John Calvin

Contemporaries of Calvin were less preoccupied with the Servetus-affair than modern researchers. Calvin is known to have taken care of the formal complaint and legal proceeding against Servetus. The evaluation of his person and role in Servetus’ death caused long-standing debates among the prominent representatives of the Hungarian Calvin researchers.

Es gibt ein verbreitetes Bild von Calvin, wonach er ein harter, schroffer Typ gewesen ist. Es ist namentlich in Deutschland verbreitet. Aber stimmt dieses Bild? Jedenfalls kennen wir ihn noch nicht recht, wenn wir nicht seine Liebe des Gesangs kennen. Bei ihm war die Beziehung zur Musik höchst lebendig. Er kannte und schätzte die Musik seiner Zeit, die der Renaissance, und er schätzte sie so, dass ihm unter dem Hören die Tränen kamen.

The closing part of this study presents the most important dichotomic and trichotomic anthropological models from the era of Reformation (Erasmus, Calvin, Bullinger, the Confessio Helvetica Posterior, the Heidelberg Catechism, István Szegedi Kis) and provides a synthesis of the anthropological view of 20th century theology (Karl Barth, Wolfhart Pannenberg, Oscar Cullmann, Jenő Sebestyén, István Török, Botond Gaál, and others).

The consolidation of the entire law system of Hungary during the 19th century (e. g. laws of 38/1868, 34/1874, 43/1895, and 33/1896) created a brand-new alliance between Austria (ruled by the Habsburg-house) and Hungary, which paved the way for the practical fulfillment of the Kiegyezés (Compromise / Ausgleich) in 1867. This special legal situation influenced not only the everyday life but also the higher educated levels of the so-called “Reformed Church of Hungary”.

In Calvin’s eschatological reflection the intermediate state of the believer is of primary importance. After death the soul leaves body, the body (and only the body) falls into sleep, the soul, however, rests by God. The perfect happiness of the soul is not diminished by the fact that in this intermediate state one still has to wait for the resurrection. Although Calvin uses platonic terminology in order to clarify his ideas, the scriptural content usually overwrites this platonic terminology.