Paper short abstract:

The paper analyses practices and discourses by which Polish Lutherans create their religious identity being under pressure of Roman Catholicism dominating Polish public sphere on one hand and the influence of evangelical movements on the other.

Paper long abstract:

Polish Lutheran minority is very small in number, but in Cieszyn Silesia it constitutes a significant cultural factor (autochthonous people are mostly Lutheran). There are also parishes in bigger cities in other parts of Poland. I have been carrying research in Silesia for many years and recently also among Lutheran diaspora in Krakow.

In my paper I tackle several problems like the role of religious adherence in the local level politics, the conceptualization of Lutheran Polishness, the influence of Catholicism (mixed marriages, conversions), important role of pietistic spirituality, the authority of clergy in formulating orthodoxy.