Gradient Books › First English Editions
Piotr Skarga's The Sejm Sermons, first published in 1597, is one of the great works of political and religious literature of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth.
Writing at the height of the Commonwealth's power, the Jesuit preacher warned its political nation against faction, religious division, corruption, private interest, and the abuse of its celebrated liberties. In later centuries, as Poland endured invasion, partition, and the loss of independence, Skarga came to be remembered as a prophet who had foreseen the dangers threatening the Commonwealth.
Part sermon, part political treatise, and part impassioned call for national reform, The Sejm Sermons offer a remarkable window into the political culture of early modern Poland — and into enduring questions of liberty, authority, civic virtue, and the common good.
This edition presents a complete translation of The Sejm Sermons to English-speaking audiences for the first time, and includes an introduction to the edition, explanatory endnotes, and a translation of Auguste Berga's introduction to his 1916 French translation.
Now available on Amazon Kindle.
