Obraz dyskursu narodowo-kulturowego luteranów w II Rzeczypospolitej na podstawie prasy Kościoła Ewangelicko-Augsburskiego
A Picture of the National and Cultural Discourse of Lutherans in the Second Polish Republic Based on the Press of the Evangelical Church of the Augsburg Confession

Author(s): Magdalena Sara Guschlbauer
Subject(s): Politics / Political Sciences, History, Local History / Microhistory, Theology and Religion, Sociology of Religion
Published by: Wydawnictwo Uniwersytetu Łódzkiego
Keywords: Lutherans; Evangelical discourse; national discourse
Summary/Abstract: This study is based on an extensive survey of German- and Polish-language periodicals published in Warsaw, Cieszyn Silesia, and Łódź between 1918 and 1939. These sources reveal divergent perceptions of Lutheran culture among different factions within the Evangelical Church of the Augsburg Confession, particularly between those who advocated the Polonization of the Church’s religious culture and those who sought to preserve its traditionally German character. The rationale for Polonization was rooted, among other factors, in the tradition of subordinating the Church to secular authority and in the desire to foster peaceful coexistence with Polish society. Advocates of Polonization interpreted the restoration of Polish statehood as an expression of divine providence and drew parallels between Polish national identity and the biblical figure of David. They frequently invoked the history of the sixteenth century and emphasized the importance of drawing upon Poland’s pluralistic religious and cultural traditions in the process of national renewal. For proponents of Germanization, however, the preservation of ancestral traditions, embodied in a particular language and liturgical rite, was of paramount importance. The preservation of this heritage in an unaltered form, pride in cultural achievements, and, ultimately, an aspiration toward a form of Lutheran universalism associated with the German language constituted key motivations for efforts to strengthen the German element within the Church. For German-speaking Protestants, Martin Luther was regarded not only as a theological reformer but also as a national hero. For advocates of Polish identity, by contrast, he represented a dissident figure who had the courage to forge new cultural paths. New cultural patterns positioned between the Polish-Catholic and German-Protestant cultural spheres were promoted by a group of Polish Lutheran pastors, many of German ancestry, who nevertheless maintained that a genuinely Christian attitude required Protestants to engage with and, where appropriate, assimilate the culture and language of their surrounding society. In their view, such cultural integration was necessary for Protestants to realize their full potential for Christian service and the exercise of love of neighbour.

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