Roczniki Kulturoznawcze

Faith and Culture in the Time of Coronavirus

Gianfranco Ravasi — 2020-12-16

Faith and Culture in the Time of Coronavirus

Gianfranco Ravasi — 2020-12-16

Covid-19 and the Future of Western Civilisation

Cameron Gordon — 2020-12-16

Civilisation is in many ways the apotheosis of the human social impulse, good and bad, and, whatever happens, the Age of Coronavirus is going to shape the western version of this shared culture profoundly. This article reviews the way in which human sociality has shaped human disease and vice-versa and offers three idealised possible futures for Western Civilisation that Covid-19 might produce.

From Despair to Faith: The Stilling of the Storm

Pasquale Basta — 2020-12-16

On 27 March, 2020, Pope Francis raised to the Lord a prayer of supplication in the name of the whole of humanity, seeking an end to the Covid-19 pandemic. In that occasion he gave an impressive homily based on the text of Mark 4,35-41, the famous account of the stilling of the storm. The present paper studies the triple attestation in the Synoptics (Matt 8,23-27; Mark 4,35-41; Luke 8,22-25), by considering the main difference on which it’s necessary to reflect with attention: Matthew reverses Mark and Luke in an important point. In fact, in Matt 8,26b, the injunction addressed to the wind and the sea falls after the question about the nature of the disciples’ faith, but in Mark 4,39b and Luke 8,24b the opposite happens: Jesus first calms the storm and only then asks the question about their faith. Why? With different strategies, all three Synoptics show that the disciples are men who, for all their slowness, will enter step by step into the anagnorisis of Jesus. In the course of the drama, the question with which the episode of the stilling of the storm concludes is really serious about Jesus’ identity. Beyond the differences of detail which emerge from the reading in parallel, the three Synoptics agree in conferring the same narrative emphasis on the disciples’ final question: “Who is this then, that even the wind and the sea obey him?” The question about who is this (τίς ἐστιν) forms the key query: if the Christological question continues after the description of the final solution, that means that, for the evangelists, the most important aspect is represented not by the miracle of the stilling of the storm but what that reveals about the identity of the protagonist of the story. The ultimate aim of the text concerns the identity of Jesus as God. The disciples are full of ὀλιγοπιστία because they are frightened of dying, not yet having learnt the perspective of eternal life: the one who speaks in the stilling of the storm is, yes, the Nazarene of history but still more the Risen One whom the great storm of death will have to obey in the morning of Easter.

Epidemic and the Individual: Renaissance Understandings of the Plague in View of Modern Experiences

Paul Richard Blum — 2020-12-16

Epidemics are a challenge to individualism. While we tend to think of illnesses in terms of personal suffering and choices, plagues affect communities and societies over long times. Epidemics turn the perspective to the collective, the transcendent, and the external, and fear, therapy and care become universal, rather than individual. These are the lessons we can gather from Renaissance philosophers’ theories of epidemics. Marsilio Ficino (1433–1499) gave “Advice against the pestilence” by emphasizing the harmony of body with the environment (air and the planets). Girolamo Fracastoro (1477–1553) produced the first description of “Syphilis,” both scientifically and poetically. He invented the name for that contagion. He saw sexual activity as one of the typical behaviors among fellow humans. Care for one’s health requires respect for the others; and blaming others (as in ‘French disease’) is useless. Jean Fernel (1497–1558) called for strictly medical research into epidemics; at the same time, he acknowledged the insufficiency of data; hence the title of his book De abditis rerum causis (“The hidden causes”). Thus, he explained the irrational behavior of populations and some scholars. The task is to live with uncertainty and to contain epidemics by containing the unknown.

The Myth of a World without Disease

Jarosław Merecki — 2020-12-16

Progress in contemporary medicine seems to be unveiling amazing prospects for the future of humanity. Reasearch on human stem cells, which due to their characteristics of totipotentiality (embrionic stem cells) and pluripotentiality (adult stem cells) may raise the possibility of recreating entire humann organs, inspires a whole new vision of the world in which human organism could be recreated almost endlessly. This research, however, calls for some ethical reflection. While taking stem cells from adult human persons does not provoke moral reservations, the use of stem cells taken from embrionic human persons raises the question: can such procedures be morally justified? According to the principle of justice one may never sacrifice a single human life for the sake of an advantage for many others. On the other hand we must not forget that contingency is the immutable dimension of human life on earth.

Activities of Cultural Centres During the Covid-19 Epidemic in Poland

Piotr T. Nowakowski — 2020-12-16

In connection with the measures taken to stop the spread of the SARS-CoV-2 virus in Poland, from March 2020 the activity of cultural centres was periodically frozen. From the very beginning it caused challenges of various natures, especially financial ones. The inability to organise commercial events has forced many institutions to look for alternative sources of income. Above all, however, the epidemic called into question the possibility of carrying out the statutory activities of cultural institutions. This paper discusses new contexts of this activity, which boiled down to cancelling or suspending events and classes, transferring activities to the Internet, undertaking interactive communication with recipients, reorganising intramural work, and finally actively joining the fight against coronavirus. The stage of lifting the restrictions caused by the epidemic made it possible to gradually resume the activities of the cultural institutions, and the Ministry of Culture and National Heritage has published guidelines for their further operation. The experiences of the first period of the epidemic may be a lesson for the future that could be used by those responsible for cultural institutions.