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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 is an analysis of the text entitled Pardonner?, published in 1971 by the French philosopher Vladimir Jankélévitch. This paper is, to a certain extent, a counterpoint, to Jankélévitch’s earlier writing, Le Pardon (1967). This earlier publication is a calm indicative, while the later publication poses a question: Pardonner? Of course, this latter is not a suspension of what had been written before, but it shows that the creative yes of forgiveness can easily be made irrational and, thus, questionable by a lack of repentance, the tormentor’s arrogance which leads him to think he is indeed worthy of the immeasurable gift offered to him by the victim.

This paper examines the issue of absolution by Vladimir Jankélévitch. The absolving party’s role is to discover the cause external to man, deep down beneath human malice, which motivates the criminal actions. With an investigator’s zeal, an answer is sought to the question of “unde malum”? The old answer comes from dualism: the negative transcendent force, Satan, is the source of all sins. If there is an explanation, sin is mitigated and rage is attenuated, therefore explanations must be found. So one needs to explain – and this absolves one from all obligations of forgiveness. But this method fails the three requirements of true forgiveness, too: it is not an “immediate” “event”. It does not involve a personal relationship between the perpetrator and the injured. The offender is not offensive – at the very most, he is ill or illadvised, but there are no bridges from here to the other side of the abyss, where there is an obligation of love. Absolution is painless, but forgiveness is a heart-breaking, painful sacrifice. However, there is always something behind the intention of absolution which is ultimately similar to forgiveness and love: our author calls it a surplus of energy. The state of the soul is not the same when it seeks exempting or aggravating circumstances.

Another substitute for forgiveness treated by Jankélévitch is the thoughtless purging of the crime committed and its destruction. The author does not use Freud’s concept of suppression, but essentially that is what he is about: throwing the case file into the fire and “never speaking about it again”. According to Jankélévitch, this misleading, abrupt gesture, which sends the message that nothing happened, primarily lacks the third characteristic of true forgiveness, the personal relationship between the parties. The relationship between the victim and his tormentor remains superficial, mere window-dressing, if they fail to work through the most sensitive questions, if the former fails to strive to show mercy, love and forgiveness so that the requirement of truth is left intact.

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.

This paper concludes that within the moral philosophy of Jankélévitch, the problem of forgiveness is ambiguous; or rather the author has an ambiguous attitude towards forgiveness. His point of view also has shortcomings that are due to the deficiencies of his metaphysics, his anthropology, his image of God and his interpretation of death. The God of Jankélévitch is creative energy, eternal acting goodness and love, but it is not a person and does not personally know its creations. It does not rule, does not enter into a covenant, does not bring redemption at the cost of its own heartbreak, does not judge sins and does not forgive them, does not speak, does not give commandments, does not conquer death, does not resurrect the dead, and does not offer eternal life. So the imperative of forgiveness is not —cannot —be supported by faith.

This paper concludes that within the moral philosophy of Jankélévitch, the problem of forgiveness is ambiguous; or rather the author has an ambiguous attitude towards forgiveness.His point of view also has shortcomings that are due to the deficiencies of his metaphysics, his anthropology, his image of God and his interpretation of death. The God of Jankélévitch is creative energy, eternal acting goodness and love, but it is not a person and does not personally know its creations. It does not rule, does not enter into a covenant, does not bring redemption at the cost of its own heartbreak, does not judge sins and does not forgive them, does not speak, does not give commandments, does not conquer death, does not resurrect the dead, and does not offer eternal life. So the imperative of forgiveness is not — cannot — be supported by faith.

Es ist eine Zumutung sondergleichen, die man an jeden, der sich mit Problemen christlicher Ethik beschäftigen will, stellen möchte, folgende zwei Fragen, die ihn überhaupt zur Erörterung ethischer Probleme führten, beantworten zu können. Wie werde ich gut? und Wie kann ich etwas Gutes tun? Auf diese Art formulierte Fragen muß man aber von vornherein als der Sache unangemessen verzichten, und die zwei sehr verschiedenen Fragen sollten in das Licht Gottes Willens gestellt werden um sie beantworten zu können.