Nowoczesność a sacrum

Abstract

The author has taken up the current problem of the influence of modernity on sacrum. First he defined the concept of modernity in comparison with tradition. Then he dealt with sacrum discriminating its “substantial” approach from the functional. It allowed him to distinctly separate sacrum irora profanum. Finally, he concentrated on the perspective of sacrum in the contemporary society. According to him, modernity and sacrum not only are not exclusive but they mutually influence each other. One cannot, then, accept the standpoint that modernity supersedes sacrum. The author turned his attention to the specific character of the Polish society. What contributes to this character is the co-existence of modernity and sacrum in the totalitarian system and the functioning of sacrum more at the all-national level than in everyday life. This specific character has certainly contributed to a certain difference in the functioning of sacrum in the Polish society-to-be. The decisive role in its shaping falls to the Catholic Church.