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.

The author of the paper examines the representations of the story of the wedding at Cana in folklore texts, as well as in the interpretations of the non-biblical storytellers. The texts collected by the folklorists evoke the atmosphere of wedding celebrations and carnival festivities in local communities, and the expressions of the vernacular language reinforce the profane and humorous nature of what is narrated. The deviations from the biblical narrative are clearly visible in the symbolic motifs and episodes, as well as in the assessment of the actions of individual characters.

Folklorists remain indebted to this day for exploring the possible occurrences of Jesus-patterns in folktales: this is a gap that I aim to fill in this study. The storytellers of the Carpathian Basin were fond of creating parallels between the life and deeds of the fairy-tale hero and Jesus. The narration of the miraculous birth, the divine origin, the hidden childhood, the healing activity, the crucifixion, the underworld passage, and the resurrection as parabolic narratives are presented in plentiful variants. The similarities and differences show that in peasant communities Jesus was imagined as an ordinary man, a teacher and a helper of the poor. The image of Jesus in the tale narratives sheds light on the mindset and vernacular language of local religious communities.

In the folktales of the ethnicities of the Carpathian Basin, the phenomenon of stepchildhood (due to orphanhood, separation, removal from home, transfer or remarriage) occurs quite frequently. This phenomenon has been thoroughly mapped by mythologists and folklorists, by exegetes and prominent scholars of medieval and modern history from the perspective of different disciplines. However, the literary hermeneutic analysis of these narratives reveals the historical and socio-cultural background, the individual and local community experience from which the existence of a marginalized child, sometimes barely tolerated and sometimes totally deprived of rights in the family, can be interpreted. As a compensation for the unbearable foster-life, the storytellers aim to overwrite the bad experience by creating a good fortune through the intercession of a helping being, a ‟God-sent man”, assisting the hero.

Folklorists remain indebted to this day for exploring the possible occurrences of Jesus-patterns in folktales: this is a gap that I aim to fill in this study. The storytellers of the Carpathian Basin were fond of creating parallels between the life and deeds of the fairy-tale hero and Jesus. The narration of the miraculous birth, the divine origin, the hidden childhood, the healing activity, the crucifixion, the underworld passage, and the resurrection as parabolic narratives are presented in plentiful variants. The similarities and differences show that in peasant communities Jesus was imagined as an ordinary man, a teacher, and a helper of the poor. The image of Jesus in the tale narratives sheds light on the mindset and vernacular language of local religious communities.

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 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.

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.

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.

Before the Barthian theology questioning the significance of rhetorics for homiletics has come to influence Hungarian Reformed theological thinking, László Ravasz (1882—1975) had emphasised the importance of aesthetical experience in preaching. Decades long the influence of Karl Barth remained one of the most determining factors in the Hungarian Reformed preaching tradition. Nowadays when the theory of Gerhard Schulze about social experience is increasingly gaining acceptance in several domains of social sciences, the Hungarian reformed theological thinking is again interested in using rhetorics as a helpful tool for homiletics. In this study I search for the significance o f rhetorics for homiletics.

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.

In 1907 László Ravasz (1882—1975) came to lecture in practical theology at the Hungarian Reformed Theological University in Kolozsvár. Being only 25 years old, he felt the need for fresh theological thinking in this domain. As a student of both philosophy and theology, he developed his skills in both directions. His mentor in philosophy was Károly Höhnt, who enormously influenced his thinking from the mo-Kantian philosophical perspective. In 1906 Ravasz wrote a PhD thesis about Schopenhauer’s aesthetics. A year later he drafted his Introduction topractical theology, Fis habilitation thesis. This work exposes the influence of neo-Kantianism, transforming the philosophical thesis into a so called value-theology.
In 1915 he published his main work, the Homiletics, which appears to be a useful handbook even according to today’s standards. In this study I analyse both the philosophical and aesthetical thinking of Ravasz, searching for answers to the following questions: To what extent did neo­ Kantianism influence his practical theological theory? Why did he consider aesthetical values so important for practical theology? I attempt to demonstrate that his practical theology is rooted in neo-Kantian philosophy and aesthetics. This study aims to commemorate the centenary of Homiletics, as well as the 40th anniversary of Ravasz’ death.