„Wierzymy, bo kochamy”. Teo-logiczny związek wiary, nadziei i miłości

Abstract

The article proposes to treat the theological virtues (faith, hope, love) in their organic theological unity. It consists o f two main parts: the first one is dedicated to the main thesis and the second one shows the arguments for it (Augustin, Thomas Aquinas, John Henry Newman). The unity of faith, hope and love is a theological unity because it is based on the gift of God, on his communicative revelation (the concept of komunikative Offenbarungstheologie of the Vatican II) and it aims at the real participation in the divine, trinitarian life. The inner unity of faith, hope and love is shown on the base of the deduction from the Christian concept of revelation. The theological-phenomenological analysis of revelation of God, as exposed in Dei Verbum 2, leeds to affirmation of the necessity of the integrally existential response of man to God’s self-manifestation. If faith is the real answer to the revealing God, who out of his infinite love wants human beings to participate in his own trinitarian life, such faith has to include hope and love. From the other hand, Godes Selbstmitteilung in his revelation is the ontological (both catégorial and transcendental) communication of the divine life which makes possible human participation. God communicates his life (God reveals himself) through outpouring of faith, hope and love. These virtues are the means of the human participation in the Trinity. It comes from it, that faith, hope and love are the modalities of God’s own life. They can communicate the life of God only because they form part – in this or another way – of this life. The unity of theological virtues is grounded ultimately in the very God’s life, in the eternal, trinitarian communio personarum.