The Communist Use of Jan Hus
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
Load more
Recommended publications
-
Was the Bohemian Reformation a Failure?
Was the Bohemian Reformation a Failure? Phillip Haberkern (Boston) Introduction Among the twenty monumental canvases that comprise Alfons Mucha’s Slav Epic, one stands out for its decidedly funereal tone.1 In the centre of the mas- sive painting, an elderly man is depicted slumped over in a chair, gazing at the slate gray North Sea off the coast of Naarden, a town in the Netherlands. In the left foreground of the picture, a huddled group of refugees is presided over by a man standing with his arms raised and head bowed, as if in prayer. The composition is bookended by two bedraggled strings of people walking towards the centre of the frame. Dark clouds threaten overhead, and a few windblown clumps of seagrass represent the only signs of life. The title of the painting is The Last Days of Jan Amos Komenský, and it depicts the final resting place of the last bishop of the Czech Unity of Brethren. Symbolically speaking, though, the scene portrayed in this canvas seems to represent the burial plot of the entire Bohemian reformation. Amidst all the visible markers of desolation that populate this canvas, how- ever, there is a small, lit lantern visible to the left of the seated Komenský. A few crouching individuals are turned towards it, and this source of light provides the painting with its subtitle: A Flicker of Hope. At first glance, this subtitle seems paradoxical, as the broken man and his followers seem entirely bereft of this cardinal virtue. The emphasis on hope, however, reflects an interpreta- tion of the Bohemian reformation and its ostensible end in the aftermath of the Battle of White Mountain that was quite characteristic of Czech culture at the turn of the twentieth century. -
Oration “Res Bohemicas” of Enea Silvio Piccolomini (1455, Rome)
Oration “Res Bohemicas” of Enea Silvio Piccolomini (1455, Rome). Edited and translated by Michael von Cotta-Schönberg. 4th version. (Orations of Enea Silvio Piccolomini / Pope Pius II; 28) Michael Cotta-Schønberg To cite this version: Michael Cotta-Schønberg. Oration “Res Bohemicas” of Enea Silvio Piccolomini (1455, Rome). Edited and translated by Michael von Cotta-Schönberg. 4th version. (Orations of Enea Silvio Piccolomini / Pope Pius II; 28). 2019. hal-01180832 HAL Id: hal-01180832 https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-01180832 Submitted on 26 Oct 2019 HAL is a multi-disciplinary open access L’archive ouverte pluridisciplinaire HAL, est archive for the deposit and dissemination of sci- destinée au dépôt et à la diffusion de documents entific research documents, whether they are pub- scientifiques de niveau recherche, publiés ou non, lished or not. The documents may come from émanant des établissements d’enseignement et de teaching and research institutions in France or recherche français ou étrangers, des laboratoires abroad, or from public or private research centers. publics ou privés. (Orations of Enea Silvio Piccolomini / Pope Pius II; 28) 0 Oration “Res Bohemicas” of Enea Silvio Piccolomini (1455, Rome). Edited and translated by Michael von Cotta-Schönberg 4th version 2019 1 Abstract Having presented Emperor Friedrich III’s declaration of obedience to the new pope, Calixtus III, in August 1455, the emperor’s top diplomat, Bishop Enea Silvio Piccolomini, at some unspecified time laid before the pope a proposal for settling the Hussite issue which posed a serious and permanent religious as well as political problem. The proposal was based on discussions between Piccolomini and George Podiebrad, the Regent of Bohemia. -
A Theological Journal•Xlv 2003•I
Communio viatorumA THEOLOGICAL JOURNAL•XLV 2003•I Jan Hus – a Heretic, a Saint, or a Reformer? • The White Mountain, 1620: An Annihilation or Apotheosis of Utraquism? • Close Encounters of the Pietistic Kind: The Moravian-Methodist • Connection by Vilém Herold, Zdeněk V. David, Ted A. Campbell published by charles university in prague, protestant theological faculty Communio CONTENTS (XLV, 2003) Nr. 1 1 . DAVID HOLETON Communio Viatorum and International Scholarship on the Bohemian Reformation 5 . VILÉM HEROLD Jan Hus – a Heretic, a Saint, or a Reformer? 24 . ZDENĚK V. DAVID The White Mountain, 1620: An Annihilation or Apotheosis of Utraquism? 67 . TED A. CAMPBELL Close Encounters of the Pietistic Kind: The Moravian-Methodist Connection BOOK REVIEWS 81 . PAVEL HOŠEK Beyond Foundationalism 86 . TIM NOBLE Sacred Landscapes and Cultural Politics viatorum a theological journal Published by Charles University in Prague, Protestant Theological Faculty Černá 9, 115 55 Praha 1, Czech Republic. Editors: Peter C. A. Morée, Ivana Noble, Petr Sláma Typography: Petr Kadlec Printed by Arch, Brno Administration: Barbara Kolafová ([email protected]) Annual subscription (for three issues): 28 or the equivalent in Europe, 30 USD for overseas. Single copy: 10 or 11 USD. Please make the payment to our account to: Bank name: Česká spořitelna Address: Vodičkova 9, 110 00, Praha 1, Czech Republic Account no.: 1932258399/0800 Bank identification code (SWIFT, BLZ, SC, FW): GIBA CZPX Orders, subscriptions and all business correspondence should be adressed to: Communio viatorum Černá 9 P. O. Box 529 CZ-115 55 Praha 1 Czech Republic Phone: + + 420 221 988 205 Fax: + + 420 221 988 215 E- mail: [email protected] URL: http://www.etf.cuni.cz/cv.html (ISSN 0010-3713) IČO vydavatele (ETF UK, Černá 9, 115 55 Praha 1) 00216208. -
Chronology of the Reformation 1320: John Wycliffe Is Born in Yorkshire
Chronology of the Reformation 1320: John Wycliffe is born in Yorkshire, England 1369?: Jan Hus, born in Husinec, Bohemia, early reformer and founder of Moravian Church 1384: John Wycliffe died in his parish, he and his followers made the first full English translation of the Bible 6 July 1415: Jan Hus arrested, imprisoned, tried and burned at the stake while attending the Council of Constance, followed one year later by his disciple Jerome. Both sang hymns as they died 11 November 1418: Martin V elected pope and Great Western Schism is ended 1444: Johannes Reuchlin is born, becomes the father of the study of Hebrew and Greek in Germany 21 September 1452: Girolamo Savonarola is born in Ferrara, Italy, is a Dominican friar at age 22 29 May 1453 Constantine is captured by Ottoman Turks, the end of the Byzantine Empire 1454?: Gütenberg Bible printed in Mainz, Germany by Johann Gütenberg 1463: Elector Fredrick III (the Wise) of Saxony is born (died in 1525) 1465 : Johannes Tetzel is born in Pirna, Saxony 1472: Lucas Cranach the Elder born in Kronach, later becomes court painter to Frederick the Wise 1480: Andreas Bodenstein (Karlstadt) is born, later to become a teacher at the University of Wittenberg where he became associated with Luther. Strong in his zeal, weak in judgment, he represented all the worst of the outer fringes of the Reformation 10 November 1483: Martin Luther born in Eisleben 11 November 1483: Luther baptized at St. Peter and St. Paul Church, Eisleben (St. Martin’s Day) 1 January 1484: Ulrich Zwingli the first great Swiss -
“More Glory Than Blood”: Murder and Martyrdom in the Hussite Crusades
117 “More Glory than Blood”: Murder and Martyrdom in the Hussite Crusades Thomas A. Fudge (Christchurch, New Zealand) In 1418 Pope Martin V urged the ecclesiastical hierarchy in east-central Europe to proceed against the Hussite heretics in all possible manner to bring their dissent to an end.1 Two years later a formal bull of crusade was proclaimed and the cross was preached against the recalcitrant Czechs.2 The story of the crusades which convulsed Bohemia for a dozen years is well known.3 Five times the cross was preached, crusade banners hoisted and tens of thousands of crusaders poured across the Czech frontier with one pre–eminent goal: to eradicate the scourge of heresy. At Prague in 1420, peasant armies commanded by Jan Žižka won an improbable victory and the crusaders, under the personal command of Emperor Sigismund, retreated in disarray and defeat. At Žatec the following year, Hussites once again saw a vastly superior army withdraw disorganized and crushed. In 1422 the crusaders were unable to overcome their internal squabbles long enough to mount any real offensive and once more had little option other than to retreat in dishonour. For five years the crusading cause rested. Then in 1427 the crusaders struck again, first at Stříbro and then at Tachov in western Bohemia. Prokop Holý’s forces scattered them ignominiously. Once more, in 1431, the armies of the church and empire were mustered and with great force marched through the Šumava [Bohemian Forest] to confront the enemies of God. The odds favoured the crusaders. They out–numbered the heretics by a four to one margin, were militarily superior to the flail–touting peasants and were under the command of Friedrich of Brandenburg, veteran warrior in charge of his third crusade, and the spiritual direction of the president of the ecumenical Council of Basel, Cardinal Guiliano Cesarini. -
Apocalyptic Groups and Socially Disadvantaged Contexts
Acta Theologica 2016 Suppl 23: 238-262 DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.4314/actat.v23i1S.12 ISSN 1015-8758 (Print) / ISSN 2309-9089 (Online) © UV/UFS P.G.R. de Villiers APOCALYPTIC GROUPS AND SOCIALLY DISADVANTAGED CONTEXTS ABSTRACT This study investigates the theory that apocalyptic texts originated in, and reflect the convictions and activities of socially disadvantaged groups on the margins of society. After a brief introduction to the nature of this understanding of apocalyptic groups, the article investigates the issue in more depth by analysing an essay on Revelation written by D.H. Lawrence as concrete example of this theory from a non- scholarly perspective, followed by various scholarly readings of apocalyptic groups. In a following section, it analyses various formal, literary, hermeneutical and topical themes questioning the validity of this approach as well as research insights that revealed major weaknesses in this understanding. The article then concludes with an investigation of material that, ironically, indicates that apocalypses generally reflect a learned hermeneutical movement wishing to discover the ongoing relevance of sacred traditions in new situations. 1. INTRODUCTION Apocalyptic literature as the literary outcomes of apocalypticism as social discourse was, and often still is not an attractive subject in scholarly research and, for that matter, also in religious discourse in general. One reason why these texts are being ignored, neglected or maligned is because they are often associated with marginal groups on the fringes of society producing and nurturing such inaccessible, vengeful and agonistic Prof. Pieter G.R. de Villiers, Professor Extraordinaire, Department of New Testament, Faculty of Theology, University of the Free State, Bloemfontein. -
Hussite Prague Master Jan Hus Saturday 4Th July Centres Czech History Is Full of Gripping and Surprising Twists and Turns
Master Jan Hus In the footsteps of A day with Jan Hus on Prague City Tourism Information & Services in Six Tourist Information Hussite Prague Master Jan Hus Saturday 4th July Centres Czech history is full of gripping and surprising twists and turns. When Summer in Prague Jan Hus was burned at the stake in Constance for his views and – Old Town Hall – Staroměstské náměstí 1 criticism of the Catholic Church 600 years ago on 6th July 1415 none To mark the 600 years since the events that led Prague City Tourism have prepared a day full of fun – Rytířská Street 31 (from August in Rytířská 12, corner of Na Můstku) suspected what profound changes Czech society would undergo thanks to the burning of Hus in 1415, let us follow in his and surprises while getting to know the persona – Wenceslas Square (upper part) – corner of Štěpánská Street 2015 to him in the following decades. His name came to stand for principled footsteps. One of the most important personages of Master Jan Hus and the Prague sites tied to him. – Lesser Town Bridge Tower defi ance. This theologian, preacher and Master of Prague University – Václav Havel Airport Prague – Terminal 1 and Terminal 2 was to be one of the leading religious authorities, whose ideas spread of Czech history will lead us via matchless and Would you like to meet the ghost of Jan Želivský or tel. +420 221 714 714 and e-mail: [email protected] beyond Czech borders. The European reformation of the 16th century historically distinctive Prague sites. and get to know more about Czech Hussite past? owed much to what Hus called for. -
The Constants of Spirituality and Ecclesiastical Politics in the Family of the Bohemian King George of Poděbrady and of the Princes of Münsterberg
The Constants of Spirituality and Ecclesiastical Politics in the Family of the Bohemian King George of Poděbrady and of the Princes of Münsterberg Petr Hlaváček (Prague) The aristocratic family of the barons of Kunštát and Poděbrady – which in- cluded above all George of Poděbrady (d. 1471), the Bohemian King of the “twin people” – played a key role in the history of religion and ecclesiasti- cal politics of central Europe at the turn of the Middle Ages. It is therefore highly surprising that no-one has yet undertaken a significant probing into the family’s spirituality, that is, into the spiritual preferences and their con- stants, as well as into the forms of ecclesiastical politics. Let us then attempt to identify at least some of the components of this spirituality, springing from the fruitful theological tension between the Bohemian Reformation and Catholic reformism, extending to the very threshold of the European Protestant reformations. Boček the Elder of Poděbrady (d. 1417), the Supreme Chamberlain and Scribe of the Bohemian Kingdom and a grandfather of George of Poděbrady, belonged among the leading advocates of the Bohemian reform movement. His signature and seal may be found on the manifesto protesting the execu- tion of Hus in 1415, and in no less than the third place.1 Boček’s son Jan (Ješek) of Poděbrady and Kost (d. 1409) was at the start of the fifteenth cen- tury affected by an emotional eucharistic piety (cultivated in the reform circles), as it is suggested by the illumination of Christ as the Man of Sorrows, which was probably painted for Jan.2 The palace of the barons of Kunštát and Poděbrady was then located in Řetězová [Chain Street] only several dozen meters from the Bethlehem Chapel.3 We should, however, also note one 1 AČ 3 (1844) 187. -
Jan Hus: the Life and Death of a Preacher
Purdue University Purdue e-Pubs Purdue University Press Book Previews Purdue University Press 12-2019 Jan Hus: The Life and Death of a Preacher Pavel Soukup Follow this and additional works at: https://docs.lib.purdue.edu/purduepress_previews Part of the History of Religion Commons, and the Medieval History Commons This document has been made available through Purdue e-Pubs, a service of the Purdue University Libraries. Please contact [email protected] for additional information. Central European Studies Charles W. Ingrao, founding editor Paul Hanebrink, editor Maureen Healy, editor Howard Louthan, editor Dominique Reill, editor Daniel L. Unowsky, editor Nancy M. Wingfield, editor The demise of the Communist Bloc a quarter century ago exposed the need for greater understanding of the broad stretch of Europe that lies between Germa- ny and Russia. For four decades the Purdue University Press series in Central European Studies has enriched our knowledge of the region by producing scholarly monographs, advanced surveys, and select collections of the highest quality. Since its founding, the series has been the only English-language se- ries devoted primarily to the lands and peoples of the Habsburg Empire, its successor states, and those areas lying along its immediate periphery. Among its broad range of international scholars are several authors whose engagement in public policy reflects the pressing challenges that confront the successor states. Indeed, salient issues such as democratization, censorship, competing national narratives, and -
John Huss and the Origins of the Protestant Reformation
Journal of the Adventist Theological Society, 28/2 (2017): 97-119. Article copyright © 2017 by Trevor O’Reggio. John Huss and the Origins of the Protestant Reformation Trevor O’Reggio Seventh-day Adventist Theological Seminary Andrews University Introduction The Protestant Reformation of the 16th century is closely associated with Martin Luther, the great German Augustinian monk, who on October 31, 1517, nailed 95 theses on the bulletin board of the castle church in Wittenberg to protest against the abuses of the indulgences and called for a debate. This event was seen by many as the spark that ignited this remarkable religious reformation. However, Matthew Spinka is more accurate when he says this event was not the beginning of the Reformation, but the result of a reform movement that began two centuries before and was particularly effective during the conciliar period.1 During the prior two centuries before Luther called for a debate on the indulgence issue, and his eventual revolt against the church, there were many voices within the Roman Catholic Church who saw the deplorable conditions of the church and called for reform. Time and time again their voices were silenced. They were condemned as heretics and many were executed. But no sooner than their voices were silenced, others were raised up, calling for reformation. Most notable among these voices were the English philosopher/professor John Wycliffe at Oxford University in England, Girolamo Savonarola, the charismatic priest at Florence, Italy and 1 For a description of highlights of this reformatory movement see Matthew Spinka, ed. and trans John Huss at the Council of Constance (New York and London: Columbia University Press, 1965), 3-86. -
The Enlightenment and the Bohemian Reformation: a Liberal Paradigm Zdeněk V
Selected Papers from the 2003 SVU North American Conference, Cedar Rapids, Iowa, 26-28 June 2003 The Enlightenment and the Bohemian Reformation: A Liberal Paradigm Zdeněk V. David, Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars One Woodrow Wilson Plaza, 1300 Pennsylvania Avenue, NWWashington, D.C. 2004-3027 A perennial problem in Czech historiography has involved the relationship between modern Czech political culture, which emerged in the nineteenth century, and the Bohemian Reformation of the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, and how to deal with the awkward 1620- 1780 intermezzo of the Counter Reformation. Traditionally, the two divergent viewpoints on this relationship were defined by Thomas Masaryk, who postulated a disruption in the Czech intellectual life between the sixteenth century and the Enlightenment, and by Josef Pekař, who sought to integrate the Counter Reformation into a seamless web of a continuous cultural development. Masaryk viewed the ideological content of the Awakening as liberal and universal, Pekař as ethnic and national. My presentation is concerned with recent literature dealing with the Czech National Awakening, its sources, character, and objectives. It surveys the leading treatments on the topic in Czech, English, Russian and German. The Marxist-Leninist literature of 1945-1990 appears, as might be expected, rather stereotypical, and hence (with some exceptions) not particularly illuminating, More notable are several major works on the Czech National Awakening, which were written and published outside an official doctrinaire framework, abroad or, if in Bohemia, after the Velvet Revolution. Finally, the most recent views from the turn of the second millennium are briefly examined. The survey finds that existing literature has paid scant attention to the substantive link between the sixteenth-century Utraquist culture and the National Awakening. -
Concerning a Manuscript from a Moravian Immigrant's Trunk: Postil
University of Nebraska - Lincoln DigitalCommons@University of Nebraska - Lincoln Faculty Publications - Modern Languages and Modern Languages and Literatures, Department Literatures of 2021 Concerning a Manuscript from a Moravian Immigrant’s Trunk: Postil by Johann Spangenberg (1557) Hana Waisserova Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.unl.edu/modlangfacpub Part of the European Languages and Societies Commons, Modern Languages Commons, Near Eastern Languages and Societies Commons, and the Other Languages, Societies, and Cultures Commons This Article is brought to you for free and open access by the Modern Languages and Literatures, Department of at DigitalCommons@University of Nebraska - Lincoln. It has been accepted for inclusion in Faculty Publications - Modern Languages and Literatures by an authorized administrator of DigitalCommons@University of Nebraska - Lincoln. KOSMAS CZECHOSLOVAK AND CENTRAL EUROPEAN JOURNAL New Series, Volume 2, number 2 KOSMAS ISSN 1056-005X ©2021 by the Czechoslovak Society of Arts and Sciences (SVU) Kosmas: Czechoslovak and Central European Journal (Formerly Kosmas: Journal of Czechoslovak and Central European Studies, Vols. 1-7, 1982-1988, and Czechoslovak and Central European Journal, Vols. 8-11, (1989-1993). Kosmas is a peer reviewed, multidisciplinary journal that focuses on Czech, Slovak and Central European Studies. It publishes scholarly articles, memoirs, research materials, and belles-lettres (including translations and original works), dealing with the region and its inhabitants,