Thinking and Doing Christian Social Ethics in Croatia

Abstract

The Croatian approach to Christian Social Ethics over the last 30 years or so has been marked by the interplay between the Social Teaching of the Church and theological efforts to apply it to the concrete Church and social practice in Croatia. In order to provide an understanding of the Croatian context, the first part of the paper highlights the historical, social, and cultural context that places Croatia within the Central European cultural sphere. Since the 1990 democratic turnaround, interest in the Social Teaching of the Church has been increasing both in Croatian society and within the Croatian Church. From a theological perspective, the response came with the establishment of the Chair in Social Teaching of the Church (2000) at the Catholic Faculty of Theology of the University of Zagreb. The official Church response came with the foundation and opening (1998) of the Centre for the Promotion of the Social Teaching of the Church. The paper sets out to demonstrate the Croatian model of thinking and doing Christian Social Ethics, offering a concrete blueprint for the practical application of the Social Teaching of the Church in Croatia. This model boasts specific features that can be compared with the development of Christian Social Ethics in other countries and cultural contexts where Christians live and work.