National-European Theology
The Polish Catholic Hierarchy’s Narrative of a Christian Europe
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 12149286 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Natalie Smolenski (University of Michigan, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2015 |
| Volume | 30 |
| Issue | 3 |
| Pages | 519-550 |
| Publication date | 2015-11-01 |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | East European Politics and Societies and Cultures (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0888-3254 • E-ISSN: 1533-8371 |
| Publisher | SAGE Publishing (PUBLISHER • US) |
| DOI | 10.1177/0888325415605889 |
| OpenAlex | W2327598985 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 1 |
| References cited | 18 |
An influential contingent of Catholic clergy in Poland reacted to Poland’s entry into the European Union by developing a narrative positing the Catholic foundation and ownership of Europe and all its constituent “nations.” This narrative, which I call national-European theology, identifies the Catholic Church as the progenitor of both European and Polish existence and guarantor of their continuity of identity. In this way, it remedies some Catholics’ anxieties about both the integrity of Poland’s national sovereignty and the allegedly secularizing and liberalizing cultural influence of other EU member countries. I argue that national-European theology can be fruitfully conceived as a hereditary ownership narrative, framed by moments of spiritual foundation and subsequent inheritance from spiritual founders, and that this narrative structure characterizes both nationalism writ large and Europeanization as an analogous modern identitarian project. I suggest that taking heredity as a lens through which to understand nationalism and its attendant notions of legitimation allows us to move past debates about the “content” of nationalist claims (ethnic, religious, linguistic, etc.) and toward the mechanism by which group reproduction is culturally defined and sanctioned. To do this, I first sketch a theory of nationalism as a hereditary ownership narrative, drawing upon the Polish case, and liken it to the “Europe-building” project of the EU. Second, I present a brief historical outline of Poland’s accession to the EU and the anxieties generated thereby. Finally, I turn to the rhetoric of the Polish clergy who best represent the national-European current in contemporary Catholic political theology
European union · Narrative · National identity · Nationalism · Political economy · Political science · Politics · Rhetoric · Sociology · Sovereignty · Theology · Eastern European Communism and Reforms · European Politics and Security · Gender Studies · Law · Philosophy · Polish Historical and Cultural Studies
The Pro-European Reader
The Crosses of Auschwitz
Nations and Nationalism since 1780
Europe and the people without history
Four Cultures of the West
The Defeat of Solidarity
The National Identity of the 'Natives' of Poland's 'Recovered Lands
Imagined Communities. Reflections on the Origin and Spread of Nationalism
The Mosaic Moment
| Citations per year | 0.25 |
|---|---|
| Citation span | 2022 - 2022 (1) |
| Highly cited | No |