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Religious museums, owned by different denominations, began to emerge in the first half of the nineteenth century. The museums of the Roman Catholic Church are the most numerous ones in this group. Regulations governing the activities of these institutions were included in the Code of Canon Law of 1918 and in the "Papal Directives concerning Church Art" of 1924. This issue was also regulated by a concordat of 1925 between the Republic of Poland and the Holy See. The latest directive is a circular letter of 2001 on Pastoral function of church museums.Nowadays, a number of religious museums have been created. An important issue is the permanent funding of museums. Another issue is the process of educating future priests in art history, or training church managers in the protection of cultural property. The outlined problems related to church museology indicate various tasks undertaken in this field - at every stage a different one. These tasks are closely connected with the targets set by the organizers and managers of cultural goods.
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This article focuses on baptismal names in the parish Drobin, which was part of the Diocese of Płock, at the turn of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Unfortunately, the analyzed group is relatively small, which contributes to some deviations from the general demographic trends. In order to conduct detailed studies of the Catholic population of Drobin, the author decided to introduce two periods: a ten-year period and a forty-year one. The analysis allowed for the emergence of the names that in the above periods were particularly popular among newly baptised boys and girls. The most common male names in the community under study were Jan, Stanisław, Józef, Antoni, Franciszek and Władysław. And the female names were Marianna, Józefa, Helena, Stanisława, Antonina, Zofia or Franciszka. Particular attention should be paid to the name Marianna, which was the most often chosen either as the first or middle name throughout the period under study. It is worth noting that its popularity in some decades reached about 25%. In addition, it was possible to analyze the names and classify them according to their origin: Biblical, Germanic, Latin, Hellenistic and Slavic. Then, the popularity of first and middle names was studied (both male and female ones). Finally, the article presents, as an interesting fact, a list of uncommon names which were chosen by the population of Drobin.
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The article aims at a synthetic presentation of native, late tribal art in the period of the Christianization of Poland. Material manifestations of the culture in question are investigated by a number of disciplines, in particular archelogy, art history and history. However, a proper evaluation of the phenomenon discussed in the paper has not been accomplished in Polish art history yet. My presentation of late tribal art in the period of the Christianization of Poland considers mainly the phenomena which appear most interesting to the art historian: figural representations (monumental images as well as small format art), and cult buildings. Those objects had a particular signifi cance to late heathen communities and they may be categorized according to the criteria used by art history (such as the style, the type, the convention or representation). My analysis of the preserved fi gural art monuments (and of those we know only from the descriptions provided by medieval chroniclers) points to the existence of a range of culturally varied areas within the Polish territory, namely: the middle area (including the Wielkopolska region), the southern part (the Silesia and the Małopolska), as well as the northern region (the Pomerania and the ethnically distinct Prussia). There is a scarce number of monuments preserved in Wielkopolska (among them large ones, such as the so called ‘head from Jankowo,’ the two statues from Powiercie near Koło, and the ‘head from Dąbrówka’ found in the area bordering with the Małopolska, as well as manifestations of small format art, e.g. the ‘goatie’ from Lednogóra). All those objects exhibit the formal qualities characteristic of medieval sculpture. However, neither polycephal images (popular in the Slavonic territories) nor remains of cult buildings were found in that area. The southern part of the Polish territory in turn is characterized by the absence of monumental images (I believe the group of monuments from around Ślęża should be placed earlier than early middle ages). A number of bas-reliefs, specifi cally of zoomorphic character, were preserved there though. Neither in Great Moravia nor in the Czech territory (with the exception of Ploveč) were monumental statues erected. It might have been the close relations with those states that resulted in the absence of such statues also from southern Poland. Pagan monumental cult sculpture might have appeared only later, during the pagan revolt of the 1030’s, when a pagan temple was erected in Wrocław (Vratislavia). Most figural images and cult buildings were found in the northern region. They manifested an immense diversity and included, among others, the statue from Łubowo, the plate from Słupsk, and the stone from Leźno, as well as numerous instances of small (also polycephal) objects, and a distinct phenomenon: a big group of Prussian fi gures, inaccurately called ‘stone babas.’ Unlike in the Wielkopolska region, all those objects exhibit a high degree of schematization. They were created in the latest period and, together with the richly decorated wooden temples (we know from the descriptions provided by medieval chroniclers) where statues of pagan deities were worshipped, they combined the tradition of primeval ‘sign’ art characteristic of those territories with the effective cult ‘setting’ inspired by Christian art.
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The present paper is inspired by Sławomir Kapralski’s article “Silence, Memory, Identity: The Phantasm of a ‘Gypsy’ and the Ambivalence of Modernity” (Ethos 29, no. 1 (2016): 185-202). While sharing Kapralski’s concern about the lot of the Roma, a national community present in Europe from time immemorial, the author questions Kapralski’s diagnosis of the actual political situation of the Roma. The object of the polemic is Kapralski’s arguments concerning the permanence of the memory of the Roma, the role of history as the teacher of life (which successfully competes with the Roma’s tradition—romanipen) and, last but not least, the capability (and willingness) of the Roma to participate, together with other nations, in the debate on their common future. The objective of the article is to demonstrate that the way the Roma conceive of their history is only apparently similar to that of other collectivities. While the Roma’s social memory preserves a similar permanence, they prove incapable of transforming this memory into a memory of culture. As a result, instead of drawing conclusions from their experience, the Roma tend to let this experience fade into oblivion. Their participation in the historiographic discourse largely follows similar lines. While it is the case that the history of the Roma is (symbolically) appropriated or annulled by their political environment, the responsibility for this state of affairs lies solely with the Roma themselves. Those who are absent are always in the wrong.
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After the Second World War in Poland was established communist regime. Polish Catholic Church has found in a difficult situation, because official ideology of state became atheistic Marxism‑Leninism. Formal principles of separation between state and Church, freedom of conscience and religion became a facade hiding the atheistic program of regime and its will of rooting out of religion and Church from society. It was already in September 1945 government revoked of the Concordat of 1925. Ruling communists have tried to defeat the Catholic Church one way or another, among them was Trojan Horse method through movement of so‑called “patriotic priests” that have approved the existing regime. On 25 September 1953 was arrested Primate Cardinal Stefan Wyszyński (in seclusion until October 1956). It might be introduction to the general crackdown on Church. After 1956 as a result of destalinisation and political thaw was improved situation of the Catholic Church in Poland. The election of Cracow Cardinal Karol Wojtyła as Pope (assumed name John Paul II) of 16 October 1978 increased the already powerful influence of the Church and his pilgrimages in Poland next years emphasized the historic links between Catholicism and the Polish nation, strengthening a conviction that communism is strange phenomenon in the country.
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The metaphor of the face is the central and simultaneously the most problematic concept of the philosophy of dialogue. Any attempt at cognitively ‘grasping’ the face of the Other involves numerous tensions which may be conveyed in a series of opposites such as: literality—metaphoricity, experience—encounter, concreteness—generality, and question—answer. The face cannot be reduced to either of the opposing poles, and it must be inevitably placed in-between them. Still the ‘in-between’ situation of the face is not tantamount to inertia since it causes a continuous dynamism responsible for the fact that the metaphor of the face is always ambiguous and imprecise. On the one hand, the problem of ‘grasping’ the face may be seen as evidence pointing to a weakness in human thinking. Yet on the other hand, the indeterminateness of the face might reflect the only way to think the ‘Other’ as actually other, continuously evading philosophical categorization.
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In independent Ukraine influence of the Greek Catholic Church will grow all the time. With the abolition of the former boundaries between Western and Central and Eastern Ukraine, the Greek Orthodox Church could engage with the peaceful pastoral work throughout the country, and thus, hit with ethics and Catholic dogmato more Christians, going beyond the “traditional” area of the former Greek Catholics in Eastern Galicia. Latin patterns of social life, brought to Ukraine by the Greek Orthodox Church and still propagated by the clergy, will continue to be developed for the benefit of the community of the faithful and a culture of political, social, and spiritual Ukrainian nation.
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The article deals with the attitude of Polish press in the 20-30s of the XXth century to Metropolitan Andrei Sheptytskyi’s religious-political activity. The portrait of Metropolitan depicted in Polish press is a versatile image characterized by extreme emotions as the very epoch he lived in.
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W czasie średniowiecznych krucjat krzyżowcy opanowali Damiettę, wówczas małą wioskę, a dzisiaj wielkie miasto. Siły egipskich muzułmanów odpierały atak. Oblężenie trwało długo, ale nie przyniosło rozstrzygnięcia. Pewnego spokojnego dnia, kiedy nie było walk, z obozu krzyżowców wyszedł mnich ubrany w charakterystyczny habit, niosąc w ręku tylko Biblię. Nie miał przy sobie żadnej broni, nawet kija. Muzułmanie byli zaskoczeni, że zbliża się do nich ktoś z obozu wroga, ale nie ośmielili się zrobić mu krzywdy. Jego strój wskazywał, że jest mnichem, kapłanem, a Koran wyraża się o chrześcijanach słowami pełnymi miłości i szacunku, ponieważ są między nimi mnisi i kapłani. Takim kapłanem — jednym z tych, o których Koran mówi z tak wielkim szacunkiem — był ks. Jacques Hamel, brutalnie zamordowany w kościele w Saint‑Étienne‑du‑Rouvray we Francji. Chcę zapewnić obecnego tu arcybiskupa Rouen, że nie tylko jego Kościół stracił ks. Jacques’a, ale że jest to strata całej ludzkości.
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The article presents the doctrinal requirements of monotheistic religions (Christianity, Judaism, Islam) connected with procreation, the creation of families and their functioning. These religions do not allow abortion, however Islam and Judaism allow it in special cases, while Catholicism accepts the possibility of the life-saving-treatment of mother, even if the side effect is death of a child. In vitro fertilization is not accepted only in Catholicism. This confession accepts only natural methods of family planning, and in other confessions of Christianity and in other religions is permitted to use a variety of contraceptives. The results of various studies that describe the actual implementation by the followers of the various religions doctrinal assumptions were also discussed. They found that the higher the level of religiosity is presented by respondents, the more they observe the requirements set by their own religions. They more often created families interested in having children, more cared about the quality of families and relationships between parents and children. The lower level of religiosity was marked by respondents of all religions, the more often they departed from the norms and principles related to creating the families.
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The paper sought to interpret the several works of Leo Baeck (1873–1956), German rabbi and religious thinker, leader of Progressive Judaism. As the rabbi of the Jewish community in Opole (1897–1907), in 1905 he published a key work of Das Wesen des Judentums (The Essence of Judaism), in response to Adolf von Harnack’s Wesen des Christentums. Baeck saw himself primarily as a rabbi and a preacher, who understood his mission beyond the borders of his own Liberal affiliation, as shaped by his responsibility to the entire German Jewish community and the Jewish people at large. His philosophical-theological thought as well as his works on history of religion should be read and measured in light of his rabbinic mission. He identified the essence of Judaism with biblical prophecy, namely the direct experience of God’s presence and the command to worship Him. For him Judaism, in contrast with Christianity, is thus not aimed at the salvation of the individual soul but rather at the collective redemption of humanity and of the world. In line with his national and this-worldly view of Judaism and the Jewish people, Baeck had a sympathetic, although critical attitude towards Zionism. He thought that the building of Palestine was a valuable prospect for embodying the spirit of Judaism, but not a guarantee that it would be realized.
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The Sejm’s Commission of Social Politics and Family introduced a project of the law that pioneers a new type of adoption to the Polish law called “recommended adoption”. Generally speaking, the adoption in question allows the parents to point out the adopters. The parents’ choice is, without prejudice to the other provisions, binding for the court. The paper’s aim is to analyze the new legal institution in terms of theology and law of the Roman Catholic Church and the Evangelical Church of the Augsburg Confession in Poland. The conclusion is that the proposed law is coherent with the teaching and legal discipline of the Churches. But there is still space for de lege ferenda postulate, that the bill’s list of candidates for the adopters should be extended to include the sponsors. The sponsors seem to be very suitable candidates for adopters. First, because the parents themselves pointed out the sponsors, and secondly, because both the Catholic and the Lutheran legal regulations demand a lot from sponsors with the result that they already are well evaluated and carefully selected persons.
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The theme of this article is the discussion about Greek Catholic Church tendency of the development in Galician uniate priests’ surrounding such as orientalism and oxydentalism. Spiritual debates were about the ritual forms in epoch of the new challenge of the modernizing world; which of them would be more suitable for the Church. They transformed to the wide discussion about the civilizing development of the Ukraine by means of the scientists and cultural activists.
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This paper discusses the place of the cross in ecclesial spaces in context of western medieval Christendom based on the study of the three liturgical arrangements: the pergula/templon, the altar of the Cross and the trabs doxalis. We shall see that these liturgical arrangements emphasize the symbolism of the Cross as the true sign of the relationship of humanity and heaven. This also reveals a unifying schema established between the cross and the structure of these liturgical arrangements within the space of the church. This relationship questions the liturgy and the common conception of ecclesial space, which does not take account of this universal symbolism.
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The recent restorations of the Chartres cathedral, on the inside as well as on the outside, concerning the sculptures as well as the stained-glass windows, greatly modify our perception of the building. Revived in its original shape, the cathedral delivers a new light, which astonishes by its power. The present study focuses on the strategies at work in the restoration process, aiming at the rediscovery of the original significance of the monument, in spite of modern clichés; the question of our origins and of our future lies behind this attempt to challenge our view of the possible worlds of the past.
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Drawing on James Scott’s works on “everyday resistance” and “weapons of the weak”, this article inquires whether Roman Catholic women’s gossip and jokes about priests may lead to a redefinition of priest-parishioners’ relations. Using ethnographic material collected during field research in rural Poland, the article demonstrates the ambivalent nature of anticlerical jokes and rumours, which, rather than constituting a tool of change, reaffirm the existing order. In putting forward this argument, the article critically engages with Scott’s theory and reflects on the problematic role of researchers in presenting the issue of agency and resistance. The analyzed case-study from the Polish countryside constitutes a point of departure for addressing a broader context of church-state relations and the situation of women in the Catholic Church in Poland.
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The objective of the article was to analyze principal discursive strategies employed in the period 1994–2015 in creating the category of masculinity by clergymen. Owing to the intertextuality of the ecclesiastical discourse the research material contained, beside statements of Polish bishops and priests, also official documents issued by Vatican as well as popes’ opinions. In addition, I included discourse on masculinity in the Catholic communities of laymen. The research material embraced nearly 100 texts. In the analysis I used proposals of discursive-historical approach in the critical discourse analysis. Most of the discursive strategies are characterized by a clear patriarchal nature. Polish hierarchs and priests opt for the equality of men and women, but simultaneously many expressions demonstrate a topos of asymmetry of gender roles, as well as the strategy of the man’s superiority over the woman. The ecclesiastical discourse clearly demonstrates homophobic opinions on homosexual relationships. The sharp attack of the Catholic Church on new progressive ideas referring to masculine roles as well as relations between women and men, which has intensified over this decade, should be perceived as an attempt to protect the shaky traditional gender order and to maintain the normative and symbolic power by the hierarchs.
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„Miesięcznik Egzorcysta” (The Exorcist Monthly) is a interesting phenomenon in the Polish press market. A self-proclaimed “modern tool of evangelisation” tries to find balance between a serious religious magazine and tabloidized periodical about demons, magic and the occult. This paper is concentrated on the views of women and womanhood appearing in the articles. A figure of Holy Mary was given special attention, as well as views on women as mothers and role-models for the catholic society. It turns out that the fertility of a woman is a pressing issue. Also a predilection for any kind of magical or divinational act is a typically feminine trait. The problem of presence of women in the editorial crew of the magazine is also described.
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This paper seeks to present a brief outline of America as a structure of many boundaries. The United States of America came to existence on the grounds of a contract, therefore it is the first modern State, for it is built in accordance with modern philosophy. Being the cradle of many cultures and languages, this country is a particularly interesting example how to harmonize tensions and come to agreement on the border. We are dealing here with the influence of philosophical ideas and the religious thought of a divided European Christianity. In the religious attitude of deism these two spheres – in the form of the religion as a free choice – are combined. Because the State distances itself from religion, allowing the citizens to practice many religions, new frontiers appear. In principle, the government should be limited, so that society is free to act within the legal regulations, hence the frontiers function in a peaceful coexistence.
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