Theological Foundations new file

221 A Theological Evaluation of post-Trent theology. While the fact that the two authors drew their theological knowledge directly from the revealed sources of Scripture and Tradition is a valu- able quality of their teaching, their reasoning may strike today’s reader because of its overly literal interpretation of the texts of the Holy Scriptures. This is particularly evident in Father Papczynski’s writings, for example, in his description of the ultimate end of man and the world. By making it very realistic, he wanted to shock the reader and urge him to repent. Moreover, very often he did not go beyond the terse biblical interpretation and did not elaborate on the issues which he brought up. In Father Matulaitis-Matulewicz’s teaching, the emphasis is more bal- anced. He appeals to the listener’s reason rather than to his imagination. The apparent shortcomings in Father Papczynski’s and Father Matulaitis-Matulewicz’s approach to the truths contained in the Bible and to their interpretation can be explained by the status of biblical sci- ence in their times. In spite of these shortcomings, their teaching is very authentic because the moral issues with which it deals are firmly set in the basic truths contained in the treasury of revealed teaching. What can be considered a weakness with regard to the way our authors used the teachings of the Fathers of the Church is the fact that they often limited themselves to using quotations and did not try to elab- orate on certain themes or perform a more penetrating analysis of the issues discussed in these teachings. This, however, can be explained by the different intellectual and spiritual mind-set typical of their times. It is nonetheless to their credit that they brought the teaching of the Fathers closer to their readers and introduced it into theological thought which, in turn, became more convincing and more closely related to life. One can also find fault with Father Papczynski’s manner of express- ing his thoughts, selecting arguments and depicting the truths which he discussed; a manner which is rather annoying to the contemporary read- er. It is particularly noticeable in his meditations on death. Wishing to impel man to repentance, he tried to evoke fear in him by a very drastic description of the circumstances and consequences of death. 50 We must