Sacramentally Embodied, Free, Feeling Persons: A Dialogue between St. John Paul II’s Thomistic Personalism and Clinical Practice

Abstract

This article is an attempt to explore the theological and philosophical thought of Karol Wojtyla/John Paul II for the purpose of clinical exploration and application—what does this personalist theologian, philosopher, and pastor impart to clinicians trying to help human persons? The first half of this article offers exploration of Wojtyla/JPII’s ideas about personalism, free will, the body, and the relationship between the body, mind, emotions, and sacrament. The last section of the article attempts to extrapolate and apply these ideas to clinical practice. The article ends by offering an example of how Wojtyla/JPII’s thought might look in clinical practice and includes a specific transcript appropriated from Frederickson wherein a therapist works with the patient’s will in a way that implicitly reflects the interests of Wojtyla/JPII.