Studia Gilsoniana (Jun 2024)
Misterium Caritatis: Christian Values in the Polish School of the Law of Nations (Ius Gentium)
Abstract
The Polish medieval theory of the law of nations (ius gentium) was born in the nation’s conflict with the Order of Teutonic Knights, which pursued a bloody military expansion into Eastern Europe under the pretext of converting pagans, invoking the ideology of a holy war to justify its aggressive actions. The scholars of Kraków defended not just the Polish raison d’état, but also the rights of other non-Christian peoples who were also the subject of Teutonic aggression (Lithuanians, Samogitians, and Ruthenians). Paulus Vladimiri (Paweł Włodkowic), the main founder of ius gentium, in his method argued from several levels: the legal, theological, and philosophical, thus defending basic human rights: the rights to life, freedom, equality, tolerance, and the independence of nations. Vladimiri poses a fundamental question: who is a neighbor? He states that a neighbor is every human being, not only Christians, with this, in the context of the conflict with the Teutonic Order, showing the obvious contradiction of the Order’s actions with the injunction to love one’s neighbor. Vladimiri stood consistently on the grounds of the Christian religion, from which he drew the principles of the dignity of every human being, the freedom of the will, and one’s duty to love their neighbor, invoking, inter alia, the words of St. Paul in Corinthians (13, 2) and Galatians (5, 6; 5, 14). Vladimiri used a passage from the Letter to the Galatians (5, 19-21) to demonstrate the Teutonic Order’s misappropriation of the Christian faith, for “faith cannot be useful without love.” In this context, love (caritas) appears as a political virtue in the sense of self-giving, which is reflected in the vocation of the person realised in relation to others and which serves as the root and condition for the peaceful union of different nations.
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