Corporeality in the View of Selected Christian Churches in Czech Lands from 1917 to 1970

Abstract

This paper presents part of a wider research project, focusing on the view of corporeality, which was presented by selected Christian churches through church documents and commentaries in church newspapers during the period from 1917 to 1970 in the Czech lands. The view on corporeality was deduced from the churches’ view of body and soul and their mutual relationship, as well as from their attitude to activities that are focused primarily on the development of the physical aspect of man, consequently on sport and physical exercise, and also to the world in its materialistic form in general. The applied research methods were: the discourse-historical approach and hermeneutics. Five essential discourses were identified that construct the view on corporeality: the discourse of givenness; the discourse of acquired construct; the national discourse; the discourse of instrument; and the discourse of non-fulfilment. Within their framework, four so-called cross-sectional discourses were identified: freedom – bondage; unity – discord; fragment – whole; spiritual – material. The paper‘s findings suggest that the selected churches approach the body and soul dualistically, yet they should be not put in an antagonistic but in a congruent relation. The presented empirical research uncovered a view on corporeality that has not yet been expressed in specialist literature or any research carried out, as it dealt with the view of Christian churches on corporeality. Keywords: Corporeality, The Church, The Mutual Relationship between Soul and Body