Dr. Magdalena Luszczynska

Areas of specialization:

Early-modern intellectual history, History of science, History of esoteric movements, Eastern-European history, Christian-Jewish relations

Areas of competence:

Early-modern intellectual history, History of science, History of alchemy, Eastern-European history, Christian-Jewish relations

Email

I work in early-modern intellectual history and research the intersections of science, religion, and politics in early-modern Europe. My current project entitled Transmutation, Rhetoric, and Diplomacy. Alchemists and their writings at the court of Rudolf II examines alchemical texts that were, at once, reports of scientific laboratory experiments, and elaborate works of art that aspired to uncover, understand, and reconstruct the forces of nature. My aim is to show how the symbolic, allegorical language of these texts, together with their often theatrical visual imagery, was an integral part of the ways in which alchemists, and indeed, scientists before the so-called Scientific Revolution, conceptualized, organised, and expressed knowledge.

I hold a Ph.D. in the History of the Jewish People from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and an MA in Digital Humanities from University College London. My doctoral dissertation discussed anti-Jewish polemics written by Marcin Czechowic, the leader of a radical Christian sect in early-modern Poland. It focused especially on the play on complex Jewish stereotypes devised to influence the internal politics of the movement. The book based on that research entitled Politics of Polemics, Marcin Czechowic on the Jews was published by De Gruyter in October 2018.

Publications:

Book

  • Politics of Polemics. Marcin Czechowic on the Jews (Oldenbourg: De Gruyter, 2018)

Referred journals

  • ‘Framing Father-Son Relationships in Medieval Ashkenaz: Folk Narratives as Markers of Cultural Difference’ in Simon Bronner (ed.) Jewish Cultural Studies: Framing Jewish Culture: Boundaries and Representations (4, 2013): 151—171.
  • ‘The Polish Brethren versus the Hutterians: a sacred community?,’ Journal of Early Modern Christianity 4,1 (2017): 21—46.
  • ‘From the Prodigal Son to the Last Judgement: Arian parables of conversion to Catholicism’ Journal of Religion in Europe 1 (2018): 1—19.

Edited volumes

  • ‘Odpis Jakuba Żyda Marcina Czechowica i chrześcijański hebraizm w wersji ariańskiej’ Piotr Wilczek, Michał Choptiany (eds.) Antytrynitaryzm w Pierwszej Rzeczypospolitej w kontekście europejskim. Źródła − rozwój – oddziaływanie. In the book series Culture of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth in Dialogue with Europe: Hermeneutics of Values (Warsaw: University of Warsaw Press, 2018), 316—333.
  • ‘Inter-faith disputation, Christian Hebraism, or a leadership campaign? The multi-dimensional character of Marcin Czechowic’s anti-Jewish polemics’ in Michał Choptiany, Simon Burton, Piotr Wilczek (eds.) Reformed Majorities and Minorities. Refo500 Academic Studies (Göttingen: Vanderhoeck & Ruprecht, 2019), forthcoming.
  • ‘The Calvary of Wejherowo: The History and Symbolic Meanings of Kashubian Jerusalem’ in Bianca Kuehnel et al. (eds) Projections of Jerusalem in Europe: A Monumental Network (Jerusalem, Spectrum), forthcoming.
  • ‘Odpis Jakuba Żyda Marcina Czechowica i chrześcijański hebraizm w wersji ariańskiej’ Piotr Wilczek, Michał Choptiany (eds.) Antytrynitaryzm w Pierwszej Rzeczypospolitej w kontekście europejskim. Źródła − rozwój – oddziaływanie. In the book series Culture of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth in Dialogue with Europe: Hermeneutics of Values (Warsaw: University of Warsaw Press, 2018), 316—333.
  • ‘Inter-faith disputation, Christian Hebraism, or a leadership campaign? The multi-dimensional character of Marcin Czechowic’s anti-Jewish polemics’ in Michał Choptiany, Simon Burton, Piotr Wilczek (eds.) Reformed Majorities and Minorities. Refo500 Academic Studies (Göttingen: Vanderhoeck & Ruprecht, 2019), forthcoming.
  • ‘The Calvary of Wejherowo: The History and Symbolic Meanings of Kashubian Jerusalem’ in Bianca Kuehnel et al. (eds) Projections of Jerusalem in Europe: A Monumental Network (Jerusalem, Spectrum), forthcoming.