Medical issues in the writings of old Polish religious polemists

Discussions and polemics between representatives of different religious orientations are not a new phenomenon. Even in antiquity there was already a struggle between Christian theologians and representatives of newly emerging heresies. In Poland religious polemics were a common phenomenon in the 16th and 17th centuries. They were attended by both Catholic theologians and representatives of various Protestant communities, as well as antitrinitarians called the Polish Brethren. Very important theological issues were discussed, but in addition to the substantive arguments, there were also mentions relating to history, politics, and even medicine. In this article I present how references to various branches of medicine were used in theological texts, and show how the terms relating to various dis-eases and their symptoms could be used to construct an image of a religious opponent.

Idea unii kościelnej czy jedności Kościoła? O polisemantyczności dyskursu w polsko-ruskiej polemice religijnej w dawnej Rzeczypospolitej (2 poł. XVI-XVII w.)

Kontrowersje dotyczące proklamacji i skutków unii brzeskiej (1596) znalazły odbicie w bogatej literaturze historycznej, polemicznej i religijnej, jaka powstała na terenie Rzeczypospolitej Obojga Narodów na przestrzeni kilkunastu dziesięcioleci (2. poł. XVI-XVII w.). Gorący spór toczył się pomiędzy przedstawicielami Kościoła rzymskokatolickiego, greckokatolickiego oraz prawosławnego. W artykule zwrócono uwagę na posługiwanie się przez każdą ze stron tego religijno-politycznego konfliktu podobnymi argumentami, którym jednakże podstawiano różne znaczenia w zależności od odmiennych perspektyw eklezjologicznych i historyczno-kulturowych autorów wypowiedzi. W ten sposób polemika religijna stała się w praktyce dyskusją skierowaną w stronę utrwalania stanowiska przedstawicieli własnego obozu, a nie pozyskiwania zwolenników ze strony przeciwnej. The Concept of Church Union or Church Unity? On the Polysemantic Nature of Discourse in the Polish-Ruthenian Religious Polemics in the Polish- Lithuanian Commonwealth (2nd half of the 16th-17th Century) Controversies regarding the proclamation and the consequences of the Union of Brest (1596) were reflected in extensive historical, polemical and religious literature that was created in the Commonwealth of Both Nations over several decades (2nd half of the 16th-17th century). There was a heated dispute between the representatives of the Roman Catholic, Greek Catholic and Orthodox Churches. The article highlights the use of similar arguments by each of the parties to this religious-political conflict which, however, were given different meanings depending on various ecclesiological, historical and cultural perspectives of the authors of a statement. Thus, in practice, religious polemics became a discussion aimed at strengthening the position of representatives of one’s own party, instead gaining supporters among opponents.

The Fall of Tripoli in 1289 in the Perception of Christian Communities of the Middle East

The article examines the conquest of the County of Tripoli by the Mamelukes in 1289, and the reaction of various Middle Eastern ethnoreligious groups to this event. Along with the Monophysite perspective (the Syriac chronicle of Bar Hebraeus’ Continuator and the work of the Coptic historian Mufaddal ibn Abi-l-Fadail), and the propagandist texts of Muslim Arabic panegyric poets, we will pay special attention to the historical memory of the Orthodox (Melkite) and Maronite communities of northern Lebanon. The contemporary of these events — the Orthodox author Suleiman al-Ashluhi, a native of one of the villages of the Akkar Plateau — laments the fall of Tripoli in his rhymed eulogy. It is noteworthy that this author belongs to the rural Melkite subculture, which — in spite of its conservative character — was capable of producing original literature. Suleiman al-Ashluhi’s work was forsaken by the following generations of Melkites; his poem was only preserved in Maronite manuscripts. Maronite historical memory is just as fragmented. The father of the Modern Era Maronite historiography — Gabriel ibn al-Qilaʿî († 1516) only had fragmentary information on the history of his people in the 13th century: local chronicles and the heroic epos that glorified the Maronite struggle against the Muslim lords that tried to conquer Mount Lebanon. Gabriel’s depiction of the past is not only biased and subject to aims of religious polemics, but also factually inaccurate. Nevertheless, the texts of Suleiman al-Ashluhi and Gabriel ibn al-Qilaʿî give us the opportunity to draw conclusions on the worldview, educational level, political orientation and peculiar traits of the historical memory of various Christian communities of Mount Lebanon.

Translations of the Qur’an: Western Languages

The chapter falls into two parts. The first traces the history of the key translations of the Qur’an in its entirety into Western languages (mainly English, French, German, and Latin) from the Middle Ages to the present day. The emphasis is on the factors that affected the production and reception of these translations, including military conflict, religious polemics within Christianity, and the growth of Arabic and Islamic Studies as an academic field within Western institutions and centres of learning. The second part investigates some theoretical issues arising from this account, including the difficulties attendant upon translating a sacred text and pleading for the value of the literary register in understanding the Qur’an and its translation.