Mondays with WUWr #22
There’s a lot going on at the University of Wrocław Press and we want to keep you informed!
In our series #MondayswithWUWr, we keep you up to date with the most important events, book news and issues important to the Publishing House! We also encourage you to follow the wuwr.eu website and the Publishing House’s social media – Fb, LinkedIn and Instagram.
Złota Seria Uniwersytetu Wrocławskiego – the latest award-winning publication!
The Golden Series of the University of Wrocław is a unique competition for the publication of a book, organised since 2007 under the patronage of the Rector of the University of Wrocław.
Publication in this series is an honour for an outstanding and original scientific work. See more: Złota Seria UWr – Uniwersytet Wrocławski
The Golden Book of the Year 2023 honours two books, and one of them has just gone on pre-order at the WUWr bookshop! Dr Tomasz Szymański’s publication from the Institute of Romance Studies at the University of Wrocław, ‘W poszukiwaniu religii uniwersalnej. Zarys historii pewnej idei i jej wybrane postacie w XIX-wiecznej literaturze francuskiej’ will be published in September!
What do we mean when we talk about universal religion? Today, when religious pluralism is the order of the day as an integral part of the democratic Western world, the question of a universal religion arises somewhat naturally. Its perspective inevitably appears on our cultural horizon, defined by the multiplicity of religions surrounding us on the one hand, and by the ideals of universalism and tolerance guiding us on the other.
In view of the emotions sometimes aroused by the thought of a possible new global religion in the future, it is all the more useful to reflect on the past of this idea. For it is nothing new, and a closer look at the history of Western culture and thought reveals that it has a long history behind it.
Moreover, it is an extremely important subject in the history of ideas, linked to other fields: literature, religious studies, philosophy of religion, political science, law or Western esotericism. For the history of ideas examines ideas expressed in the totality of cultural phenomena and domains: it studies their genesis and development, trying to grasp how they manifested and existed in different cultural and social contexts. Such an approach to the problem obviously requires interdisciplinary reflection. Our reflections, too, will be situated at the intersection of various fields of science, knowledge and culture, but a special place will be given to the relationship between the history of ideas and literature.
Doświadczenie mistyczne w kulturze i nauce
While remaining on the subject of religious experiences, another book in which dr Szymański was involved will be published in September. Together with dr Marlena Krupa-Adamczyk, they have edited an international volume entitled ‘Doświadczenie mistyczne w kulturze i nauce’. Mystical experience can be looked at from a variety of perspectives: philosophical, historical, religious studies, literary and literary studies, anthropological and neuroscientific. One can also attempt to cross the boundaries between these disciplines. The ambiguity of religious states and experiences is an issue that has been debated since the days when science crossed the boundaries of faith. The troubles of rational thinking then began to be accompanied by feeling, which became fundamental to the understanding of religion and metaphysical experiences.
Mystical experiences, as the American philosopher and psychophysiologist William James observed, always remain unspeakable, intangible and temporary. People experiencing them can only surrender to them, but later try to talk about them, name them, and their message can become an inspiration for artists, a fascinating object of inquiry for researchers and an impetus for other people’s spiritual search.
The volume presented here contains articles in five languages by scholars from different countries who have devoted their attention to the most nebulous and most difficult to grasp aspects of mystical experience.
We highly recommend: Doświadczenie mistyczne w kulturze i nauce | Wydawnictwo Uniwersytetu Wrocławskiego (wuwr.eu)!
