Bishop Adam Lepa (1939-2022) – precursor of faith-based media literacy education in Poland. I am honored to lead a scientific grant about his achievements.
We received support as part of the 12th National Heritage competition from the National Program for the Development of the Humanities – project number NPRH/DN/SP/0189/2023/12, subsidy amount: PLN 359,400. Thanks to this, we will be able to systematize and critically analyze his achievements in media pedagogy. That is why I invited researchers from the Institute of Media Education and Journalism of the Cardinal Stefan Wyszyński University in Warsaw, directly and indirectly related to Bp. Adam Lepa and inspired by his educational and media works:
- dr hab. Dominika Żukowska-Gardzińska, Assoc. Prof.,
- Fr. dr hab. Rafał Leśniczak, Assoc. Prof.,
- Fr. dr Waldemar Bartocha,
- Fr. dr Jarosław A. Sobkowiak.
Faith-based media literacy education of bishop Adam Lepa
Bishop Adam Lepa left behind several monographs, as well as dozens of scientific articles and hundreds of journalistic essays. We want to organize this scattered body of work, especially since he wrote most of his works by hand. He is the author of many original terms and concepts, such as the galenosphere – the environment of silence in the media, the iconosphere – the environment of image. However, above all, he is the creator of the theory of the logosphere. As a result, he developed an original Polish concept of faith-based media literacy education. He was interested in media axiology and ethics, as well as the problems of manipulation and propaganda in journalistic information.
This person is important not only for our university environment, but also for the Church in Łódź. He inspires contemporary media pedagogy with an original approach, not only in Poland. Therefore, in our opinion, his achievements are an important part of national identity.
What are we planning?
After completing the scientific query and digitizing the available resources, we would like to propose and publish three studies in open access. So a monograph with articles – mainly studies – by Bishop Adam Lepa (1939-2022) – a precursor of religious media pedagogy in Poland. However, we want greater promotion of the Pedagogist’s achievements in the Polish educational environment. Hence the idea to prepare the Dictionary of Media Education according to bishop Adam Lepa, as well as lesson plans for secondary school classes in media education with methodological development. The project is scheduled for 36 months, from May 2024 to April 2027.
My studies on the achievements of bishop Adam Lepa
I decided to publish short posts about my research work related to the scientific achievements of bishop Adam Lepa. So June 13 this year I prepared the first study entitled Religious “Pedagogy of Mass Media” by bishop Adam Lepa.
The aim of the article is to study and research the media pedagogy program of bishop Adam Lepa. Its goals, teaching resources and methods, and, above all, the religious dimension of this concept. The work was carried out using the method of literature analysis and criticism. Mainly based on the textbook Pedagogy of mass media by bishop Adam Lepa from 2000. The axiological, personalistic and mesological nature of this pedagogical and media proposal was pointed out, mainly organizing definitions in this area. Bishop Adam Lepa’s proposals for religious media pedagogy were originally presented in the context of the contemporary trend of faith-based media literacy education.
Meeting with Fr. Cardinal Grzegorz Ryś
June 17 this year our research team met with Fr. Cardinal Grzegorz Ryś in the Curia of the Archdiocese of Łódź. Because bishop Adam Lepa was an auxiliary bishop of the archdiocese from 1987 to 2014. So we talked about cooperation with the Archdiocesan Archives in Łódź in the field of work on his scientific achievements.
