Publishing activity

According to the Statute, one of the main aims of the Society (TN KUL) is to publish the academic output of the Society members, and works of other authors (Polish and foreign), books, source materials, textbooks and academic journals – publications in Polish and other languages.

By a resolution of 3 October 1934, the KUL Academic Senate handed over to the Society the titles published by the Library of the University of Lublin and a publishing series Rozprawy doktorskie, prace magisterskie i seminaryjne [Dissertations, Master’s and Seminary Theses]. Thanks to this, the Society was able to start publishing the works of its members as early as 1934. By the Second World War, the Society had published a total of 58 items. The situation was similar after the war, but in the years to come, as the overall situation was improving, there was a gradual increase in the number of journals and book publications – up to about 70 titles in the 1990s and about 100 titles today. By the end of 2022, the Society had produced more than 3,400 publications.

Over the nearly 90 years of its existence, the TN KUL has published many seminal works of Polish academia, many unique monographs, including such fundamental works as the 20-volume Encyklopedia katolicka, Juliusz Kleiner’s Mickiewicz series, a 5-volume collection of works by Karol Wojtyła on ethics (e.g. Miłość i odpowiedzialność / Love and Responsibility), multi-author commemorative books (Festschrifts), dedicated to persons of merit for Christian culture and science in Poland (e.g. Z zagadnień kultury chrześcijańskiej, dedicated to Cardinal Stanisław Wyszyński), the first edition of the most important works of Mieczysław A. Krąpiec (e.g., Ja – człowiek [I – Man], Metafizyka [Metaphysics], Człowiek i prawo naturalne [Man and Natural Law]); volumes in the series Religijne tradycje literatury polskiej [Religious Traditions of Polish Literature], ed. S. Sawicki, many works of W. Granat (e.g. Dogmatyka katolicka [vols. 1–8], Ku człowiekowi i Bogu w Chrystusie [vols. 1–2], Dzieje teologii katolickiej w Polsce [vols. 1–3]), collected works of Fr. S. Kamiński and Fr. M. Kurdziałek, publications of R. Dzwonkowski SAC on the lives and martyrdom of the Polish clergy exiled in the USSR since 1917, volumes in the series Staropolski  dramat religijny [Old Polish Religious Drama], ed. J. Lewański, Staropolski dramat i dialog religijny, ed. Justyna Dąbkowska-Kujko; Słownik filozofii klasycznej, ed. J. Herbut, Sztuka Europy łacińskiej od IV do IX wieku by P. Skubiszewski; 7-volume Dzieła zebrane by T. Styczeń SDS; publications by H. Podbielski (e.g. Literatura Grecji starożytnej), Hermogenes, Sztuka retoryczna [On rhetorical exercises]; R. R. Chodkowski’s translations of classical masterpieces (by Sophocles, Aeschylus, Euripides) and his new translations of the Iliad and the Odyssey.

The Society publishes the first fully critical edition of Dzieła wszystkie C. Norwida [Complete Works of Cyprian Norwid]. This is a significant contribution to the Polish humanities, designed to cover 17 volumes (8 published to date). The co-editor of the Complete Works is the National Library of Poland. These works are a true gem of Polish culture and literature.

Norwid’s Complete Works will encompass the entirety of his writing oeuvre, taking into account the results of the latest research in his autographs. Norwid, an outstanding poet, writer and thinker, was also an interesting artist. TN KUL has published 7 volumes of Katalog prac plastycznych Cypriana Norwida [A Catalogue of Artistic Works by Cyprian Norwid] by Edyta Chlebowska. The Catalogue is a study complementary to the Complete Works.

TN KUL publishes many series, such as: Geografia historyczna Kościoła w Polsce [Historical Geography of the Church in Poland], ed. H. Gapski, Lubelskie Studia Teologicznomoralne [Lublin Moral Theology Studies], ed. Andrzej Derdziuk OFMCap; Literatura współczesna – pisarze i problemy [Contemporary Literature: Writers and Problems], Moralność chrześcijańska w kontekście ekumenicznym [Christian Morality in Ecumenical Context], ed. S. Nowosad, Prace z dziejów szkolnictwa i opieki społecznej w Polsce [Works on the History of Schooling and Social Care in Poland], ed. M. Surdacki, Pracownia Literatury Polsko-Żydowskiej KUL [KUL Studies in Polish-Jewish Literature], ed. S. J. Żurek, Staropolski dramat i dialog religijny [Old Polish Drama and Religious Dialogue], ed. J. Dąbkowska-Kujko, Studia i monografie [Studies and monographs], ed. S. Sawicki, J. F. Fert, and P. Chlebowski, Studia nad sztuką renesansu i baroku [Studies in Renaissance and Baroque Art], ed. I. Rolska; Studia liturgiczne [Liturgical Studies], ed. W. Pałęcki MSF, Fr. A. Megger, Studia z polonistycznej teorii kształcenia [Studies in the Polonistic Theory of Education], ed. S. J. Żurek, Źródła i monografie [Sources and Monographs], Wykłady i przemówienia [Lectures and Speeches], Nagroda im. Księdza Idziego Radziszewskiego [Father Idzi Radziszewski Award]; series relating to the works of members of the various faculties: Prace Wydziału Teologii [Works of the Faculty of Theology], Prace Wydziału Historyczno-Filologicznego [Works of the Faculty of History and Philology], Prace Wydziału Nauk Społecznych [Works of the Faculty of Social Sciences], Prace Wydziału Filozoficznego [Works of the Faculty of Philosophy], Prace Wydziału Nauk Prawnych [Works of the Faculty of Legal Sciences], and Prace Wydziału Matematyczno-Przyrodniczego [Works of the Faculty of Mathematics and Natural Sciences].

The activities of the Society are supported by the Catholic University of Lublin (KUL) and other institutions, e.g. the Ministry of Science and Higher Education and the Lublin City Hall. Another source of funding is the sale of own publications.