Journal index

The study was prepared for the 360th anniversary of the publication of the so-called Várad-Bible. In the context of the Hungarian New Testament translations of the 20th century, it examines the unique interpretations of László Ravasz’s translation published in 1971, as well as the in his commentaries to the New Testament given in Bible study groups within the church. The present research focuses mainly on chapters 17–18 of the Book of Revelation.

In this paper I examine the first collection of sermons of László Ravasz, published by him between 1903–1910 in several journals, such as the Református Szemle, the Protestáns Prédikátori Tár, the Protestáns Szemle, and later in his book entitled Ez ama Jézus. These sermons stage the first steps of Ravasz in the field of homiletics and preaching, being influenced and inspired by well-known Western European preachers, as well as his Transylvanian mentors. His preaching from this period testifies to the influence of liberal theology, but he also brings in new and original perspectives into the content, structure and style, furnishing some long-term perspectives for the Hungarian Reformed preaching.

On the occasion of the 100th anniversary of the Reformed Church District of Király- hágómellék, this paper examines the work of alliances within the church (Women’s Alliance, Men’s Alliance, Youths’ Alliance, etc.), with special focus on the social and diaconal work. The paper builds on articles, reportages, footages, and shorter studies of the Reformátusok Lapja (Reformed Magazine), published by the celebrating church district. A synthesis of the available data reveals the difficulties involving the organisation of these alliances and the limited results achieved. 

In this paper I examined one of the effects of László Ravasz’s theological thinking, namely the development of his spiritual life and its impact on his position as a scholar of theology. Due to the limitations of the scope of this paper, I present the lesser known views of Ravasz’s work on mission. Among others, John R. Mott’s lecture in Cluj-Napoca provides clues that the young Ravasz approached the tasks of pastoral ministry, preaching, dissemination of the gospel, theological education in a modern and relevant manner. This approach was not perfect, but it helped to bring about a new impetus for the Hungarian Protestant worldview that was stuck in rationalism and liberalism and for Protestant theology in general to start off towards the dialectical theology. Ravasz was an authentic representative of this transition

In this paper I present an in-depth analysis of the writings of László Ravasz from the period 1903–1906. During this period, he graduated from the Protestant Theological Institute, the State University at Kolozsvár/Cluj, and spent a year of PhD research in Berlin. He started publishing in the journal Erdélyi Protestáns Lap mostly in the domain of religious studies. He still adheres to the liberal wing of theology, but in this period, he slowly starts to shift towards the so-called value theology, a much modern way of the long-standing liberalism.

Translated by Fazakas Enikő, Kovács Zoltán, Kun Lajos, Némedi Gusztáv, Oláh Attila. A Debreceni Református Hittudományi Egyetem Gyakorlati Teológiai Tanszéke, Debrecen 2001, 132. old.

In this paper I present a thorough examination of Laszló Ravasz’s publications from the period 1901–1903, when he was a student of the Protestant Theological Seminary and the State University of Cluj/Kolozsvár. In this period, he shows signs of uncertainty whether to become a Reformed minister or a journalist, novelist, or critic. This period of life of a student is typically characterised by an interest in almost everything. He writes more than forty poems, short novels, theatrical critics, but most often he relates about the student life in the magazine Kolozsvári Egyetemi Lapok. He attempts to follow well-known journalist of his time. His descriptive writings demonstrate how good a writer he was already in the early years of his career.

Das Reformierte Kollegium von Debrecen als Mutterschule versah bis ins 19. Jahrhundert hinein Hunderte von seinen Partikelschulen auf dem Lande mit Lehrkräften (Rektoren oder Präceptoren), Lehrplänen und Schulbüchern, weshalb es als die „Schule des Landes“ bezeichnet wurde. Die Studie liefert an Hand von Quellen im Archiv des Kollegiums wichtige Beiträge zur Geschichte der Partikelschule in Nagyharsány (Komitat Baranya). Die ersten Spuren der schulischen Beziehungen der beiden Orte stammen aus dem Jahre 1671. Sehr intensiv waren die Kontakte in den Jahren zwischen 1763–1813. In dieser Periode waren in den reichen Marktflecken insgesamt 18 Rektoren, deren kurzer Lebenslauf und auch ihr Belohnungsverzeichnis aus dem Jahre 1799 dargelegt werden.

This paper discusses the necessity of dialogue about the topic of creation among theology, philosophy and natural sciences. I argue that philosophy has a bridge-building role between theology and natural sciences. I aim to show why the mediation of philosophy cannot be neglected, and why a holistic approach in such an important theme as creation is necessary. I shall also invoke the ideas of László Ravasz (1882–1975) and point out that the synthesis which he argued for in his scientific papers is still useful today.

Resurrection is one of the central topics in Christian theology, widely discussed within both christology and anthropology. This idea deriving from the New Testament is deeply rooted in Old Testament texts, or, more precisely, in a particular interpretation of those texts. However, this later approach of the New Testament and contemporary Judaism to Old Testament passages speaking about resurrection raises significant questions for current Christian readers who, on the one hand, are familiar with the historical-critical reading of the Bible, and, on the other, strive to be faithful to their tradition. This paper seeks for answers concerning the discrepancy between a responsible exegetical enterprise and the fidelity towards the ecclesial tradition. It maintains that the current reader needs to distinguish between the statement of Christian theology (“the Lord has risen”) and its argumentation (based on Old Testament references). The statement is primarily rooted in the personal experience of eyewitnesses, while the argumentation bears all signs of contemporary time bound hermeneutics.

Die Studie gibt einerseits die Rezension einer beachtlichen deutschen Literaturgeschichte der vergangenen Jahre (Schlaffer, Heinz: Die kurze Geschichte der deutschen Literatur. Carl Hauser Verlag, München-Wien 2002), andererseits zählt sie aber auch die wichtigsten Parallelen und Unterschiede in der ungarischen Literaturgeschichte auf. Schlaffer meint, dass die Wurzeln der deutschen Literatur in erster Linie zur protestantischen Traditionen, besonders zum Pietismus zurückzuführen sind. Der Rezensent begrüßt die neuartige Auffassung der Literatur von Heinz Schlaffer, die seiner Meinung nach auch der ungarischen Literaturgeschichtsschreibung erfrischende Impulse geben kann.

At the dawn of the 20th century, the young László Ravasz began to rethink the main principles of Hungarian Reformed homiletics. His program was basically stimulated by the so- called “value-theology”, inspired by the Neo-Kantian philosophy. In this paper I examine his homilethical method by analysing his Christmas sermons. I scrutinize the rhetorical situation, the chosen biblical texts, the structure, the content, and the illustrations of the sermons. I conclude that half century later, we can still learn from Ravasz’ views.