Jews and Heretics in Catholic Poland: A Beleaguered Church in the Post-Reformation Era

ISBN-13: 9780521856737 / Angielski / Twarda / 2005 / 312 str.

Magda Teter

Opis

Contrary to the common contention that the Catholic Church triumphed in Counter-Reformation Poland, this study reveals that from the rise of the Reformation and the rapid dissemination of its new ideas, the Catholic Church was overcome with a strong sense of insecurity. The beleaguered Church sought to separate Catholics from non-Catholics: Jews and heretics. This process helped form a Polish identity that led to racial anti-Semitism and to the exclusion of even most assimilated Jews from the category of Poles. The book portrays Jews not only as victims of Church persecution but as active influential participants in Polish society.

Recenzje

'The strengths of this book are numerous. … This is a much more nuanced look at the actual situation in post-Reformation Poland than found in previous studies.' Sixteenth Century Journal

Spis treści

Preface and acknowledgements; Notes; Abbreviations; Map of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth; Introduction; 1. 'One Mystical Body … Only One Shepherd': church ideal of spiritual and social hierarchy; 2. The upset social order: Nobles and the Jews in Poland; 3. Heresy and the fleeting 'Triumph of the Counter-Reformation'; 4. 'Bad and cruel Catholics': Christian sins and social intimacies between Jews and Christians; 5. 'A shameful offence': The Nobles and Their Jews; 6. 'Countless Books against common Faith': Catholic insularity and anti-Jewish polemic; 7. 'Warding off heretical depravity': 'Whom does the Catholic church reject, condemn and curse?'; Conclusion: did the Counter Reformation triumph in Poland? Glossary; Abbreviations; Notes; Bibliography; Index.