Naslov
Theology in The Spirit of Palanka: Catechism of Croatian Catholic and Serbian Orthodox Ethnonationalist Imagineries

Autori
Branko Sekulić

Vrsta, podvrsta i kategorija rada
Poglavlja u knjigama, znanstveni

Knjiga
Balkan Contextual Theology: An Introduction

Urednik/ci
Stipe Odak, Zoran Grozdanov

Izdavač
Routledge

Grad
London : Delhi

Godina
2022

Raspon stranica
241-255

ISBN
9780367722883

Ključne riječi
Balkan Contextual Theology, Political Theology, Palanka, Croatian Catholics, Serbian Orthodox, Ethnonationalism

Sažetak
Palanka, another of those terms that can never be fully and finally translated, represents a secluded society which constantly longs for a return to an original purity. Radomir Konstantinović's book Filosofija palanke (Philosophy of Parochialism) is one of the most influential classics of the Balkans in its description of endemic forms of life in the region. Branko Sekulić, in his contribution to the present volume, offers an outline of a related discipline – a Theology of Palanka, at the heart of which is a “palankian spirit.” The Spirit of palanka is, paradoxically, the spirit of superior inferiority. While the world evolves, palanka subsists as an immovable symbol of its original purity. Yet, that position of world-imposed inferiority is, Sekulić notes, transubstantiated into the proof of superiority: “[T]he rejection is transformed into a privilege, and privilege into ideology.” The world moved away from its original destiny – a Palankian would say – while palanka remains a testimony to its original form. Palanka is a paradise redux, an image of the world as it once was – free of changes and, most importantly, of plurality. Palanka does not live in the world but the world, unavoidably, appears in palanka as a constant source of frustration. The instinct that follows from it is one of violence, manifested as aggression (externally) and forceful purification (internally). God as a source of plurality and mystery cannot live in palanka. God is thus transformed “from the omniscient One” to the idol of the group. God is, in other words, emptied of its content but preserved in its form, which is subsequently filled by the concept of the “tribe.”

Izvorni jezik
Engleski

Znanstvena područja
Politologija, Teologija, Povijest

POVEZANOST RADA