Polska droga. "Caritas" w myśli politycznej Pierwszej Rzeczypospolitej

This paper follows the idea of the Christian caritas in the writings of political authors of the late Middle Ages and the early modern era: Stanisław of Skarbimierz, Paweł Włodkowic, Jan of Ludzisko, Andrzej Frycz Modrzewski, Łukasz Górnicki, Wawrzyniec Goślicki, Protestant and Catholic authors arguing about the Warsaw Confederation, and Post-Tridentine activists, in particular Piotr Skarga. The dominant role of that idea is a distinguishing feature in the political discourse during the times of the Polish- -Lithuanian Commonwealth (the First Polish Republic). Rhetorical persuasion focused around the idea of love becomes strongly marked from an axiological perspective and brings political rhetoric closer to Christian anthropology. The tradition thus created, distinct and permanent, does not remain isolated, though, from contemporary cultural inspirations; it is linked with the 15th-c. conciliarism, the 16th-c. Renaissance humanism, Post-Tridentine Catholic universalism and the Marian religiousness of the 17th century.