This article is an analysis of Karol Górski's research into the history of the Church. From the very beginning of his interest in the subject, the historian from Toruń saw the renewal of the way it had been treated as the most important issue. He criticises the post-war historiography of the Church in Poland, especially its positivist basis, which directs research towards a certain type of questions. At the same time, he criticises research based on sociological assumptions.
According to the historian from Toruń, since the Church is not a human organisation in the eyes of Catholics, but the work of God, the starting point of research should be theology. The task of the Church is first and foremost the development of the life of grace, what we call the inner life of man. The essence of its activity and the basis of its being is the formation of a personal and social relationship with God.
According to Górski, the field of study of Church history should include the inner life of Christians, centred on three problems: 1) the influence of faith on the spiritual life, which is expressed in the study of Christian theology and philosophy; 2) the influence of love of God and hope, which is expressed in the study of mystical creativity; 3) the influence of charity on the practical behaviour of Christians, which is expressed in the study of social trends and charitable activity within the Christian community. The field of interest of our historian in the history of the Church is, as can be inferred, that of the theological virtues; in fact, it encompasses everything that has to do with man's relationship with God. The object of the theological virtues is God as the supreme truth (the object of faith), the supreme good (the object of hope) and, finally, the supreme good in itself (the object of love). According to Górski, this delimitation of the field of research marks the end of the "interference" of theology of history in the study of church history and history in general; the rest belongs to the historical method.
Górski treats his perspective on the analysis of Church history as the history of the personal and social relationship with God as an analysis of religiosity. Nowhere does he define this term. However, it can be concluded that by using the concept of religiosity he has in mind a constant spiritual mood, as we read in the work of his intellectual mentor, Jacek Woroniecki. According to the Toruñ historian, the study of religiosity essentially comprises two aspects: the individual and the social.
The study of religiosity in the individual dimension refers to the individual phenomenon of experiencing God's love as it manifests itself in the Church on the basis of its dogmas, sacraments and doctrine of grace. Initially, Gorski limited it to the study of mysticism. However, he soon extended it to the "simpler" forms of religious experience and decided to call it the study of the interior life.
These critical remarks about the sociological approach to the history of the Church do not mean that the Toruñ historian rejects it because he sees no point in dealing with the social aspect of religiosity. The problem is the image of society and the individual on which this analysis is based. Starting from a personalist view of the world and of man, he stresses that man is first and foremost a person, and only secondarily a social individual. According to Górski, sociologism obscures the essence of things and neglects the importance of studying the inner life and its psychology.
It should be clearly noted that Górski treats the study of the social aspect of religiosity as an extension of the study of its individual aspect. According to our historian, the schools of the inner life were only apparently limited by the walls of the monasteries, but in reality they shaped the practice of religious life in the broadest sense: charitable actions, missions, attitude to social issues, religious practice.
Research into the social aspect of religiosity would be the third point on Górski's agenda. Since he writes about the analyses of the first point of this programme that they should be carried out on the level of supra-individual achievements, they also belong to the social aspect of research.
The absence of religious practices sensu stricto in the original research plan is explained by the fact that they are linked to one of the moral virtues and do not, as in the other cases, have God himself as their object. On the other hand, the virtue of religion occupies a central place among the moral virtues, enriching man's relationship with God and playing a key role in the development of the personality.
The same applies to the presence of the concept of custom in Gorski's research practice. It seems that this is how our historian conceptualises the remaining moral virtues, also called moral virtues, for historical analysis. It is worth noting that he refers here to cultural anthropology.
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