4, 2016.
Original scientific paper
The Church as An Authentic Place of Actualisation of The Idea of Democracy
Jure Perišić
orcid.org/0000-0002-7739-1797
Abstract
Starting from some fundamental ideas of the Second Vatican Council, taken from its ecclesiology (Lumen gentium), the article addresses the issue of the possibility of concretisation of fundamental principles of democracy in the Church. Through searching for its constitutive moments and discovering these in the ideas of equality, joint decision making and, consequently, in freedom, this article insists on clearer connection between the spirit of democracy and the post-conciliar interpretation of the reality of the Church. Apart from that, the article demands a more thorough living of democracy in the Church. Hence, the author does not aim so much at pointing out that democracy within the Church needs to be primarily manifested in its hierarchical-legal segment (although that is certainly needed), but instead argues for the acceptance of the democratic spirit in every-day living of Christianity. Therefore, the third part of the article will offer, on the basis of study of texts of eminent Catholic thinkers, some concrete examples of actualisation of the idea of democracy in the Church in the 21st century.
Keywords
Church; democracy; equality; freedom; co-responsibility
Hrčak ID:
174463
URI
Publication date:
7.2.2017.
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