The contributors to this volume examine the complex and dynamic role that Protestant majorities and minorities played in shaping the Reformations of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. In doing so, it offers an important perspective on the range of intellectual, social, economic, political, theological and ecclesiological factors that governed intra- and inter-confessional encounter in the early modern period. While the principal focus is on the situation of different Protestant majority and minority groups, many of the contributions also engage the relation of Protestants and Catholics, with a number also considering early modern Christian dialogue with Muslims and Jews.The volume is organised into five sections, which together provide a comprehensive picture of Protestant majorities and minorities. The first section explores intellectual trajectories, especially those which promoted confessional unity or sought to break down confessional boundaries. The second section, taking the neglected Spanish Reformation as an important case-study, examines the clandestine aspect of minority activities and the efforts of majorities to control and suppress them. The third section pursues a similar theme but examines it through the lens of Flemish and Walloon Reformed refugee communities in Germany and the Netherlands, demonstrating the way in which confessional factors could lead to the integration or exclusion of minorities. The fourth section examines marginal or peripheral Reformations, whether geographically or doctrinally understood, focussing on attempts to implement reform in the shadow of the Ottoman Empire. Finally, the fifth section looks at confessional identity and otherness as a principal theme of majority and minority relations, providing both theoretical and practical frameworks for its evaluation.

The book (Mis)translation and (Mis)interpretation: Polish Literature in the Context of Cross-Cultural Communication is devoted to various aspects of the presence of Polish literature and culture in cross-cultural and international contexts. The chapters discuss the problems of the translation (and mistranslation), as well as the interpretation (and misinterpretation) of literary texts, cultural facts and even social interactions. Even though no specific literary or cultural theory is explicitly discussed in the book, each of the central issues raised in particular chapters implicitly refers to a significant theoretical problem. The first section of the book is devoted to five examples of English translations of Polish poetry and Polish translations of English poetry. The second section of the book is titled Polish Culture in European and American Contexts. The first three chapters discuss the issue of « hate speech and cultural misunderstandings in the context of Reformation polemics, and the problem of pattern poetry. The next five chapters deal with various issues of cross-cultural communication between Poland and America. All case studies discussed in the book exemplify one general problem: how to communicate effectively despite linguistic, cultural and religious differences and how to understand and translate the cultural heritage of the past to contemporary readers.