Pope John Paul II, Laborem Exercens 1. In the encyclical Laborem Exercens, Pope John Paul II identifies two stages in the development of the Church’s social teaching: the first between Rerum Novarum and Quadragesimo Anno, and the second from Quadragesimo Anno to the present (with a special focus on Pope John XXIII’s encyclical Pacem in Terris, or “Peace on Earth).  Please describe briefly the features of each of these stages in the Church’s social teaching. 2. According to Pope John Paul II: “The Church is convinced that work is a fundamental of man’s dimension on earth.”  Explain why he is convinced of this. 3. Discuss how Pope John Paul II describe “work” in the encyclical Laborem Exercens? 4. In Laborem Exercens, Pope John Paul II argues that, “Man is the image of God partly through the mandate received from his creator to subdue, to dominate, the earth.  In carrying out this mandate, man, every human being, reflects the very action of the creator of the universe.”  Explain what he means.  Explain in particular how Pope John Paul interprets the admonition that man should “subdue and dominate” the earth. 5. Please discuss the distinction Pope John Paul II makes in Laborem Exercens between work in the objective sense and work in the subjective sense?  What, according to the Pope, must always be the ultimate “purpose” of work?  What is its ultimate end? 6. Please discuss how “materialism” and “economism” represent threats to the right order of values when it comes to work. 7. Work, says Pope John Paul, has three “spheres of value.”  The first concerns the person as an individual.  The second concerns the person’s work in relationship to the family.  And the third concerns “the great society to which man belongs on the basis of particular cultural and historical links.”  In this way, “man combines his deepest human identity with membership of a nation, and intends his work also to increase the common good developed together with his compatriots, thus realizing that in this way work serves to add to the heritage of the whole human family, of all the people living in the world.”  Please discuss briefly each of these three “spheres of value” and how man’s work serves to foster each of them. 8. How does Pope John Paul II describe the stages of the history of “the conflict between labor and capital”?  What does Pope John Paul II mean when he affirms “the priority of labor over capital”?  Does he mean the same thing Karl Marx meant by that phrase?  Explain the difference. 9. What is the Church’s position on the “right” to private property?  How does it differ from either the liberal or the conservative positions as they are usually enunciated in the United States? 10. What does Pope John Paul II have to say about the importance of man “working for himself.”  Please explain what he means.  What danger is presented, in this regard, by systems of “excessive bureaucratic centralization”?  11. Discuss the distinction Pope John Paul II makes between “direct” and “indirect” employers?  How does he bring this distinction to bear in his discussion of “the employment issue”? 12. What does Pope John Paul II have to say in Laborem Exercens about “labor unions”?  What important role do they plan?  What warnings does he give about them? 13. What light is thrown on the question of work, according to Pope John Paul II, by the cross and resurrection of Christ?