Mickiewiczowska hermeneutyka „tego, co religijne”. Próba lektury postsekularnej
Adam Mickiewicz’s Hermeneutics of “the Religious”: An Attempt at a Postsecular Reading

Summary/Abstract: This article synthetically presents the hermeneutic attitude revealed in Mickiewicz’s work (poetry as well as lectures and journalism). It is analyzed from a post-secular perspective. The poet opposes the reductive secularism of the Enlightenment and its secular humanism. He also encourages preserving “the religious” and reviving religious concepts. However, this should not be a simple return to the past (conservatism), but rather a rethinking of religion with consideration to the new, secular conditions. Mickiewicz follows the scattered interpretations of the traces of transcendence or sacrum in various traditions and different ways of thinking: from mythology, pagan practices and folk piety to sophisticated mysticism and complicated theosophy. This Romantic thinker appears as a dialogue mediator between various religious languages, as well as between opposite beliefs and discourses (the ritualized religiosity of the official Church, rationalist Enlightenment philosophy, simple and sensual folk religiosity). The aim is to renew the broken relationship (‘union’) that connects man to God and creation, and to rebuild the community. In “the religious” he tries to find the common basis or extract the universal truths. In his opinion, Christianity is what connects and summarizes all religious traditions. According to this poet-politician, the revival of the religioncentered spirit is associated with the freedom revolution (the abolition of slavery, equality of women, emancipation of nations). He believes that the transcendent perspective of human history is the main guarantee of social change and true community. In a broader context, the hermeneutic strategy of this Polish Romantic can be interpreted as a post-secular stance,mas it urges us to rethink and internalize all levels of religion, which should be continuously and constantly updated in one’s life.

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