Sex Lives and Churches in Polish Territories Through the Ages

This book analyzes the relation between the Churches' official teachings regarding 'desired' and forbidden forms of sexual behaviour on the one hand, and mundane practice on the other hand, focusing on perspectives 'from below'. Since the very beginning, Christianity has sought to regulate the love lives of its believers. The clergy's growing influence on state institutions and the introduction of Christian sexual ethics left its mark on law, education and social norms. However, the everyday lives of most believers had little in common with the sexual norms propagated by clerics. The territory of Poland is especially interesting due to the fact that over the centuries different Christian confessions as well as distinct ethnic groups with various cultural norms co-existed there. Additionally, this edited collection looks at different groups of actors, such as peasants, the clergy or townspeople from the Early Middle Ages until the late twentieth century, and also includes different types of sources as well as of methodological approaches. This long-term perspective shows the impact and influence of Church teachings in a longue durée, and highlights social factors that both shaped discourses on sexuality and also indicated the changing power of the Church.

Jasmina Korczak-Siedlecka is Researcher in the Department of History at Uppsala University, Sweden. She focuses on gender history, history of violence and religion in Early Mern Poland. Michael Zok is Researcher at the German Historical Institute in Warsaw, Poland. His research interests include the history of sexuality and media as well as comparative history.

Forbidden Fruit: Sex Lives and Churches in Polish Lands since the Middle Ages.- The Christianisation of Medieval Poland and the Norms of Sexual Activity Prescribed by the Church.- The Sex Life of the Peasant Population vs. Christian Norms and Canon Law in Late Medieval Poland.- Clergy and Sexuality in the Light of the Files of the Consistory of Plock Diocese from the Second Half of the Fifteenth Century.- Policing Sexual Boundaries, Religious-Ethnic Segregation, and the Estate Solidarities in Red Ruthenia (Galicia) During the Fifteenth and Sixteenth Centuries.- On the Hunt for Sinners: How Lutherans Tried to Discipline Sexual Life in the Countryside in the Sixteenth to Eighteenth Centuries.- "Man Cannot Do without Sin...": The Catholic Church and Peasant Sexual Ethics in Early Modern Poland.- "Abhor the Sin as the Snake" - The Relationship between the Teachings of Catholic Church and Working-class Female Sexuality in the Late Nineteenth Century in the Kingdom of Poland.- Body vs Soul: The Catholic Church, Religious Upbringing and Sexuality Problems among Galician Youth in the Second Half of the Nineteenth and Early Twentieth Centuries.- Sex, Youth, and Moral Panic in the Interwar Polish City: The Case of Tarnow.- "We Should Admit That We Have Fewer True Catholics than Statistics Show": Sexuality, (Post-) Communism, and the Catholic Church in Poland.