Polish Protestants in a Catholic Context 

Wojciech Kowalewski 

Some of Poland’s Roman Catholic theologians look back today at the Communist era with a certain nostalgia. Fr. Stanislaw Musial, a Jesuit, suggests, “Maybe it was easier for the Church under Communism....At least things were considerably clearer: the line between Good and Evil was sharp. Now it is more difficult for the Church which, moreover, runs the danger of seeming to block people’s maturity.”1 One of the major sociological studies of Roman Catholicism in Poland in the postCommunist era addressed the great range of difficult issues confronting Polish Catholicism after 1989: abortion, unemployment, liberties of democracy, consumerism, liberalism, and postmodernism.2 The important issue at stake here is what kind of competence does the church have in the development of a post-Communist culture? This question concerns not only the Catholic Church, but Poland’s evangelical churches as well.

“Historical” and “Free Church” Protestantism 

Although the historical roots undoubtedly point to the Roman Catholic Church as the major influence on the national identity of Poland, Protestantism cannot be discounted. Indeed, some elements of Protestant teaching have had a significant impact on the nation and contributed to the support of national culture. Reflecting on the historical and theological identity of Polish Protestantism, Tadeusz J. Zielinski asks a significant question in the title of his article, “One or Two Polish Protestantisms? Who Is Who in Polish Protestantism?” While all Protestants identify themselves with Reformation, a distinction exists between: “historical Protestantism” (including Lutherans and Reformed Churches which came to Poland as early as in 16th century) and “Free Church Protestantism” (including Baptists, Methodists, Pentecostals, Free Christians, and Evangelical Christians who emerged in Poland from the beginning of the 19th century).3

 To this day, historical and free church traditions remain in some ways antagonistic to each other. Historical Protestants are often branded as theologically liberal and morally indifferent to spiritual needs of the people, while free churches are accused of proselytism, “fishing in the neighbor’s pond.” On the other hand, free church Protestantism has historically been charged with fundamentalist and separatist attitudes expressed both theologically and socially. Thus widely respected Lutheran scholar Professor Karol Karski points to some historical roots of what he refers to as “Baptist-type communities” among which he includes Baptists, Churches of Christ, Free Christians [historically connected with Plymouth Brethren], Evangelical Christians, Quakers, Methodists, Adventists, Pentecostals, and Jehovah’s Witnesses. Karski asserts that all of these communities share two characteristics: They came to Poland in the late 19th or 20th centuries, and they emphasize the importance of religious freedom and tolerance.4 

“Traditionalist” and “Volunteerist” Protestants

 In response to this article Tadeusz J. Zielinski objects to Karski’s chronological, historical categories in reference to Protestant communities and clearly disassociates the Protestant free church tradition from Jehovah’s Witnesses and Quakers.5 More importantly, as already mentioned, he emphasizes the importance of a shared theological inheritance of the Protestant churches that all embrace basic Reformation teachings. As an alternative, Zielinski suggests two other possible classifications of Evangelical churches in Poland. The first differentiates between “traditionalist” churches in which infant baptism is the basis for membership and “volunteerist” churches in which adult baptism by conscious choice is the basis for membership. Zielinski bases a second differentiation among Protestants between conservative and liberal/modernist approaches to Christian doctrine that are not just limited to Polish theological circles.6 However, this classification is not as easy to identify in the case of Protestant churches in Poland, since it is not always clear what is meant by conservative and liberal. 

However, in general, conservative refers to faithfulness to a certain doctrinal heritage and forms of piety in the light of Scripture, while liberal is associated with those who question traditional approaches to Scripture and who seek new theological expressions in dialogue with culture. Whereas for many Roman Catholics in Poland the dividing line between conservative and liberal lies in one’s approach to Vatican II, for many Protestants the often-mentioned dividing line relates to the authority of Scripture. Although relations among Protestants of differing traditions have improved over the last five decades due to the work of the Ecumenical Council and the Christian Theological Academy in Warsaw, some differences and tensions between so called “historical churches” and “free churches” still affect their relations.

 Protestant Activism 

First, it is crucial to recognize that activism is a traditionally strong feature of evangelical Christians in Poland. Virtually all Protestant communities emphasize the importance of the practical application of sola scriptura to life which in principle implies close integration of Word and life. Thus Baptist theologian Konstanty Wiazowski devotes two chapters of his Foundations of Our Faith to the Word of God as the source of God’s revelation that needs to find its practical expression in Christian life. He asserts that it is a responsibility of every believer to study God’s Word and points to various critical approaches to exegesis of the text that should also become the foundation of the whole church.7 As already noted, this is not just a Baptist emphasis, but a generally shared conviction that Protestant religious experience is closely associated with conscious intention to interpret the Scripture in a dynamic way in relation to existing and changing reality. 

Evangelical Ethics 

Thus, an identification of Scripture as the central authority among Protestants finds practical expression in a certain approach to matters of spirituality, doctrine, and ethics. This is clearly expressed in a very influential study by Methodist theologian Professor Witold Benedyktowicz (1974/1993) of the Christian Theological Academy who in his study of evangelical theological ethics clearly emphasizes that his main concern is not philosophical, but rather practical in the light of the principle sola fide. 8 Benedyktowicz stresses practical applications of evangelical ethics as they relate to the world, the environment, life, family issues, work and leisure, culture, patriotism, and attitudes toward authority, to name but a few.9 It is interesting to note that these reflections are very much praxis-minded and grow out of particular experiences of Polish Protestantism. 

The Influence of Pietism

 This activist approach to spirituality clearly points to the strong influence of pietism which puts great emphasis upon personal faith and “holy living.” There are four emphases that are historically associated with pietism: its experiential character, its biblical focus, its perfectionist bent, and its reforming interest.10 All of these elements are seen as important components of Christian evangelical identity, with special emphasis on the importance of personal transformation through faith in Jesus (sola fide). In fact, it is this “experiential” element of faith that is often emphasized more than theory. Therefore, this “spiritual” emphasis on personal reading of the Scripture has had a deep impact on the perception of the relationship between “piety” and “theology”. The problem is that this emphasis on activism was not always paired with deeper theological reflection (like that expressed in Benedyktowicz’ theological ethics). In other words, the great emphasis on “spiritual” activism was often associated with “a lower view of scholarship among church members,”11 especially among Protestants of free church tradition. Baptist theologian Wiazowski, reflecting on the tasks of theology, expresses and comments on some of the objections often mentioned by some evangelicals when discussing theology.12 

The main concern is that too much theology can result in the loss of “simple evangelical faith,” which was often put forward in such a way: “Faith yes, but what do we need theology for?” For those accepting this view it implied that engaging with any serious theological or philosophical issues was deemed “suspicious,” “unnecessary,” and in the light of focus on individual spirituality, even as “a useless intellectualism, leading one to confusion.”13 However, as Wiazowski, an experienced pastor and for many years president of the Polish Baptist Union, argues, Christian living should be informed by theology in at least three practical areas: “in defense against any false teaching,” “in clarifying the teaching of the church,” and in “biblical exegesis.” Furthermore, in response to the concern raised above, according to him the sole purpose of any theological reflection is to strengthen and not weaken the Christian faith, and when faith is excluded from theological reflection then it becomes nothing more than empty dogmatism.14 

In some cases the strong Polish Protestant emphasis upon personal piety and experience of faith resulted in very limited theological understanding of the “world,” resulting in a division between the “spiritual” and the “secular,” which was further entrenched by the fact that most Protestant churches in Poland are small. A minority complex entrenched the tendency towards a certain type of uniformity whereby strong group loyalty and isolation from the outside world predominated.15 The isolationist and fundamentalist tendencies of some Polish Protestant communities led to a sharp division and the drawing of strong lines between the church and the “world.” Marsh Moyle, director of SEN, Slovakia, in “Shadows of the Past: The Lingering Effects of the Communist Mindset in the Church and Society,” notes the problem of lack of responsibility, broken trust, and a “public/private schism” as significant features of Central and Eastern European evangelicalism.16 This division between the “spiritual” and the “worldly” significantly limited the scope of Christian witness.17 

Suffering and Survival 

Polish evangelicals during the Communist era faced the challenge of remaining committed to their biblical faith while obeying the laws of the ruling government. In response, some evangelicals became apolitical, focusing strictly on their spiritual ministry of preaching the gospel, avoiding any involvement in politics. Others collaborated with the government, making favorable pronouncements in return for government favors. Still others demonstrated their loyalty to the government in areas where conscience permitted them to do so, but voiced criticism in other areas, such as violations of human rights.18 It seems that many Polish Protestants embraced the first option of withdrawal. General Secretary of the European Baptist Federation, Karl Heinz Walter, when asked about theology in Central and Eastern Europe, noted: “If there has ever been theology in the Second World, it is the theology of survival. 

East European Baptists have clung firmly to doctrines of salvation, the deity of Christ, and the uniqueness of Scripture against ‘the world,’ especially in the Communist years. Their churches have been more places of refuge than bases of social action.”19 While in some ways correct, Walter did not take into consideration the experiential aspects of theology developed by those living under Communist regimes. Many Protestants had to suffer because of their faith. Particular images of a theology of sacrifice, a theology of the cross, or a theology of suffering were not even considered in Walter’s statement. In this context it is worth quoting Peter Kuzmic at some length: Evangelical Christians “had a depth of commitment and a spirit of sacrifice going far beyond…superficial and self-centered… ‘cheap grace’ and its pseudoPentecostal variables such as ‘health and wealth,’ ‘name it and claim it,’ or the ‘prosperity gospel,’ all popular in some segments of Western culture…. Their faith and suffering have taught them that external pressures, legal restrictions, social discrimination, and even physical persecutions serve the noble purpose of purifying and strengthening the church.”20 

Quoting Kuzmic is not meant to be a condemnation of Western Christianity, which has enjoyed religious freedom for much longer than the countries of Eastern Europe. Nor do his comments amount to an attack against the Catholic majority in Poland, which also has many great testimonies of brave obedience to Christ in the fight against Communism. Rather, Kuzmic underscores a feature of Polish (and East European) evangelicalism, and the reasons behind its theological fundamentalism and conservatism. Furthermore, Polish theological literature reflects full awareness of social problems which is to be found, for example, in Benedyktowicz’s “theological ethics” or Wiazowski’s critical study of “social sin.”

East-West Protestant Contrasts 

Daryl Cosden and Donald Fairbairn, reflecting on contextual theological education among post-Soviet Protestants, point to some problems of interaction between different groups of Christians that are particularly evident in the relationship between conservative Western Protestants and Protestants in post-Communist lands. Although both groups confess a firm commitment to Scripture and the importance of proclaiming the gospel, they often tend to perceive their own theology as absolute and universal without considering the degree to which their context has shaped their theology. To illustrate this problem Cosden and Fairbairn quote a prominent Ukrainian Christian leader who commented on the difference between conservative Western Protestantism and Slavic Protestantism by saying: “The problem is that our pastors write poetry; theirs write systematic theologies.” This again points to a different emphasis in the way of thinking. It seems that for a conservative Western Protestant theologian, Scripture is often seen as a book of universal propositions which must be uncovered (through scientifically devised principles of exegesis). 

Thus, the task of theology is to uncover these propositions and arrange them in an orderly, logical form. Such a method finds its roots in a post-Reformation Protestant scholasticism further strengthened by the fundamentalist-modernist controversy in North America which led many conservative Protestants to embrace a theology that was extremely “cognitive in orientation” and focused on the defense of what they considered “objective universals.” On the other hand, when the Ukrainian Christian leader quoted above said that Slavic pastors write poetry, he was referring to a substantially different way of thinking. Therefore, Cosden and Faibairn assert that for Slavs, “Thinking and knowing involve much more than logic.” Slavs “understand reality in a way which is more complex than straightforward propositional terms can indicate.”21 

Christoph Klein, Bishop of the Evangelical Church in Sibiu, Romania, captured the significance of the post-Communist transformation very well: “For Central and Eastern Europe, the historical events of the year 1989 marked a ‘turning,’ a change which Christians regard as God’s turning to us in a caring way. God freed peoples from terror and dictatorship, God opened closed borders, God released countless numbers of people from bondage and politicalideological oppression, God made it possible for Christians of all churches and confessions to practice their religion without interference. Overnight a completely new situation arose in these European countries.”22

Addressing Abortion 

In the early 1990s one of Poland’s most controversial church-state polemics concerned abortion. The Catholic Church defended the basic right to life, whereas those defending abortion supported the right of freedom of choice.23 Abortion was also widely discussed in the Protestant press, mainly in moral terms, decrying the changes taking place in Polish society and criticizing the wide gap between Catholic moral proclamation and actual practice. While in Poland the family is still perceived as one of the highest values, the quality of family relations is becoming weaker and the divorce rate is growing. Andrzej Seweryn, president of the Polish Baptist Union and an experienced minister, argues that the family relationship is “the most difficult test of Christian living” in contemporary society. He notes that “Family is the first and most important church! If there is no God there, how will our children find him?”24 

Combating Consumerism 

Another pastoral concern resulting from new social and economic freedoms is the striving for material possessions with all its consequences. The so-called Western Dream conceptualizes a better future in terms of ever-increasing levels of economic prosperity and personal consumption. One Western commentator, discussing this phenomenon in Eastern and Central Europe, noted: “Tragically, the unquestioned commitment to modernization and the unrestrained  quest of the Western Dream seem as pronounced among those who identify with the church as those outside it.”25 As a result, in Poland as elsewhere in former socialist states, new freedoms generate new ethical issues that pastors must address. “Być bogatym – ale jak? [To Be Rich – But How?]” is the title of an article opening an issue of the Baptist monthly Slowo Prawdy which explores the question of “being” and “having” from a biblical perspective. 

After reflecting on various qualities of godliness and Christian understanding of riches and poverty, the author concludes with words of challenge: “Let us not live by desires to have more or envying others who already have more....Let us, rather, learn to be grateful for all we have; it is better than the bitterness of unfulfilled expectations.”26 Similarly, Adam Cenian observes how a “consumerist mentality” pervades the whole of Polish culture and how from a biblical perspective those blessed with riches and the church as a whole bear special responsibility to care for one another and especially for those who are in need.27 Needless to say, consumer-driven individualism, stoked by advertising, can undermine Christian values.

John Paul II often warned against the problem of uncritical acceptance of individualized freedom. He admonished people gathered in Wloclawek, Poland, on 7 June 1991: “It is not wrong to want to live better: what is wrong is a style of life which is presumed to be better when it is directed towards ‘having’ rather than ‘being,’ and which wants to have more, not in order to be more, but to spend life in enjoyment as an end in itself.”28 

Notes: 

1. D. O’Grady, The Turned Card: Christianity before and after the Wall (Gracewing: Leominster, 1995), 117.
2.  Pawel Zalecki, Między triumfalizmem a poczuciem zagroźenia. Kościół rzymskokatolicki w Polsce współcźesnej w oczach swych przedstawicieli [Between Triumphalism and Fear; The Roman Catholic Church in the Views of Its Members] (Kraków: Nomos, 2001). 
3. Tadeusz J. Zieliński,“Jeden cźy dwa polskie protestantyzmy? Pytanie o moźliwość wspólnego świadectwa” [One or Two Polish Protestantisms? Question of Joint Witness],” Myśl Protestancka, No. 1 (1999), 8-19.
4.  Karol Karski, “Protestanckie wspólnoty wolnokościelne” [Protestant Free Church Communities], Studia i Dokumenty Ekumeniczne, No.1 (1995), 37-53. 
5. Tadeusz J. Zieliński, “Jak klasyfikować Kościoły protestanckie? [How to Classify Protestant Churches?],” Studia i Dokumenty Ekumeniczne, No.2 (1996), 62. 
6. Zieliński, “Jak klasyfikować,” 65-66.
7.  Konstanty Wiazowski, Podstawy naszej wiary [Foundations of Our Faith] (Warsaw: Słowo Prawdy, 1987).
8. Witold Benedyktowicz, Co powinniśmy czynić. Zarys ewangelickiej etyki teologicznej [What We Shall Do. An Outline of Evangelical Theological Ethics] (Warsaw: ChAT, 1993), 5. 
9.  Benedyktowicz, Co powinniśmy czynić, 127, 150ff., 179ff, and 194ff.
10. Mark A. Noll and Ronald F. Thiemann, eds., Where  Shall My Wond’ring Soul Begin? The Landscape of Evangelical Piety and Thought (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2000), 855f. 
11. Juraj Kusnierik and Eileen Milan, “Shadows of the Past: The Impact of Communism on the Way People Think in Post-Communist Society,” (Bratislava, Slovakia: unpublished SEN research paper, 1997). 
12. Wiazowski, Podstawy naszej wiary, 7f.
13. Kusnierik and Moyle,“Trends,” 17.
14. Konstanty Wiazowski, Podstawowe zasady wiary chrześcijańskiej [Basic Principles of Christian Faith] (Warsaw: WBST, 2000), 11-12. 
15.  Kusnierik and Moyle,“Trends,” 13. 
16. Marsh Moyle, “Shadows of the Past: The Lingering Effects of the Communist Mindset in the Church and Society,” Transformation 16 (No. 1, 1999), 18.
17.  Juraj Kusnierik, “Evangelicals in Central Europe,” (Bratislava, Slovakia: unpublished SEN research paper, 1999), 22. 
18.  Sabrina P. Ramet, Social Currents in Eastern Europe: Sources and Meaning of the Great Transformation (Durham, NC: Duke University Press, 1991), 72. 
19. Michael I. Bochenski, Theology from Three Worlds. Liberation and Evangelization for The New Europe (Oxford: Smith & Helwys, 1997), xi. 
20. Peter Kuzmic, “The Communist Impact on the Church in Eastern Europe,” Evangelical Review of Theology 20 (No. 1, 1996), 70. 
21. Darrell Cosden and Donald Fairbairn, “Contextual Theological Education among Post-Soviet Protestants,” Transformation 18 (No. 2, 2001), 125-26. 
22.  Christoph Klein, “Turning to God for Renewal in Mission in Central and Eastern Europe,” International Review of Mission 87 (No. 347, 1998), 473. 
23.  Jarosław Gowin, Kosciół w czasach wolności 1989- 1999 [The Church in Times of Freedom 1989-1999] (Kraków: Znak, 1999), 150ff. 
24.  Andrzej Seweryn, “Kościół otwartych drzwi [Church with Open Doors],” Słowo Prawdy No. 4 (2000), 14. 
25.  Tom Sine, Wild Hope. A Wake-up Call to the Challenges and Opportunities of the 21st Century (Tunbridge Wells: Monarch, 1992), 207. 
26. Wlodek Tasak, “Być bogatym—ale jak? [To Be Rich—But How?],” Slowo Prawdy (2000), 4. 
27.  Adam Cenian, “Bogactwo i ubóstwo—nasze wyzwania [Wealth and Poverty—Our Challenges],” Słowo Prawdy No. 5 (2000), 5-7. 
28.  Nathalie Gagnere, “The Return of God and the Challenge of Democracy: The Catholic Church in Central Eastern Europe,” Journal of Church and State 35 (No. 4, 1993), 863. Edited excerpts reprinted with permission from Wojciech Kowalewski, Transforming Mission in PostCommunist Context. Towards an Integrative Approach (Berlin: VDM Verlag Dr Muller, 2009). 

Wojciech Kowalewski, Ph.D., University of Wales, is director of Pastors-2-Pastors, a leadership development ministry based in Wroclaw, Poland. 

Editor’s Note: The second half of this article will be published in the next issue of the East-West Church and Ministry Report 24 (Spring 2016).