The Catholic University of America Press is honored to publish the English Critical Edition of the Works of Karol Wojtyła/John Paul II. Prepared under the auspices of the John Paul II Institute in Washington DC, the English Critical Edition will comprise more than 20 volumes, covering all of John Paul II’s writings in the years before his papacy and a thematic selection of his papal writings.

The third volume of the series presents various ethical and anthropological works by Karol Wojtyła. In addition to multiple essays, this volume features his larger works such as Ethics: Its Concept and Methodology, A Primer of Ethics, Considerations on the Essence of Man, and On the Knowability and Knowledge of God. It also contains Wojtyła’s reviews of books, master’s theses, and doctoral dissertations, written chiefly while he lectured at the Catholic University of Lublin.

As was the case with previous volumes, Volume 3 also relies on the original manuscripts and typescripts of Wojtyła’s works. These original texts were compared with the Polish published editions, and all significant differences between them have been marked in the scholarly apparatus. Some of the essays in this volume have not been previously published in English, while some others have never been published before.

Karol Wojtyła/Pope John Paul II (1920-2005) was head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 1978 to 2005. Grzegorz Ignatik is assistant professor of theology at the Pontifical College Josephinum, Columbus, OH. John Sikorski is assistant teaching professor in the Mendoza College of Business, University of Notre Dame.