Journal index

This is the third, closing section on the life of Countess Anna Teleki (1783-1851). In Part I we dealt with her youth, in Part II with her marriage to Simon Kemény, and in this last section with her widowhood. After the death of her husband, Anna Teleki moved to Enyed (Aiud), where her home, the “Burg”, became not only a centre of her family life but also of cultural and political life. She was responsible for the financial support of Farkas Bolyai. Her sons and sons-in-law played a nationally important role in the Union and during the War of Independence (1948). They were forced to flee from Enyed because of the attack of the Romanian Moț groups. After the War of Independence, the family went into hiding in Tiszaroff and Érmihályfalva (Valea lui Mihai). Here she received a letter from Farkas Bolyai evaluating the recent events of those days. She died on her return to Kolozsvár (Cluj-Napoca) in 1851. Her life and moral example deserve respect even by biblical standards.

After presenting the youth of Anna Teleki in Part I. of our study, in this second part, we deal with her marriage to Simon Kemény. Count Anna Teleki married Br. Simon Kemény Jr in 1801, who had previously studied at the University of Göttingen with his fellow student, Farkas Bolyai. Simon Kemény later remained Bolyai’s friend and spiritual companion. The young couple lived in Marosvásárhely (Târgu Mureş), Apanagyfalu (Nușeni) and in Csombord (Ciumbrud) in Lower-Alba county. They had six children, five of whom reached adulthood. Anna Teleki raised her children to virtues such as kindness, honesty, diligence, modesty. Her prayers and writings on educating of children have survived the centuries. With the support of the family, most of them had reached an outstanding career: Dániel Vajda, the later winemaker expert, János Szabó, portrait painter, Miklós Barabás, painter, and Károly Szász Sr., a mathematician and a lawyer. From 1823 until his death in 1826, a period considered by contemporaries the golden age of the county, Simon Kemény served as the administrator (chief lord) of Lower-Alba county.

The life of Anna Teleki (1783–1851), wife of Count Simon Kemény is presented in 3 parts. Part I deals with his youth, Part II with his marriage to Count Simon Kemény, Part III. with her widowed years.

The father of Anna Teleki was Count Domokos Teleki Sr., the later chancellor and memorial writer of Turda, her mother was Countess Judit Bethlen of Bethlen. Her mother dies when she was one years old, and her two brothers follow their mother soon. Until the age of six, she was raised in Apanagyfalu (Nușeni) and Cluj-Napoca by her maternal grandmother, Countess Júlia Wass from Czege, wife of Count Elek Bethlen. When her father remarries, she moves to Sárpatak (Șapartoc). At the age of 15, in 1798, she became the bride of the famous mineral collector, Count Domokos Teleki Jr., but her fiancé tragically died the same year.

The present study examines from the perspective of dogmatics Eduard Böhl’s book entitled Christologie des Alten Testamentes oder Auslegung der wichtigsten Messianischen Weissagungen published in 1882. The study deals mainly with the introductory chapter. E. Böhl, professor of Reformed Systematic Theology at the Protestant Theological Faculty in Vienna from 1864 to 1899, was strongly influenced by the theological vision of H. F. Kohlbrugge (1803–1875), a Reformed pastor from Elberfeld, Germany. As a systematic theologian he followed the orthodox Reformed position which emphasised the inseparable unity of Scripture. From this hermeneutic stance he defended the Christology of the Old Testament. Böhl testified that God in Christ, in fact, repeated, confirmed, and accomplished on a higher level what had happened in the lives of Old Testament confessors. Old Testament writings legitimize Jesus’ coming, incarnation, salvation, suffering, death, and resurrection. The essence of Böhl’s standpoint is that some of the messianic texts do not refer directly to Christ, but above all to “types”, figures who carry the promise of salvation. Other parts, however, such as the psalms discussed in detail in his book, are unequivocal pieces of evidence of the promises of the Messiah who is embodied in Jesus Christ. In support of his view, he cited “the exegesis of the New Testament,” the apostles and evangelists, and the Targums, the Book of Enoch, and the Talmud among the Jewish religious literature. With his theological vision and writings, through his Hungarian disciples, Böhl exerted a decisive influence on the Reformed theological thinking and the New Orthodoxy in Hungary. This theological trend took up the fight against the spread of theological liberalism with its centre in Debrecen during the second half of the nineteenth century. Böhl, as a defender of traditional Calvinism, was a sure point of reference with respect to important theological issues.

Eduard Böhl (1836–1903), a scholar of the second half of the nineteenth century, was professor of dogmatics at the Protestant Theological Faculty in Vienna for 35 years. His lifework was his “Dogmatics”, which he wrote for 23 years. In this unfairly forgotten work, he formulates cardinal Reformed beliefs providing the reader with accurate guidance regarding theology, anthropology, soterology, and eschatology. This study analyses Böhl’s teaching based on the last major chapter of his book, concerned with the “End of Times”. In order to gain a better understanding of the theological issues discussed by Böhl, this work parallels Gábor Szeremlei’s chapter on “Eschatology” which can be found in his book of Dogmatics entitled “Christian Religious Science”. A study of this issue provides insights into what theologians of the nineteenth century formulated in relation to this question, and how biblical approaches and ideas emerged within the debates of orthodox and liberal theology.