Biblia i kultura

Abstract

The Bible is the most frequently translated and studied book in the world. As far as its translations are concerned, these often provided starting points for the literature of a nation, for example that of Armenia. Furthermore, the Bible has often been translated by the world’s foremost writers and those translations rank among the most outstanding literary masterpieces of nations. The Scriptures can be regarded from the point of view of religion (naturally, the most important meaning), history and literature, but also from the perspective of their influence on various aspects of life including culture in its broad sense – thus both on art and language. It does not mean, however, that those different viewpoints are contradictory – in fact, they are usually complementary. If we consider art, the Bible has always been a source of inspiration not only for Christian artists of all denominations, but also for Jews and non-believers. Artists selected those elements from the Scriptures which they considered important, even though they were not always significant from a theological point of view. The Bible was studied and commented upon in the Church, hence its influence on language. The liturgy used Bible-based religious songs; this led to the emergence of biblical music, which then left churches and became great concert works. Churches required artistic decorations; as a result, religious and biblical art appeared, which also left churches afterwards. The Scriptures used to inspire writers and poets, who composed works based on biblical motifs or with Bible-related titles. Finally, biblical subject matter appeared in film and even in ballet. Therefore, we may say the Bible has always provided the matrix for European culture and constituted its significant component, and its knowledge is key to understanding culture. All those issues are discussed in the book Tradycje biblijne (“Biblical Traditions”) Kraków 2011 (published by PETRUS), p. 518, with a foreword by Cardinal Gianfranco Ravasi. The presentation of the book in Bydgoszcz provided an opportunity to deliver this lecture.