Abstract » Wilczek
Cracow 2009
Educational Reform, Philosophy, and Irenicism
Piotr WILCZEK
Antitrinitarianism, Intellectual Networks and the Problem of Irenicism in Central Europe: A Few Remarks
The first part of my paper will be devoted to research models and approaches which were used in the studies on the early stages of Reformation in Poland and Central Europe. I will discuss the influence of these tendencies on our current knowledge of Central European Reformation. Some research models in the past, although not fully satisfactory for readers nowadays, were objective and reliable. However, there was also the Marxist/ideological approach in the 1940s and 1950s which seriously influenced the research on Central European Reformation and produced lots of stereotypes that exist to the present day. As a result of this approach we are deprived of serious, objective, non-ideological monographic studies on the most important issues connected with the Antitrinitarian/Socinian movement, such as: crypto-Socinianism, anti-Socinian polemics, the attitude of the Socinians towards other confessions, the Socinian emigration; regional centers of Socinianism; the political and social ideology of the Polish Brethren; the monographs of Faustus Socinius and other key representatives of the church; the questions of judaicization and nonadorationism; and many other issues.
In the second part of my paper I will present Andrzej Frycz Modrzewski (Andreas Fricius Modrevius) as one of the victims of the Marxist/ideological approach to the studies on early Central European Reformation. This excellent theologian and political writer was the key figure of the irenicist movement in Central Europe in the 1560s. I would like to emphasize the significance of his ‘Sylvae’ - the work which was an attempt to explain the complicated structure of the pre-Socinian discussions on the dogma of the Trinity. The work commissioned by the Polish king was also an attempt to find a compromise which could reconcile participants of the theological debates of the 60s. ‘Sylvae’ is a document which deserves serious consideration. Unfortunately, as a result of the above discussed methodological approaches, there exists neither a comprehensive monograph of Frycz Modrzewski, nor a serious analysis of his ‘Sylvae’. In my opinion this fundamental theological work of the 1560s needs serious consideration as an introduction to the later developments of Central European approaches to irenicism and religious toleration. I do no agree with the scholars who claimed that Sylvae’ was a work of no major importance. On the contrary, I would accept the views which emphasize it as one of the most outstanding expressions of non-denominational Christian universalism, difficult to accept by any orthodoxy, and an excellent, underestimated example of Renaissance universalism. Suggestions of Konrad Górski are still valid: there are three major issues that should be examined as far as religious views of Fricius are concerned: his relation to St Augustine, to scholastic theology, and to Erasmus of Rotterdam.
The second important issue that will be discussed briefly in the paper is the significance of the religious views of Jan Kochanowski (Ioannes Cochanovius), the most important Central European poet of the sixteenth century. In my opinion his religious views can be discussed as a textbook example of Renaissance irenicism, very interesting in the context of intellectual networks of the 1560s and 70s.
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