Református Szemle 117.2 (2024)

In the editorial-theological concept of Luke, his message is not always formulated as a finalising conclusion. Often, he reports on certain events as a starting point. Thus, the events described follow one another in a vague or artificial chronological order. These descriptions often also implicitly determine the events and descriptions that follow them in canonical, or even in chronological order. As far as baptism is concerned, Acts 2:38-47 summarises all that was essential for the Church in the apostolic age, since the events that guide it, the mention of baptisms, the integration of the disciples of John describe the situation of the Church. And if it does not raise a particular problem of principle, the mention of baptism remains a mere statement of fact.

In searching for the core of Heinrich Bullinger’s theology, various approaches have been given, the most appropriate being “communion with God” (Peter Opitz). However, it is better to understand his theology not in a circular model with one core point, but rather as an ellipse with two focal points: God and man, respectively, Christ and the Church, which are related to each other. Therefore, his theology is essentially what I would call a “relational theology”. This, too, manifests in his ecclesiology. The epithets taken from tradition and the biblical metaphors with ecclesial connotations are strictly related to Christ, thus demonstrating the communal and participatory character of his ecclesiology. This is not only evident in relation to the Roman church but also to the Lutheran church. His relational theology is essentially dynamic and pastoral which, therefore, still can be fruitful for the churches standing in the tradition of the Second Helvetic Confession, such as the Hungarian church. 

István Téglás (1853–1915) is a well-known and recognised researcher in archaeology, but his work in pedagogy, which was his original profession, has received little attention so far. Using Téglás’s school inspection notes and drawings from Turda-Arieş county, we will focus solely on the situation and condition of the Romanian denominational schools, taking into account the Hungarian educational policies and legislation of that time. In our study, we aim to contribute to the body of Hungarian history of education and minority policy at the turn of the 19th–20th centuries through microhistorical source publication, striving to provide additional qualitative knowledge.

Between 1920 and 1930, the relationship between Hungary and the Netherlands was extra¬ordinarily intense. Famous are the so-called children’s trains, with which more than 28 000 Hungarian children travelled to the Netherlands to recover for a while in host families from the hardships that the and revolution had brought to the Hungarian people. But there was also help in the theological and ecclesiastical fields. Especially the followers of Abraham Kuyper (1839–1920) waged a fierce struggle. In Hungary it was and still is rumoured that this Kuyper church was bent on splitting the Calvinist church of Hungary. In this article, the author shows that this was not the intention of the Dutch leaders. Jenő Sebestyén, the main ally of the Dutch theologians, was also not out for a schism.