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This book provides a concise historical outline of religion in Poland up until its entry into the European Union in 2004, together with a longer presentation of contemporary religious issues. Albeit largely mono-ethnic and overwhelmingly Catholic after the loss of its large Jewish population to the Holocaust, and subsequent post-World War II border shifts, traces of an historic diversity remain in Poland to date, playing a greater role than mere numbers would suggest. Poland's fairly robust religious life is affected by the country's continuing modernization and its various institutions, and this is discussed within a broad context. One of the unfortunate legacies of decades of communism is a stunted civil society; while at different levels there are conflicts involving religion, at the grassroots it is one of the few forces building much needed trust in present-day Polish society.
This Poland guidebook is perfect for independent travellers planning a longer trip. It features all of the must-see sights and a wide range of off-the-beaten-track places. It also provides detailed practical information on preparing for a trip and what to do on the ground. This Poland guidebook covers: Warsaw, Mazovia and Lódz, the Bay of Gdansk and the Wisla Delta, Torun, Mazuria and Podlasie, Lublin, Zamosc, the Polish Carpathians, Kraków and Małopolska, the Tatras and the Pieniny, Upper Silesia, Wroclaw and Lower Silesia, Wielkopolska, Pomerania. Inside this Poland travel book, you’ll find: A wide range of sights – Rough Guides experts have hand-picked places for travellers with di...
This book focuses on the balance between protecting human rights and protecting world heritage sites. It concerns itself with the idea that the management of heritage properties worldwide may fail to adequately respect traditional entitlements and rights of individuals and communities living within or being affected by changes in the use of these spaces. It also explores the concept that the international heritage field has limited knowledge and awareness of this challenge. The volume argues that the dilemmas in question result from different conceptualisations of the key terms of 'rights', 'heritage' and 'community' among different groups and across political and cultural boundaries. In so far as 'culture' is what enables us to read the meanings involved, the ultimate questions are those that ask whose power is contested when one meaning is ‘fixed’ and the heritage of one group of humans is given the right to have its symbolic representation enjoyed and protected. The included case studies give vivid examples of this. This book was originally published as a special issue of the International Journal of Heritage Studies.
This new edition of Norman Davies's classic study of the history of Poland has been revised and fully updated with two new chapters to bring the story to the end of the twentieth century. The writing of Polish history, like Poland itself, has frequently fallen prey to interested parties. Professor Norman Davies adopts a sceptical stance towards all existing interpretations and attempts to bring a strong dose of common sense to his theme. He presents the most comprehensive survey in English of this frequently maligned and usually misunderstood country.
Jews and Heretics in Catholic Poland takes issue with historians' common contention that the Catholic Church triumphed in Counter-reformation Poland. In fact, the Church's own sources show that the story is far more complex. From the rise of the Reformation and the rapid dissemination of these new ideas through printing, the Catholic Church was overcome with a strong sense of insecurity. The 'infidel Jews, enemies of Christianity' became symbols of the Church's weakness and, simultaneously, instruments of its defence against all of its other adversaries. This process helped form a Polish identity that led, in the case of Jews, to racial anti-Semitism and to the exclusion of Jews from the category of Poles. This book portrays Jews not only as victims of Church persecution but as active participants in Polish society who as allies of the nobles, placed in positions of power, had more influence than has been recognised.
Up-to-the-minute accounts of all the sights from the fast-changing cities of Warsaw and Krakow to the laid back lakeside resort of Mazuria. Critical reviews of restaurants, bars and accommodation in every price range. Extensive coverage of the countryside from Slow'inski National Park's sand dunes to the alpine Tatra mountains, with practical advice on how to explore them.
Publisher Description
Harnessing a cultural sociological approach to explore transformations in key social spheres in post-1989 Poland, Chmielewska-Szlajfer illuminates shifts in religiosity, sympathy towards others, and civic activity in post-Communist Poland in the light of Western influence over elements of Polish life. Reshaping Poland’s Community after Communism focuses on three major cases, largely ignored in Polish scholarship: (1) a hugely popular, faux-baroque Catholic shrine, which illustrates new strategies adopted by the Polish Catholic Church to attract believers; (2) Woodstock Station, a widely known free charity music festival, demonstrating new practices of sympathy towards strangers; and (3) the emergence of national internet pro-voting campaigns and small-town watchdog websites, which uncover changes in practical uses of civic engagement. In exploring grass-roots, everyday negotiations of religiosity, charity, and civic engagement in contemporary Poland, Chmielewska-Szlajfer demonstrates how a country’s cultural changes can suggest wider, dramatic democratic transformation.
This is a single-volume history of Christianity in Poland, a subject at the core of religious history and European secular history alike. The book covers the development of Polish Christianity from the tenth century to the year 2000, placing it in the broader context of East-Central European political, social, religious and cultural history. Jewish-Christian relations, and the problematic religious history of the Jews in the region, play an important part in the story, and there are pervasive references to countries historically linked to Poland, such as Lithuania, Belarus and the Ukraine. Jerzy Kloczowski shows how the history of Poland, and Polish Christianity, are embedded in the complex systems of relations with other countries and religious denominations. A History of Polish Christianity should be read by anyone interested in the confrontation between Christianity and the totalitarian systems of the twentieth century, and in the interplay between Eastern and Western Christianity.