Małżeństwo sakramentalne w świetle materiałów dydaktycznych do nauczania religii w gimnazjum i liceum w Polsce powstałych po 2001 roku

Sacramental marriage in the light of didactic materials for religious education at the junior high school and high school level created in Poland after 2001 presents the vision of Christian marriage based on the sacrament of matrimony depicted in selected junior high school and high school coursebooks for religious education: eds. J. Szpet, D. Jackowiak and Z. Marek.

The dissertation analyzes different dimensions of sacramental marriage present in the aforementioned materials for religious education, taking into account the context of existential and intellectual determinants characteristic for postmodernity, such as the break­‑up of community bonds, moral and religious crises, changes in understanding marriage and sexuality, preference or even imposition of ideologies negating the design of sacramental marriage as that which is based on fidelity and affirmation of life. In view of the subject of the dissertation, the fundamental factors of adolescence, a complex period of growing up and achieving personal maturity, have been referred to.

Marriage is depicted here as a natural bond between man and woman, who perceive their sexuality as a gift and commitment, which allows for discovering its deeper sense. Owing to the heated debate over the issue of understanding sex, the complementarity and equality of sexes as factors constituting the marital relationship in sacramental matrimony have been illustrated. Despite the fact that since its inception, the Catholic Church has perceived marriage as an institution founded primarily on the natural bond of man and woman, the element that significantly determines the Christian character of marriage is its sacral dimension. Due to its sacramentality, marriage is not only a natural community but a reality shaped by grace. Sacramental matrimony is a relationship of two persons making up an unequalled community of love, which is to encompass all dimensions of man as well as include and secure all needs. Strong accentuation of this issue in teaching religious education is of paramount importance nowadays – in the context of the common depreciation of the notion of “love.” According to the Christian values and norms, marriage is something more than just one of institutions of social life, based on the secular law and goals formulated horizontally. Religious education at school must, therefore, staunchly defend the religious vision of marriage and, at the same time, justify this standpoint effectively. Owing to the fact that esse of sacramental marriage, despite its grandeur, is not always adequate for the everyday fieri of many marriages, it is tremendously important to properly prepare oneself for the sacrament of matrimony. Appropriate preparation for marriage, including that which takes place in the course of religious education at school, should be regarded as one of conditions for the existence of the Church, which consists of “Home Churches.”

The methods employed in the present doctoral dissertation, entitled Sacramental marriage in the light of didactic materials for religious education at the junior high school and high school level created in Poland after 2001, include: the method of critical analysis of selected religious education materials in the context of substantial theological, philosophical, pedagogical and sociological literature, and the method of synthesis allowing for systematizing the scattered contents pertinent to the discussed subject.