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On Human Work: An Evaluation of the Key Ideas of the Encyclical Laborem Exercens
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 02 February 2009
Extract
Last year John Paul II published his encyclical, Laborem exercens (LE), and Roman Catholic social teaching was so much the richer for it. Only his illness prevented the encyclical from being published on the day of the ninetieth anniversary of the first encyclical on the question of work, Rerum novarum (1891), written by the great pope of the ‘social question’, Leo XIII. LE was intended to contribute to the ‘immortal fame of the encyclical, Rerum novarum’, as Pius XI said of his encyclical Quadragesimo anno (1931). This indicates a basic continuity of LE with the developments in Roman Catholic social teaching set in motion by Rerum novarum. In fact John Paul II explicitly states his intention to remain in organic connexion with these developments. And indeed, with respect to the content of the encyclical, one finds hardly anything fundamentally new.
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page 65 note 1 One should think here primarily of the encyclical Quadragesimo anno (1931) of Pius XI, the radio message of Pius XII, ‘La Solennita’ (1941), the encyclical Mater et magistra of john XXIII (1961), the pastoral constitution Gaudium et spes (1965) and the encyclical Populorum progressio (1967) of Paul VI.
page 65 note 2 von Nell-Breunning, O., ‘Kommentar’, in Paulus, Johannes II, Über die menschliche Arbeit (Frieburg/Basel/Wien: Herder, 1981), pp. 106ffGoogle Scholar.
page 65 note 3 See, for instance, Rerum novarum, Nrs. 1–3 and Quadragesimo anno, title page. cf. also Mater et magistra, Nr. 50.
page 65 note 4 LE, Nr. 1. I am quoting from Laborem exercens, Encyclical Letter of the Supreme Pontiff John Paul II on Human Work (London: Catholic Truth Society, 1981).
page 66 note 5 ibid., Nr. II.
page 66 note 6 ibid., Nr. 3.
page 66 note 7 ibid.
page 66 note 8 ibid., p. 3.
page 67 note 9 ibid.
page 67 note 10 In his article ‘Sinn der Arbeil’, Recht auf Arbeit — Sinn der Arbeit, ed. Moltmann, J.. München: Kaiser, 1979Google Scholar, Moltmann also pleads for a more comprehensive concept of work. This he understands as ‘tätige Teilnahmeam Gesellschaftsprozeß’ (p. 81).
page 67 note 11 LE, Nr. 4; cf. Nr. 1.
page 67 note 12 ibid., Nr. 4.
page 67 note 13 ibid.
page 67 note 14 cf. Rerum novarum, Nr. 32; Gaudium et spes, Nr. 34.
page 67 note 15 LE, Nr. 3.
page 67 note 16 ibid., Nr. 4.
page 68 note 17 ibid. Contrary to LE, the Bible does not see man's work in correspondence to God's work. A certain correspondence, however, exists between God's rest and man's rest (cf. Preuß, H. D., ‘Arbeit I’, TRE, eds. Krause, G. and Mūller, G.. Berlin/New York: Walter de Gruyter, 1978, III, p. 614Google Scholar).
page 68 note 18 The application of dominium terrae to the subjective side of work (mastering the work process) is not justifiable exegetically.
page 68 note 19 Gaudium et spes, Nr. 63. cf. the statement of Paul VI: ‘ … es ist immer der Mensch, der arbeitet, und es ist immer der Mensch, für den er arbeitet’ (in Rovira, G., Das Persönlichkeitsrecht auf Arbeit. Salzburg: Anton Pustet, 1978, p. 318Google Scholar).
page 68 note 20 LE, Nr. 6.
page 69 note 21 ibid.
page 69 note 22 ibid., Nr. 7.
page 69 note 23 ibid., Nr. 13.
page 69 note 24 Quadragesimo anno, Nr. 65. Mater et magistra pleads for workers' participation both on the level of society as a whole and on the level of individual corporations (Nrs. 91, 97). cf. also Gaudium et spes, Nr. 68 and Populorum progressio, Nr. 28.
page 69 note 25 LE, p. 3.
page 69 note 26 Mater et magistra, Nr. 97.
page 69 note 27 LE, Nr. 13 (italics mine).
page 70 note 28 On the Jubilee year see Hengel, M., Eigentum und Reichtum in der frühen Kirche. Stuttgart: Calwer, 1973, pp. 22ffGoogle Scholar.
page 70 note 29 cf. Monsma, G. N. Jr., ‘Biblical Principles and Economic Theory’, typescript, p. 6Google Scholar.
page 70 note 30 Agrell, G., Work, Toil and Sustenance. Lund: Verbum, 1976, p. 29Google Scholar. He considers, however, this having power over the ‘means of production’ as ‘the second best ideal, after living on the land's sabbath (Lev. 25.6)’ (p. 162, n. 15). I see no ground in the text for considering living on the land's sabbath as an ideal. Agrell's interpretation is conditioned by his erroneous claim that in paradise (Gen. 2) man did not have to work for his sustenance. The purpose of working in the Garden and keeping it seems to me to be — among other things — providing sustenance. The point of the story is that, in contrast to the time after the fall, man's work was fruitful, easy and fulfilling.
page 70 note 31 On workers' participation from a Christian perspective see Wolf, E., Sozialethik. Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 1975, pp. 203–206Google Scholar; cf. also Moltmann, op. cit., p. 79.
page 70 note 32 Rerum novarum, Nrs. 5, 19; Quadragesimo anno, Nrs. 44ff.; Mater et magistra, Nrs. 109ff.
page 70 note 33 LE, Nr. 15.
page 71 note 34 On this issue strong disagreements arose between Yugoslav and USSR philosophers in the late forties and early fifities. Yugoslav communists accused the USSR of state capitalism and pleaded for societal ownership of the means of production.
page 71 note 35 LE, Nr. 15.
page 71 note 36 ibid., Nr. 14 (italics mine).
page 71 note 37 ibid.
page 71 note 38 ibid., Nr. 19.
page 71 note 39 cf. Aquinas, Summa theologica, II-II, q. 32, a. 5, ad. 2; q. 66, a. 2; q. 134, a. 1, ad. 3; Rerum novarum, Nr. 5; Mater et magistra, Nr. 43; Gaudium et spes, Nr. 69.
page 71 note 40 cf. Hengel, op. cit., pp. 20ff.
page 71 note 41 LE, p. 3.
page 72 note 42 The official English translation has ‘self-fulfilment’. In the original this passage reads:‘… se ipsum ut hominum perficit’. The German translation reads:‘… sich selbst als Mensch verwirklicht’. The Croatian translation is almost identical with the German. It seems to me preferable to use the word ‘self-actualisation’. The context in which the phrase occurs also points in the same direction.
page 72 note 43 ibid., Nr. 9.
page 72 note 44 ibid., Nrs. 9–10.
page 72 note 45 cf. Fichte, J. G., SW. Berlin: Veit, 1845–1846, VII, p. 12Google Scholar; Hegel, G. W. F., Werke. Frankfurt a. M.: Suhrkamp, 1971, XVII, p. 259Google Scholar; Marx, K., MEW. Berlin: Diez, 1977, EB/1, pp. 533ffGoogle Scholar.
page 72 note 46 Aquinas, Quaest. quodlib., VII, q. VII, a. 1 (17). cf. also Luther's statement: ‘Non enim ad ocium vocati sumus, sed ad laborem contra passionem’ (WA, LVI, p. 350).
page 72 note 47 The titles of the paragraphs are not ‘official’ since they do not appear in the Latin edition in Acta Apostolicae Sedis. However, they appear in all translations into modern languages, done in the Vatican.
page 73 note 48 LE, Nrs. 1, 9, 11, 27.
page 73 note 49 ibid., Nr. 9.
page 73 note 50 cf. Moltmann, J., Die ersten Freigelassenen der Schöpfung. München: Kaiser, 1971, pp.59–64Google Scholar.
page 73 note 51 On sclf-actualisation through work, cf. Moltmann, , ‘Sinn der Arbeit’, p. 79Google Scholar.
page 74 note 52 LE, Nr. 4 (italics mine).
page 74 note 53 ibid., Nr. 9. cf. Rerum novarum, Nr. 7.
page 74 note 54 LE, Nr. 12.
page 74 note 55 ibid., Nr. 1.
page 74 note 56 ibid., Nr. 5.
page 75 note 57 The only time the concept of responsibility to God occurs is in a quotation from Gaudium et spes (ibid., Nr. 25). But there it is not related to dominium terrae in its objective sense (cf. Gaudium et spes, Nr. 34).
page 75 note 58 cf. Wolff, H. W., Anthropologie des Alten Testaments. Berlin: Evangelische Verlagsanstalt, 3rd ed., 1977, p. 150Google Scholar.
page 75 note 59 Zimmerli, W., ‘Mensch und Arbeit im Alten Testament’. Recht auf Arbeit — Sinn der Arbeit, ed. Moltmann, J.. München: Kaiser, 1979, p. 43Google Scholar.
page 75 note 60 ibid.; cf. also Westermann, C., Genesis. Neukirchener Verlag, 1974, I, p. 219Google Scholar.
page 75 note 61 So C. Westermann, op. cit., p. 220. cf. also Westermann, C., Theologie des Alten Testaments in Grundzügen. Göttingen: Vandcnhoeck & Ruprecht, 1978, p. 84CrossRefGoogle Scholar.
page 75 note 62 The other reason for opting for Gen. 2–3 as a starting point for developing a Christian concept of work is the fact that this passage addresses the issue explicitly, whereas Gen. 1.28 does so only indirectly (so also LE, Nr. 5).
page 75 note 63 Westermann, C., Genesis, p. 301Google Scholar.
page 76 note 64 Westermann, C., ‘Arbeit und Kulturleistung in der Bibel’. Concilium 16 (1980), p. 45Google Scholar.
page 76 note 65 LE, Nr. 13.
page 76 note 66 Smith, A., Lectures on Justice, Police, Revenues and Arms, ed. Cannan, E.Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1896, p. 160Google Scholar.
page 77 note 67 G. W. F. Hegel. Werke, VII, § 191 Zusatz.
page 77 note 68 cf. ibid. In our time this fact has been emphasised by the ‘new left’ (J. Habermas, H. Marcuse, E. Fromm).
page 77 note 69 cf. Gen. 2.15; 1.29; Ps. 128.2; 2 Thess. 3.8; 1 Thess. 4.9–12; Eph. 4.28; Acts 20.33–5. See also H. D. Preuß, op. cit., p. 616; von Harnack, A., Die Mission und Ausbreitung des Christentums. Leipzig: J. C. Hinrichs'sche Buchhandlung, 1924, I, p. 198Google Scholar.
page 77 note 70 Barth, K., Church Dogmatics. Edinburgh: T. & T. Clark, 1961, III/4, p. 525Google Scholar.
page 77 note 71 cf., however, ibid., pp. 537ff.; Meeks, M. D., ‘The Holy Spirit and Human Need’. Christianity in Crisis, Nov. 10, 1980, pp. 307–316Google Scholar.
page 77 note 72 Against M. D. Meeks, op. cit., p. 313.
page 77 note 73 cf. Westermann, op. cit., pp. 45–50.
page 78 note 74 cf. LE, Nrs. 9, 15, 26.
page 78 note 75 Fichte, op. cit., III, p. 409.
page 78 note 76 It is actually surprising to read in LE that one cannot understand the importance of diligence apart from the idea of self-actualisation (Nr. 10). The early church connected diligence almost always with mission and almsgiving.
page 78 note 77 LE, Nr. 10.
page 78 note 78 ibid., Nr. 14.
page 78 note 79 One should not forget that the celebrated work of Adam Smith was entitled An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations!
page 79 note 80 Barth, op. cit., p. 535.