Calvinism in the Polish Lithuanian Commonwealth 1548–1648

Kazimierz Bem, Ph.D. (2007, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam), is pastor of First Church in Marlborough (Congregational) UCC in Massachusetts, USA. He received his M.Div. and S.T.M. degrees from Yale Divinity School in 2010 and 2012. He is the author of many articles on Calvinism in Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth and the book Biographical Dictionary of Reformed Clergy. Pastors and Deaconess of the Lesser Poland and Warsaw Consistory 1815–1939 (Wydawnictwo Naukowe Semper, 2015).

"Filling a lacuna in English language scholarship that might take scholars in the field by surprise, Bem directly and neatly explicates the development of Calvinist sects in the Reformed Church’s premier century in Poland-Lithuania. In doing so, he also suggests vital connectionsto the history of other contemporary confessions in the region and highlights important ties to the broader transnational history of Calvinism and the Reformation. [...] Bem’s work is a welcome addition to a field that has undergone significant rejuvenation in the past decade. It promises a wider impact as well: his research and his presentation are worthy of inspiring both popular interest and further scholarship on the topic.Bryan Kozik, Davis & Elkins College, in Sixteenth Century Journal LV/1–2, pp. 329-331“Kazimierz Bem’s fine monograph […] presents the fullest, clearest, and most comprehensive study of the Reformed faith in the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth available to an Anglophone audience today. […] For anyone serious about the world of Polish Calvinism, this book will be indispensable.”Howard Louthan, University of Minnesota. In: Church History, Vol. 91, No. 3 (September 2022), pp. 674–675.“important study […] This is the first book to provide a comprehensive assessment of Calvinism in Polish-Lithuania as a whole.” Robert Frost, University of Aberdeen. In: Renaissance Quarterly, Vol. 75, No. 3 (Fall 2022), pp. 1065–1066.“[...] 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.”Wioletta Pawlikowska, Polish Academy of Sciences. In: Journal of Ecclesiastical History, Vol. 72, No. 4 (October 2021), pp. 881–883.“This is the first scholarly monograph of the Reformed Churches in Poland-Lithuania in the period of the Reformation’s growth down through the beginning of its decline. [...] It is also a merit of the book to have drawn our attention to the manifold roles women played in Reformed congregations of the Commonwealth.”Waldemar Kowalski, Jan Kochanowski University of Kielce. In: Religious Studies Review, Vol. 46, No. 4 (December 2020), pp. 551–552.

• AcknowledgmentsName and Place ConventionsTimeline of the Polish-Lithuanian CommonwealthMaps and IllustrationsPART 1The Commonwealth in the Age of the Reformation1 Introduction2 The Land of Many Sects2.1 The People and Their Religions2.2 The Territories and Their Governance2.3 The Reformation in Poland and Lithuania before 1548PART 2The Reformed Churches3 Church Polity3.1 The Early Years: 1548–15953.2 Growing Together: 1595–1630s3.3 The 1634 Wlodawa General Convocation and Its Aftermath4 The Liturgy4.1 The Early Years 1550–15954.2 Krainski’s Forma of 1599 and the 1601 Agenda in Lesser Poland4.3 Liturgical Developments in the Greater Poland Brethren Churches4.4 Reformed Liturgy in the Grand Duchy of Lithuania 1550–16214.5 Toward a Unified Reformed Liturgy in Poland and Lithuania5 Church Discipline5.1 Theological Background of Reformed Church Discipline before 16345.2 The Practice of Reformed Church Discipline before 16345.3 Reformed Church Discipline after the 1634 Wlodawa Convocation6 The Ministry7 Patterns of PietyPART 3The Reformed Faithful8 The Nobles Convert9 A Few Sheep Are Better than a Herd of Pigs10 Calvinists in Royal Towns11 Calvinist Fishing in Lutheran Waters12 “Most Fanatical Champions of Their Perfidious Dogmas”— Women and Calvinism in the Commonwealth13 The Ambiguity of Numbers14 ConclusionBibliographyIndex