Slovenská literatúra

3

Authors: Angela Škovierová

Vráblová, Timotea, ed.: Occasion in Slovak literature of earlier periods

4

Authors: Pavol Markovič

Vráblová, Timotea: Life on the battlegrounds of this world

5

Authors: Erika Brtáňová

Sermon literature, as documented by manuscripts and prints archived in Slovak memory preservation institutions, played an important role in Slovak literature of older periods since as early as the Middle Ages. Texts of sermons testify to the key developmental processes in the history of Slovak literature, document the changes in languages used (leading to the use of the native language – Slovak), and reflect the values and topical issues of individual periods. Other fields of research – besides theology – started focusing on Slovak homiletic literature after the Velvet Revolution when religious genres started enjoying greater scholarly interest. The widening of research focus so that it would encompass new themes and research viewpoints can most readily be observed in monographs from the fields of philology, history, and literary history. Religious writing is also the focus of three research projects concentrating on Slovak and Central European texts. A common feature of these is a mutual cooperation between specialists and intensified academic communication and exchange of experience on the international level.

6

Authors: Dana Hučková

Róbert Kiss Szemán, ed.: The OTHER Kollár – Kollár and the OTHER

10

Authors: Marzanna Kuczyńska

Theologian and polemicist Hypatius Pociej (Polish: Hipacy Pociej, 1541 – 1613) was a bishop of the eparchy of Volodymyr-Brest (now a part of Ukraine) and since 1599 until his death, he was Metropolitan of Kiev. He was Protestant, later Orthodox, and then Unitarian. Hypatius played an active role in the Union of Brest which aimed at uniting the Orthodox Church with the Catholic one. His polemical texts have rarely been the subject of academic study – especially so in the context of historical-religious context of the era. Still less researched is the polemic included in the collection of sermons published by the printing house of Supraśl monastery by the theologian and metropolitan Leon Kiszka (1663 – 1728) in 1714 in Polish translation under the title Kazania y homilie męża Bożego nieśmiertelney sławy: y pamięci Hipacyusza Pocieia […] z listem Melecyusza Patryarchy Alexandryiskiego, a responsem Hipacyusza [Sermons and homilies of the man of god of immortal fame and memory, Hypatius Pociej (…) with a letter by Meletius, Patriarch of Alexandria and a response from Hypatius]. The Polish translator made significant changes to the original text and adapted it to the new circumstances. Since in the early 18th century, the main task of the polemicists was a unification of the nation in one – Catholic – faith, Kiszka advocated the union in a narrowly Counter-Reformation spirit. The collection of sermons is a declaration of the sense of belonging and a programmatic manifest of the union. This was markedly strengthened by the polemic in the new Baroque-Counter-Reformation light.

11

Authors: Erika Brtáňová

The poet, author, and Protestant priest Bohuslav Tablic (1769 – 1732) only published seven occasional speeches from his sermon writings. As he explained, this was due to the lowered interest of the readers in religious literature as such. Sermons that were published strongly aimed at forming the readers’ values and opinions with respect to general religious issues. Influenced by Enlightenment rationalism, Tablic focused on moral norms in his sermons. He saw the solution to the critical state of his own Evangelical Church of the Augsburg Confession and the loose morals of its members in a deepening of the confessional awareness of the community. He believed in a strong (supernatural) motivation of religion towards moral purity and sought the benefits of religion in spiritual unity of the society, its effective working, and quality social relations. He saw religion as a significant educational and culture-forming phenomenon. The country’s progress in Tablic’s view was to be based on active participation of morally mature and educated citizens on the religious and public life. In his sermons, like in his other writings, he is a moderate enlightened thinker and author.

17

Authors: Peter Benka

The article looks into tasks assigned to the preaching office in Protestant communities in towns of Upper Hungary in the 16th and 17th centuries (Pentapolitana league). It tackles the issue from the perspective of the history of ideas and contextual historical analysis. The analysis is based on a corpus of theological and normative texts of secular and religious character from the studied region. An outline of the theological frame (given by basic dogmatic texts) that for the Protestant communities served as the background for defining the nature of preaching office is followed by an analysis of expectations set by the representatives of the local church and town communities. Key to these are the matters of dogmatic orthodoxy and issues related to the contents of preaching, the expected social impact, and requirements set on preachers by secular and religious bodies. The article also outlines the opportunities and limitations for implementation of the idealised image of the preaching office in specific conditions of individual towns, especially with regards to educational and dogma-related requirements and the conflicting potential of preaching with respect to the secular power.