Suggestions for Refining Theological Terminology in Slovak. Part IV

The fourth part of the “Suggestions for Refining Theological Terminology in Slovak” project deals with the incorrect wording and translation of the terms ‘ÄžudskosĹĽ’ (humanity – virtue) and ‘Äžudstvo’ (human race) in Slovak. It presents several examples from theological literature in which both incorrect terms are given. It points out their correct wording on the basis of official texts of the Catholic Church in Christology. It also looks for the causes of this phenomenon. One of them is the basic study of Christology abroad and the publication of theological articles or the translation of documents of the Catholic Church in Slovak, despite the fact that they did not master the terminology in the field of dogmatic theology in Slovak after returning from their studies. The second one is the similarity of the words ‘humanitas’ and ‘natĂşra humĂĄna’ in Latin and other languages, especially Romance languages, but also in Czech. Finally, it adds that the use of incorrect terms causes a distorted, even erroneous, phrasing of the text about the person of Jesus Christ. This unwanted phenomenon can be prevented by studying the available theological literature in Slovak.