Research

Today we face profound uncertainty in our relationship with reality. It concerns the nature of relations themselves: Are they expressions of substantial realities? Or is reality a result of functional relations, as suggested by relational and structural ontologies in both analytic and continental philosophy? We propose exploring these questions through Trinitarian ontology, a novel way of understanding being in imitation of God as Trinity. Emerging from German idealism, phenomenology, personalism, and Thomism, it became associated with Klaus Hemmerle’s work and stimulated broader scholarly interest.

To progress, we will mobilise this new interest by discussing Trinitarian ontologies as a specific point of contribution to the tradition of metaphysics, and focusing on a systematic development of their unique assumptions. These consist primarily in a radical but substantial relationality, which can be discovered to present a momentous new opportunity for today’s philosophy and theology.

The recent development of the globalized world confirms the observation made in the preface of Pope Francis’ Apostolic Constitution Veritatis Gaudium that today we are not only facing an epoch of changes but above all a change of epoch characterized by a global anthropological and socio-ecological crisis. In the midst of these crises, not only are new horizons of reality emerging, linked to the question of man’s place in the totality of reality and his relation to an objective order of values, but also urgent challenges and questions concerning the future of the Church and Christianity. The present project seeks to relate these two issues, following the so-called “broad” conception of reason (Benedict XVI.), and the methodological principles that the Apostolic Constitution Veritatis Gaudium has established as criteria for the renewal of ecclesial studies and theological or philosophical research (mysticism of communion, analogia Trinitatis, dialogue, transdisciplinarity, polyhedral character of collaboration). The application of these principles will allow to approach the individual sub-research topics in the fields of theology (1), philosophy (2) and their interrelations (3) with attention not only to their own nature and specific scientific character, but also to the overall horizon of contemporary theological and philosophical research and its ecumenical and social significance. 

The selected research topics in theology (1) reflect the urgency and multifacetedness of the question of the future of Christianity and specifically Christian ecclesial existence. Adopting a fundamental-theological approach to ecclesiology makes it possible to address the dynamic significance of the synodal transformation of the Church in relation to the Church itself and to the processes constituting social relations in today’s world. This is particularly important in a situation when the Church is to become a source of new argumentation in the face of old (the death penalty) and new (gene therapy) legal or ethical problems. But a new “ressourcement” of key traditions, especially the moral theology of Thomas Aquinas, must also be part of a forward-looking reflection in moral theology. The need to examine its metaphysical character is related to the interdependence of systematic theology and philosophy. The question of the future of Christianity is posed in connection with the question of man’s being-in-the-world, which always has a fundamental futural orientation. From the side of dogmatic theology, this problem could be approached in an ecumenical context by examining the antinomian thought of P. A. Florensky, the pneumatology in the work of V. Lossky, and by reinterpreting the modern Roman Catholic Marian dogmas. For a philosophical theology, it is precisely Mary and her relation to the Holy Spirit that signify the concrete realization of the union of the futuristic orientation of human personal existence and the radical newness of the incarnation of the Son of God in the history of salvation. In the span between systematic theology and philosophy (3), therefore, the task of exploring the ontological meaning of Mariology is offered against the background of a broader discussion on Trinitarian ontology (K. Hemmerle). 

Selected topics from the philosophical field (2) are closely related to this interest in Mary’s personal being in philosophy and theology. The personalist emphasis on the participation of the human person in values will be linked in this project both to the preparatory work for a critical edition of Dietrich von Hildebrand’s unpublished texts and to a systematic treatment of the problem on which the peculiarity of a fundamentally future-oriented human existence is most evident, namely the roots of moral evil. Results from all three research areas will be presented at a number of national and international conferences (some of the co-investigators will be involved in the organization of the annual International Teaching Week).

The main goal of the project “Trinitarian Ontology of the Human Person” (2021-2023) is to re-establish and strengthen the connection of the Czech theology and theological philosophy to the ever-growing international “Trinitarian ontology” scholar community and movement, and, at the same time, to foster and deepen an interdisciplinary dialogue of theology and philosophy within the Czech academia. All the many anticipated outputs of this research project (including an extensive thematic issue of AUC Theologica 2/2021 on ‘Trinitarian Ontology’; co-organisation of the New Trinitarian Ontologies EuARe Panel 2021; a series of research seminars at the Catholic Theological Faculty of the Charles University; original research articles and monographs concerning the Trinitarian ontology of the human person; or an international “Trinitarian ontology” conference in 2023 in Prague) will contribute to the vivid field of “Trinitarian ontology” from the personalistic point of view, stressing the Trinitarian foundations of the personal being-in-relations.

The project was led by Pavel Frývaldský, co-researchers were Martin Danišek, Eduard Fiedler and Petr Macek. Eduard Fiedler and Petr Macek continue the work done in this project within TRIERTIUM.