Antygony polskie i świętość w odczarowanym świecie. Zmiana wzoru kulturowego w relacji do cmentarzy ewangelickich na ziemiach polskich po 1989 roku

Abstract

Polish Antigones and Holiness in the Dis-enchanted World. Changing of the Cultural Pattern in the Relationship with Protestant Cemeteries in Poland after 1989

In this article, the authors set themselves the goal of describing the pattern of civil engagement com-parable to that of Antigone in relations with the state on the case study of people associated with the “Anna Foundation,” saving the evangelical (protestant) cemetery in Gostków (Lower Silesia) from the mid-nineteenth century. The area of operation of this foundation is the local communion of multicultural influence. The research method involved reading sources, a series of qualitative interviews with activists and other subjects with “borderline experience,” a description of photo-graphic documentation and an interpretation of the history of modernity. The article is a case study and an attempt to interpret a broader phenomenon of saving cemeteries of various denominations from destruction and oblivion in Poland after 1989. This study contributes to studies on culture and religion, and the philosophical and theological reflection of late post-modernity. In interpret-ing the phenomenon of civic involvement, the authors use the concepts of “disenchantment of the world,” “rationalization,” “bureaucratization” and “the garden state,” as well as “re-enchanting of the world” and “holiness in the secular age.” In the conclusions, the authors propose to correct both the definition of “world enchantment” and the definition of the inevitable secularization of the world in late (post) modernity. The authors argue that in the time of the post-pandemic crisis and the climate catastrophe, Albert Schweitzer's “reverence for life” may be an equivalent that is appropri-ate for the non-rational elements of contemporary culture.