Paweł Figurski is an Assistant Professor at the Institute of History, University of Warsaw. His research focuses on the history of political-theological thought in medieval Europe, and on the implications of that history for debates in contemporary political theology.
Particular interests include the history of religious legitimization and contestation of royal power by means of Church liturgies and Eucharistic theologies (see the finished project funded by the Polish National Science Center), the relationship between liturgy and politics (see the academic society PSALM-Network), the influence of modern political ideologies on historical scholarship, and the phenomenon of sacralization of political power both in premodern Europe and contemporary societies (see the finished project funded by the Polish Ministry of Science and Higher Education).
Figurski is the author of a dissertation entitled: Prayers for a King in the Roman Canon of the Mass. A Study in the Early Medieval Political Theology in Latin Christianity, which he wrote under the supervision of Prof. Roman Michałowski and defended at the Department of History, University of Warsaw. In his thesis, which he is preparing for publication, Figurski surveys the history of the exceptional prayers for kings during the Eucharist and their importance for the sacralization of kingship in early medieval Europe, based on the analysis of over four hundred liturgical manuscripts. The dissertation provides statistical research on the dissemination of these prayers in the Latin liturgy throughout Europe and it focuses on specific ecclesiastical centers and figures by analyzing their causes for accepting or rejecting the tradition. His thesis questions generalizations about the desacralizing period of the so-called Gregorian Reform as contrasted with the sacralizing Ottonian and early Salian Church, and proposes that sacralization and desacralization seem to be less static characteristics of any one period, but rather dynamic interplays between various individual networks, and vivid relationships created through varied and individual negotiations.
Figurski received his M.A. in history at the Institute of History, University of Warsaw (2011), MTS (Master of Theological Studies) at the Department of Theology, University of Notre Dame (2017), and PhD in history at the Department of History, University of Warsaw (2016). He has been awarded fellowships by the Fulbright Commission, Sonderforschungsbereich 496 (in Münster, Germany), the Foundation for Polish Science (FNP START), and Rome Global Gateway. He has also been a Fellow at Collegium Invisibile (collaboration with Grażyna Jurkowlaniec, Hagen Keller and Peter Jeffery), a Garstka Fellow at the Department of History, University of Notre Dame, and a Fellow at the Notre Dame Center for Ethics and Culture.
His current book project, provisionally entitled Dangerous Prayers for Rulers: A Case Study in Medieval Political Theology furthers the research of his dissertation exploring the liturgical roots of medieval political theology and influence of the Eucharist on political culture throughout the European Middle Ages. Moreover, within the grant OPUS of Prof. Michałowski he is analyzing Polish liturgical sources (until ca. 1300) in order to include this overlooked material into the narrative on political, social and religious history of medieval Polish culture (see the project funded by the Polish National Science Center). He enjoys teaching (many courses already taught both at the University of Warsaw and University of Notre Dame), swimming and watching soccer.
Awards and Honors:
- Fellow at the Center for Ethics and Culture, University of Notre Dame (2016/2017)
- Professional Development Grants, the Nanovic Institute, University of Notre Dame (2015-2017)
- Fellow at Collegium Invisibile (2008-2016)
- Self-Placed Graduate Award, Fulbright Commission (2015/2016)
- Garstka Fellow at the Department of History, University of Notre Dame (2014/2015)
- Fellowships START, Foundation for Polish Science (2012 and 2013).
- Scholarships, Polish Ministry of Science and Higher Education (2007-2011)
- "The Exultet of Bolesław II of Mazovia and the Sacralisation of Political Power in the High Middle Ages," In: Premodern Rulership and Contemporary Political Power. The King's Body Never Dies, eds. K. Mroziewicz, A. Sroczyński (Amsterdam: Amsterdam University Press, 2017), p. 73-111.
- P. Figurski (together with K. Mroziewicz and A. Sroczyński), "Introduction," In: Premodern Rulership and Contemporary Political Power. The King's Body Never Dies, eds. K. Mroziewicz, A. Sroczyński (Amsterdam: Amsterdam University Press, 2017), p. 9-21;
- E. Schlotheuber (collaboration P. Figurski, N. Hoffmann) "De institucione Paradysi et humili ingressu sororum" (a source edition) In: Liturgical Life and Latin Learning at Paradies bei Soest, 1300-1425: Inscription and Illumination in the Choir Books of a North German Dominican Convent, 2 vols., eds. J. Hamburger, E. Schlotheuber, S. Marti, M. Fassler (Münster, 2016), 2: 4-17;
- "Das sakramentale Herrscherbild in der politischen Kultur des Frühmittelalters," Frühmittelalterliche Studien 50 (2016): 129-161;
- "Mactata hostia. O tożsamości Brunona z Kwerfurtu oraz logice wizji dla czasów ottońskich," [Mactata hostia - Identity of Brun of Querfurt and Logic of Vision of the Ottonian Culture] In: Ja-my-oni. Tożsamości ludzi średniowiecza, [I-we-they. Identities of medieval people], eds. L. Jurek, P. Figurski, W. Oczkowski, M. Sas (Warszawa: Studenckie Koło Naukowe Historyków UW, 2012), p. 67-85;
- "Duchowość eucharystyczna Bernwarda z Hildesheim. O obrazowości kultury ottońskiej," [The Eucharistic Spirituality of Bernward of Hildeshiem. On the Imagery of Ottonian Culture] Kwartalnik Historyczny 119/3 (2012): 425-465;
- "Przekaz ideowy i datacja Mors et miracula beati Verneri," [The Meaning and Datation of Mors et miracula beati Verneri] Studia Źródłoznawcze. Commentationes 48 (2010): 25-43.
Representative Papers delivered at the Conferences:
07/07/2017 – Universität Regensburg – Gottesdienst in Regensburger Institutionen Zur Vielfalt liturgischer Traditionen in der Vormoderne. Paper entitled: "Regensburg Prayers for Rulers in the Roman Canon of the Mass. An Insight into the Broader Phenomenon."
05/12/2017 – Western Michigan University – 52nd International Medieval Congress. Paper entitled: "Conflict over Prayers for the Rulers in the Roman Canon of the Mass during the so-called Gregorian Reform."
04/01/2017 – Westfälische Wilhelms-Universität in Münster – Ritual and Historiography in the Middle Ages. Paper entitled: "Prayers for Rulers in the Roman Canon of the Mass and the so-called Investiturstreit."
05/14/2016 – Western Michigan University – 51st International Medieval Congress. Paper entitled: "The Ideal of Rex et Sacerdos in the Ottonian Liturgical Books: A Reconsideration."
11/02/2015 – Eberhard Karls Universität in Tübingen – Mittelalterlische Seminar von Prof. Steffen Patzold. Lecture entitled: "Rex quasi episcopus: Prayers for Rulers during the Eucharist and the Sacralization of Medieval Kingship."
07/06/2015 – University of Leeds – International Medieval Congress. Paper entitled: "Liturgical Prayers for Rulers in the Roman Canon of the Mass: Origins of an Overlooked Tradition and Its Consequences for Medieval Political Theology during Reforms of the Church."
04/10/2015 – Princeton University – Rulers, Kingship, and Legacies of Power. Paper entitled: "Forging Consensus on Sacral Kingship. Evidence from the Prayer for the Ruler in the Roman Canon of the Mass ("Te igitur clementissime Pater")."
date of entry: September 2017
Updated information on the website: https://uw.academia.edu/PawełFigurski