Zbigniew Pasek

This article discusses the Bible and its place in Protestants’ daily lives. The study was made within the anthropology of things or anthropology of objects, a type of refl ection focusing on analysis of the behaviours associated with objects. It is assumed that such a study reveals the non-discursive (occurring outside of verbal declarations) beliefs related to a given thing, in this case the Bible. For Protestants it is the Word of God, a material record of the voice of God Himself, directed to the faithful and setting rules to live by. Although, as Max Weber said, Protestantism in the history of European culture means the “disenchantment” of religious attitudes, the examples cited in the article demonstrate the lively presence the remnants of archaic religious attitudes retain in the popular mentality. A declarative respect for the book sometimes conceals belief in its sanctity

Topoi of memory of Polish protestants
The article describes so-called mnemotopoi of Polish Protestants’ image of the past  included in the language conceptualized into repeating forms. The term is related to E.R. Curtis and his concept of common places (loci  communes).The conducted analysis allowed to distinguish between three forms of commemorating topic (or simply topoi). First of them has initial character and is connected with Biblical traditions, strong awareness of German roots of Reformation and with relationships with German cultural circle. Second of them is the topic of threat and harm, including also the topos of besieged fortress. The third is the topic of choice (e.g. the topic of salt of the earth) – cultural and religious superiority of Protestant countries saved in their historical memory. According to Evangelicals, the religious superiority means eliminating magic from religion.

WYKŁAD

Profesorowi Janowi Drabinie