PERSONAL DEVELOPMENT, SPIRITUALITY AND THE ROMANIAN CONTEXT. A STUDY OF FR. STANILOAE'S PUBLICIST WORK FROM THE INTERWAR PERIOD

Dumitru Staniloae (1903-1993) was certainly one of the most important Romanian theologians of the 20th century. This fact explains why his works are until nowadays read, discussed or analysed and constitute the topic of different monographs, studies, articles or reviews. Among the long list of the texts that he published during his life, there still are some that were not enough referred or investigated. Or, when they were, the references almost always suggested his nationalist orientation, or the fact that the scholar placed himself among the Romanian thinkers of the interwar period with far-right orientation: the studies and articles published during the interwar period in journals like Telegraful Roman from Sibiu, Luceafarul from Sibiu, Gandirea from Bucharest or Ramuri from Bucharest. Being aware of their significance, we will make an effort to consider them and emphasize how topics such as personal development and spirituality in the context of Romania at that time can be addressed. We will also examine the author's unique contributions to their exploration. Compared with the studies and articles published later, during the Communist period, which were mostly theological (in order to avoid the censorship, but also due to the preferences, orientation and formation of the author), these ones have a rich thematic orientation from the historical, ethnographical, theological, sociological, philological or philosophical perspectives.