Overview

This is the first book to examine one of Europe's largest Protestant communities in Hungary and Transylvania. It highlights the place of the Hungarian Reformed church in the international Calvinist world, and reveals the impact of Calvinism on Hungarian politics and society. Calvinism attracted strong support in Hungary and Transylvania, where one of the largest Reformed churches was established by the early seventeenth century. Understanding of this Hungarian Reformed church remains the most significant missing element in the analysis of European Calvinism. The Hungarian Reformed church survived on narrow ground between the Habsburgs and Turks, thanks to support from Transylvanias princes and local nobles. They worked with Reformed clergy to maintain contact with western co-religionists, to combat confessional rivals, to improve standards of education and to impose moral discipline. However, there were also tensions within the church over further reforms of public worship and church government, and over the impact of puritanism. This book examines the development of the Hungarian church within the international Calvinist community, and the impact of Calvinism on Hungarian politics and society.

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9780198208594

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Murdock painstakingly underscores the international dimensions of the Reformed movement in Hungary and Transylvania. The Historian Murdock's entirely fresh material casts vivid and unexpected light upon more familiar Reformed experiences further west, making this unquestionably one of the most impressive and valuable books published in the field of international Calvinism in recent years. The Journal of Ecclesiastical History Graeme Murdock's first book provides the best synoptic, monographic study of any major Calvinist community in its full interntational context currently available in print. That his subject is the most exotic and little-known major branch of the international Reformed tradition makes his achievement all the more remarkable; and the difficulty of the Hungarian sources and literature upon which it is predominantly based will further guarantee his book grateful readers and a very long shelf life. Aside from the sheer novelty of its material, perhaps the book's most invaluable and refreshing feature is its internationalism, which stems directly from conditions within the region studied. The Journal of Ecclesiastical History Murdock's main argument is enlivened by a wealth of telling details ... The book is a pleasure to read and will hopefully be an eye-opener to many for whom, until now, the history of Hungarian and Transylvanian Calvinism seemed to be not more than an exotic footnote to the history of Calvinism at large. Dutch Review of Church History This is a very important volume presenting an exciting look at one of the least known branches of the Calvinist International. Scholars interested in social control, religious reform, toleration, and intellectual thought will find much here to interest them ... It is certainly a most welcome addition to our understanding of Calvinism and early modern Hungarian lands. English Historical Review A very interesting and extremely useful historical account. English Historical Review This study is significantly more important than just another case study of Calvinism. The success of Calvinism in the Hungarian lands remains, until now, a story largely unknown to the wider historical community. Again, that alone makes this work interesting. The peculiarities of the socio-political situation in Hungary and Transylvania, however, makes this volume truly fascinating. English Historical Review

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