I am interested in Calvinism in the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth from the 1550s until 1939. I have published a biographical dictionary on the Reformed pastors in the Congress Kingdom 1815-1939 and my lates book is about Calvinism in Poland & Lithuania from 1548 until 1648. Address: Marlborough, Massachusetts, United States
This is a supplement to the article on Tsar False-Dimitri I and his Socinian links based on an un... more This is a supplement to the article on Tsar False-Dimitri I and his Socinian links based on an until-now overlooked source.
In the first half of the seventeenth century Lutherans and Reformed in the Crown region of the Po... more In the first half of the seventeenth century Lutherans and Reformed in the Crown region of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth entered into a number of local agreements which provided for joint use of Protestant churches, church discipline, and set out rules for the future between the two confessions. Often referred to as “church unions,” they have been hailed domestically and internationally as evidence of an “irenic” disposition of Polish Protestants. However, none of these agreements has ever been looked at more closely for what the provisions actually stipulated. This is especially striking given that two of the these “unions” dissolved after less than a decade. In this article I analyze three such “unions” for their specific provisions: liturgical and theological. I contend that they might be construed as irenic, only if we understand it to mean a suspension of personal and interconfessional polemics from the pulpit. However, all three situations started from a place of Reformed superiority and all three cases were to Calvinize the Lutherans in the long term—a rather pragmatic goal and not a particularly irenic one. These agreements highlight the difficulties of applying the Sandomir Consensus to particular localities in a much more hostile seventeenth-century environment for Protestants.
In the first half of the seventeenth century Lutherans and Reformed in the Crown region of the Po... more In the first half of the seventeenth century Lutherans and Reformed in the Crown region of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth entered into a number of local agreements which provided for joint use of Protestant churches, church discipline, and set out rules for the future between the two confessions. Often referred to as “church unions,” they have been hailed domestically and internationally as evidence of an “irenic” disposition of Polish Protestants. However, none of these agreements has ever been looked at more closely for what the provisions actually stipulated. This is especially striking given that two of the these “unions” dissolved after less than a decade.
In this article I analyze three such “unions” for their specific provisions: liturgical and theological. I contend that they might be construed as irenic, only if we understand it to mean a suspension of personal and interconfessional polemics from the pulpit. However, all three situations started from a place of Reformed superiority and all three cases were to Calvinize the Lutherans in the long term—a rather pragmatic goal and not a particularly irenic one. These agreements highlight the difficulties of applying the Sandomir Consensus to particular localities in a much more hostile seventeenth-century environment for Protestants.
This is a supplement to the article on Tsar False-Dimitri I and his Socinian links based on an un... more This is a supplement to the article on Tsar False-Dimitri I and his Socinian links based on an until-now overlooked source.
In the first half of the seventeenth century Lutherans and Reformed in the Crown region of the Po... more In the first half of the seventeenth century Lutherans and Reformed in the Crown region of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth entered into a number of local agreements which provided for joint use of Protestant churches, church discipline, and set out rules for the future between the two confessions. Often referred to as “church unions,” they have been hailed domestically and internationally as evidence of an “irenic” disposition of Polish Protestants. However, none of these agreements has ever been looked at more closely for what the provisions actually stipulated. This is especially striking given that two of the these “unions” dissolved after less than a decade. In this article I analyze three such “unions” for their specific provisions: liturgical and theological. I contend that they might be construed as irenic, only if we understand it to mean a suspension of personal and interconfessional polemics from the pulpit. However, all three situations started from a place of Reformed superiority and all three cases were to Calvinize the Lutherans in the long term—a rather pragmatic goal and not a particularly irenic one. These agreements highlight the difficulties of applying the Sandomir Consensus to particular localities in a much more hostile seventeenth-century environment for Protestants.
In the first half of the seventeenth century Lutherans and Reformed in the Crown region of the Po... more In the first half of the seventeenth century Lutherans and Reformed in the Crown region of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth entered into a number of local agreements which provided for joint use of Protestant churches, church discipline, and set out rules for the future between the two confessions. Often referred to as “church unions,” they have been hailed domestically and internationally as evidence of an “irenic” disposition of Polish Protestants. However, none of these agreements has ever been looked at more closely for what the provisions actually stipulated. This is especially striking given that two of the these “unions” dissolved after less than a decade.
In this article I analyze three such “unions” for their specific provisions: liturgical and theological. I contend that they might be construed as irenic, only if we understand it to mean a suspension of personal and interconfessional polemics from the pulpit. However, all three situations started from a place of Reformed superiority and all three cases were to Calvinize the Lutherans in the long term—a rather pragmatic goal and not a particularly irenic one. These agreements highlight the difficulties of applying the Sandomir Consensus to particular localities in a much more hostile seventeenth-century environment for Protestants.
Searching for Compromise? is a collection of articles researching the issues of toleration, inter... more Searching for Compromise? is a collection of articles researching the issues of toleration, interreligious peace, and models of living together in a religiously diverse Central and Eastern Europe during the Early Modern period. By studying theologians, legal cases, literature, individuals, and congregations this volume uncovers the particular local dynamics at play in Central and Eastern Europe. These issues are explored from the perspectives of diverse groups of Christians, such as Catholics, Hussites, Bohemian Brethren, Old Believers, Eastern Orthodox, Lutherans, Calvinists, Moravians, and Unitarians. The volume is a much-needed addition to the scholarly books written on religious conflict, toleration, and peace from the Western European perspective.
Calvinism in the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth 1548-1648 offers an in-depth history of the Refor... more Calvinism in the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth 1548-1648 offers an in-depth history of the Reformed Churches in the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth in its first hundred years. It analyses church polity, liturgy, the practices of Calvinist church discipline and piety, and the reasons for conversion to and from Calvinism in all strata of the society. It offers a detailed history of the three Reformed Churches. Drawing on extensive research in primary sources, Dr. Bem challenges the dominant narrative of Protestant decline after 1570 and argues for a continued flourishing of Calvinism in the Commonwealth until the 1630s.
The thesis discusses the interpretation of US and Dutch asylum law for the period of 1975-2005, d... more The thesis discusses the interpretation of US and Dutch asylum law for the period of 1975-2005, drawing on case-law, statues and articles.
A biographical dictionary of 45 men and women serving the two Reformed church bodies in 19th and ... more A biographical dictionary of 45 men and women serving the two Reformed church bodies in 19th and 20th century Poland as ministers and deaconesses.
Rivers' scholarship is phenomenal, her style engaging and lucid even when dealing with complex is... more Rivers' scholarship is phenomenal, her style engaging and lucid even when dealing with complex issues, and her insight fascinating.
This is the first book to provide a comprehensive assessment of Calvinism in Poland-Lithuania as ... more This is the first book to provide a comprehensive assessment of Calvinism in Poland-Lithuania as a whole (...) Also valuable is the book’s thematic structure, which prevents it becoming merely a narrative of decline (...) Other useful chapters deal with patterns of piety, the ministry, and church discipline. In the final section, Bem considers the development of Calvinism down to 1548, with a thought-provoking chapter on the considerable contribution made by women to the survival and flourishing of Calvinist churches, and a challenging rumination on the ambiguity of numbers, which has much to say about the sources on which historians have relied. These issues have been dealt with before, but Bem draws on the work of recent historians such as Wojciech Kriegseisen and Maciej Ptaszyński, as well as a range of primary sources, to add numerous case studies to illuminate his themes, and to challenge entrenched assumptions:
Kazimierz Bem's fine monograph, Calvinism in the Polish Commonwealth (...) presents the fullest, ... more Kazimierz Bem's fine monograph, Calvinism in the Polish Commonwealth (...) presents the fullest, clearest, and most comprehensive study of the Reformed faith in the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth available to an Anglophone audience today. Bem's accomplishments are many remarkable body of research. He has carefully worked through archives, ecclesiastical chronicles, synodal records, memoirs, and other sources to present a fascinating picture of religious life in this period.
Smith's book is excellent, well-written, and the attention she pays to the substance of faith and... more Smith's book is excellent, well-written, and the attention she pays to the substance of faith and its practice of Rational Dissenters is praiseworthy. (...) It is a deep shame that it crowns her academic work in that field instead of inaugurating it.
Dr Kazimierz Bem['s] unconcealed sympathies (...) have not hindered him from writing the first mo... more Dr Kazimierz Bem['s] unconcealed sympathies (...) have not hindered him from writing the first modern historical synthesis in any language of Calvinism, broadly understood, in the entire Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. It can be recommended to all scholars and advanced students interested in the history of the Reformation in Europe
It has often been noted that every outbreak of unitarian Christology and Arminian soteriology sin... more It has often been noted that every outbreak of unitarian Christology and Arminian soteriology since the Protestant Reformation has arisen within an existing framework of Calvinism.
The article looks at the polity of the three Reformed Churches in the Com‑ monwealth of the Two N... more The article looks at the polity of the three Reformed Churches in the Com‑ monwealth of the Two Nations in the context of the Second Reformation. The author argues that the three churches began with initially very different ecclesiastical polities. The Czech Brethren Church (Jednota Braci Czeskich) in Greater Poland had an Episcopal structure with the bishops (called “seniors”) making all the decisions for the church. The Lesser Polish Brethren (Jednota Małopolska) began as a highly decentralized church, resembling a de facto congregationalism. Finally, the Lithuanian Brethren (Jednota Litewska) was from the onset a church with a classical Presbyterian polity. With the passage of time and due to many factors all three churches began to resemble each other more and more and moving towards the Presbyterian polity. It was embraced by the Lesser Poland Reformed from the 1590s onwards, and the Brethren Church after 1608. This process – paralleled by a liturgical and organizational uniformity – culminated in the Synod of Włodawa (1634) when the Reformed of all three provinces settled on a Presbyterian polity for all three churches, with minor local variations. While all the churches retained the functions of superintendents or seniors, the mere fact of their existence or competence is not enough to suggest an Episcopal polity for any of three churches.
A debate on the polity of the three Reformed Churches in the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth with ... more A debate on the polity of the three Reformed Churches in the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth with Maciej Ptaszyński.
J. Drążyk, W. Kowalski (red.), Reformacja w Małopolsce w starodrukach i historiografii, Wydawnictwo Uniwersytetu Jana Kochanowskiego w Kielcach, 2020
The article deals with the last 150 years of the Calvinist congregation in Sielec - the last acti... more The article deals with the last 150 years of the Calvinist congregation in Sielec - the last active congregation of the Lesser Poland Reformed Church. It focuses on the faithful, clergy, and the reasons for its ultimate dissolution in 1939
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Papers by Kazimierz J Bem
In this article I analyze three such “unions” for their specific provisions: liturgical and theological. I contend that they might be construed as irenic, only if we understand it to mean a suspension of personal and interconfessional polemics from the pulpit. However, all three situations started from a place of Reformed superiority and all three cases were to Calvinize the Lutherans in the long term—a rather pragmatic goal and not a particularly irenic one. These agreements highlight the difficulties of applying the Sandomir Consensus to particular localities in a much more hostile seventeenth-century environment for Protestants.
In this article I analyze three such “unions” for their specific provisions: liturgical and theological. I contend that they might be construed as irenic, only if we understand it to mean a suspension of personal and interconfessional polemics from the pulpit. However, all three situations started from a place of Reformed superiority and all three cases were to Calvinize the Lutherans in the long term—a rather pragmatic goal and not a particularly irenic one. These agreements highlight the difficulties of applying the Sandomir Consensus to particular localities in a much more hostile seventeenth-century environment for Protestants.
It offers a detailed history of the three Reformed Churches. Drawing on extensive research in primary sources, Dr. Bem challenges the dominant narrative of Protestant decline after 1570 and argues for a continued flourishing of Calvinism in the Commonwealth until the 1630s.
a range of primary sources, to add numerous case studies to illuminate his themes, and to challenge entrenched assumptions: