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The Role of Calvinist Minorities in the Cultural Life of Hungary

Prof. Botond Gaál

Debrecen Reformed Theological University

 

The fact that the church lives as a minority derives from its mission.  According to the Bible, “people” belong to the family of the so-called creational orders, the most mysterious of them all. We are unable to answer so many questions: where do people come from, where do they disappear? What is their origin? What forges them into a nationality?  Is it perhaps its culture, the climate, the genetic pool, the language, the customs, the religion or is it its laws that have the greatest influence? In case of the orderliness of people by any statutory or experimental basis it seems that always the opposites of these hold also true. The writers of the Bible have contemplated this also. Regarding people the Apostle Paul says that God determines “the times set for them and the exact places where they should live”. (Acts 17:26) We may also discern from the Bible that God is simultaneously “Deus Creator” and “Deus Ordinator”, who differentiates as well as integrates people into nations. This is the instrument of His sustaining and caring grace, even more than that! You see, the order of redemption in Jesus Christ is revealed to us. The distant future thereby is predetermined, but God includes mankind in shaping the near future. Due to this, people’s destinies are incidental, bound by time, we cannot, with any certainty, predict their short-term outlook as measurable by human means. But then what is the relationship between people’s order and redemption’s order? This is the first answer we seek.

The Bible gives a definite response to this, and its response is related to the issue of the Church’s existence as a minority as well. God chooses for himself, or calls into existence, out of among the many peoples one of His own: “… out of all nations you will be my treasured possession. Although the whole earth is mine, you will be for me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.” (Ex. 19: 5-6) These chosen people are the people of Israel, to whom in Abraham’s era the following promise was given: “and all peoples on earth will be blessed through you." Israel’s secret is that they are not a people among the multitudes, but they are THE qualified “chosen people”. It is their lives, their history into which God builds His redeeming grace to benefit the whole world. Israel is similar to other nations, yet different, because God has made them the medium of His revelation. Furthermore, according to the New Testament, the history of these people is included into the Christ-event, in that at the conclusion of the act of salvation the “physical Israel” converts also. (Romans chapter 11) The Apostle Paul explains all this, namely that there is not only a “physical Israel” but a “spiritual Israel”, the Church, whose mission is the actual continuation of the choosing of “physical Israel”. This expands across the whole wide world by the “go and make disciples of all nations” directive. (Matthew 28:19) But there is continuity in the state of being chosen by the church, which the apostle Paul expresses by: “So too, at the present time there is a remnant chosen by grace”. (Romans 11:5) What has begun with the choosing of Israel, is therefore being continued in the lives of the people chosen in Christ, as declared by the apostle Peter: “But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light.” (1Peter 2:9)

However the one church lives in pluriformity, meaning very often that the Calvinist church serves among a people in dual minority. This could be appreciated well in our, the Hungarian, case. The question is: what has this Calvinist minority created in culture and science.

 

Here, in Hungary, in the 16th century there were no universities yet. Ecclesiastical and monastic schools were not in adequate numbers and quality for scientific studies. This was related to the Turkish invasions also. Given this, the churches of the Reformation had a decision to make. Before all else, they created a vast system of central schools and colleges, and with their aide established subsidiaries thereof in villages and towns.  The Debrecen College has established 584 such subsidiary schools. The Colleges in Pápa, Sárospatak, Nagyvárad, and later the Nagyenyed-Gyulafehérvár, and Kolozsvár have also created hundreds of schools. The cause of education has integrated society in Hungary.

 

Let’s formulate our question in retrospect: in what areas did the large Colleges contribute creatively to our national culture?  We emphasize three areas: theology, literature and sciences. In the following we will address these three areas.

 

In theology they strived towards such advanced edification so the graduated pastor could leave for the congregation work with the broadest possible preparation. If we examine the professors’ notes and the curricula, we will find that a pastor’s overall knowledge was made up by approximately 25 % natural science, 15-20 % law, and the remainder 30-30 % philosophy and theology. The theological education confirmed fairly well with the pace of the western universities, but in the majority of occasions it was less. This was the reason that students from Debrecen went on to study theology at the western universities, where they could become better skilled next to the professors with more theological expertise. Later, especially from the second half of the 18th century, the domestic theological professors also were able to offer good training to the Hungarian Reformed students. It was because this well-rounded preparation that the pastors received the “learned and revered” title during their congregational ministry.

 

Literature evolved due to and through the practice of the Hungarian language. In the Colleges the language of learning was Hungarian, however during higher education Latin was a strict requirement. Many disapprove of this today. Cultivation of Hungarian was primarily necessary for preaching.  For this purpose great emphasis has been placed on studying the Bible. The first full Hungarian translation of the Bible was completed in 1590 under the leadership of Gáspár Károlyi who was a Calvinist rural dean in Gönc. This significantly influenced the everyday Hungarian, but it also contributed to the evolvement of the national specialty lingo needed for the usage of theology at a scholarly level. Because the Bible contains and carries God’s revelations, and the instrument of this revelation is the language, students of the larger Colleges, and in general the faithful Reformed public ultimately practiced its own language by reading the Bible, listening to sermons and learning the verses of the beautiful hymns. And wherever a language is being cultivated literature develops. That is how the improbable could have happened, that the greatest among the great Hungarian poets and writers in large majority, perhaps as much as 60-70 %, were Reformed, or studied in the renowned Reformed Colleges, although by this time, due to the Counterreformation, the Calvinists only constituted about 20 % of the general population. As a testimony to this we will only list the best known names: Albert Szenci Molnár (1574-1634), Mihály Csokonai Vitéz (1773-1805), Mihály Fazakas (1776-1828), Ferenc Kazincy (1759-1831), Ferenc Kölcsey (1790-1838), Sándor Petőfi (1823-1849 – he was Lutheran), János Arany (1817-1882), Mór Jókai (1825-1904), Mihály Tompa (1817-1868), Endre Ady (1877-1919), Zsigmond Móricz (1879-1942), Gábor Oláh (1881-1942), Lőrinc Szabó (1900-1957), Pál Gulyás (1899-1944), Laszló Nagy (1925-1978), Magda Szabó (1917-2007), and others. The Reformed Colleges of Transylvania have also produced similarly renowned writers and poets: Miklós Jósika (1794-1865), Zsigmond Kemény (1814-1875), Dezső Szabó (1879-1945), Lajos Áprily (1887-1967), Sándor Kányádi (1927-), András Sütő (1927-2005), Albert Wass (1908-1998).

 

The Reformed Colleges have taken the lead in the field of natural sciences. During the division into subspecialties of the natural sciences taken place in the 16th and 17th centuries, the first three generations of scientists in Hungary were all Reformed priests. This happened so, because the brightest students studied abroad at Western-European universities, and brought back with them ample scientific knowledge as well. With the aide of Latin, this was transplanted into the Hungarian scientific arena. Let’s suffice to mention only a few examples. For the longest time, mathematics was taught at elementary and mid-level across the country based on the books of the Debrecen College’s teachers. The first instruction manual of mathematics in Hungarian was published in Debrecen in 1577, followed by that of Ferenc Menyői Tolvaj in 1674 and again the famed arithmetic manual of György Maróthi from 1743, which was in effect until 1850.  The first handbook written on advanced level differential and integral calculus is attributed to one of our College’s instructors, professor Ferenc Kerekes in 1837.  István Hatvani (1718-1786) taught mathematics, physics, chemistry and philosophy fully at a European level; furthermore he wrote the best Calvinist communion precept of the period. Péter Méliusz Juhász (1536-1572) arranged the first Hungarian-German-Latin language herbal compendium, which was published in 1578 in Kolozsvár. In 1807 Mihály Fazekas and Sámuel Diószegi prepared the first book of botanical taxonomy according to the Linnaean binominal nomenclature..We won’t go any further. The Reformed Colleges led in the field of natural sciences.

 

How could the significance of the Calvinist schools be summarized?

1) Cultivation of the Hungarian language meant the binding to the nation, Latin, on the other hand, connected Calvinist Hungary to the European culture.

2) By emphasizing the concept of “sola scriptura” scrupulous study of the Holy Scriptures came to the forefront, which derived the view that Scripture must not be taken literally, because God’s revelation is worded according to the language and culture of the given era. Therefore careful inspection is required to ascertain its meaning there and then, and here and now. This contributed to the rapid development of theology.

3) Bible therefore could no longer be used in the explanation of natural phenomena, thus obstacles from nature’s examination have been removed, more so there was an open path to free exploration of natural sciences, as well as law, sociology, politics and all aspects of life. Authoritarianism could no longer inhibit progress. This led them to a new understanding of democracy and movement of independence.

4) The entire Calvinist attitude offered an opening for the whole humanity’s creativity.

5) From the Scriptures they learned the proper Christian life’s standards, and followed them strictly: Calvinists called it “life-sanctity”!

 

The reasons for the prompt acceptance of the Calvinistic trend of the Reformation in the 16th century by the Hungarians are still the subject of debate by various specialty historians.  The way I see it, the better cultivated youth, who studied at western universities, compared the country’s situation to that of Europe. But what did they see at home? Almost nothing. There were insufficient number of schools, the people were uneducated, the country fragmented into three and became a battlefield, and the overall technical quality was low, quality of life painted a miserable picture. Our reformer ancestors had to make a decision under these circumstances. They opted for a new Hungary! This was Méliusz’ famous saying: “Make schools out of church-buildings!” This was actually a radical program for the whole nation. A century later, in 1648 János Mikolai Hegedűs as teacher of the Sárospatak College already states: “These parts, the Lord ordered through His servants Magyar schools to be built, and lo, how poverty retracted!” Our reformers made the right decision, for they hoped the rise of the nation to depend of science, culture and purity of its moral life. The radicalism of the Calvinist method was one the greatest contribution to save this nation. That would be a timely program even for the present-day leaders of Hungary.

 

 

In several pessages Bible refers to the fact that Christ’s teaching was not accepted by everyone.

Cf. Czeglédy, Sándor: A választott nép. Sylvester Rt., Budapest, 1940. 46-57. These thoughts appear in the next paragraph also.

According to the historical evindences a university run for a short time at Pécs in the 14th century and at Buda in the 15th century. Development of Hungary was a promissing one until the end of the 15th century when Türkish Empire made it as a peripherial country of Europe. 

Cf. Dankó, Imre: A Kollégium partikularendszere. In: A Debreceni Református Kollégium története. MORE Zsinati Iroda, Budapest, 1988. 776-810.

Philosophy previously included many other areas amid the natural sciences and theology, but towards the end of the 18th century philosophy was handled as a distinctly separate subject in the Debrecen College. Cf. Gaál, Botond: A természettudományok oktatása és művelése a Kollégiumban. In: A Debreceni Református Kollégium története. MORE Zsinati Iroda, Budapest, 1988. 592-626.

This Bible was printed in Vizsoly. That is why it was named as Vizsoly Bible.

Cf. Zemplén, Jolán: A magyarországi fizika története a XVIII. Században. Akadémiai Kiadó. Budapest. 1964. 51.

This book was found in the 1930s and, having no coverpage, was named as Debrecen Arithmetics.

Kerekes Ferenc: Elmélkedés a fellengzős mathesis igaz sarkalatiról. Debrecen, 1837. TtREK R 608/54.

Hatvani István: Az úri szent vatsorára meg tanító könyvecske. Im-Hof Rudolf János, 1760. Basel. This is a systematic theology book on the Lord’s Supper in Hungarian.