Three Theological Currents And Two Anthropologies At The Bishops\u27 Synod on Family, 1980

The author connects the information about the sixth Synod of Bishops in 1980 and the introduction into the apostolic exhortation of the Pope John Paul II Familiaris consortio — about the duties of the Christian family in the contemporary world. The article would like to be a comment into the introductory numbers (FC 1 — 3). It informs us about the study way of the Synod, about the connection yith previous Synods because of the service of the Church to the family. It speaks about the material and formal object of the documents of the FC, with the wish that one should see the importance of the moment of the faith, since it is only through it that the atitude of the Synod and the doctrine of the documents is explained. Then it speaks about the addressees of the exhortation and about the specific purpose of the renewal of marriage and family. In its second part the article is a theological discussion on the methodology of the Synodal Fathers as it is revealed in their interventions. There are three currents or tendencies: two of them are theological and one pastoral, each of them having its adherents. The first and the second ones are concerned with the »contents« of the message and they could be aligned into «deontologists« or into »teleologists« accordingly, with the traits of two different anthropologies. The third ones are concerned with the »parenesis« or with the way of conveying the message. The document FC shows the traces of all these three tendencies but it surpasses them with the biblical and theological intuition which could be barely aligned into these schemes. At the end the author apprises some important characteristics of the exhortation FC and some more important novelties which open ways and perspectives for the further study of the theological and ethical doctrine of the FC