Folia Theologica et Canonica 3. 25/17 (2014)
RECENSIONS
252 RECENSIONS SzuROMi, Sz. A., Pre-Gratian Medieval Canonical Collections - Texts, Manuscripts, Concepts - (Aus Religion und Recht, Band 18), Frank & Timme GmbH Verlag für wissenschaftliche Literatur, Berlin 2014, pp. 152 “Many collections have arisen in the Church’s history to summarize her canonical norms. These sources contained at the very beginning customary law, then basically conciliar canons, papal decretals, fragments of writings of patristic authors, moreover biblical or other theological quotations. Nevertheless, several times were taken place texts from civil legislation in the canonical collections. particularly Roman law sources. There is no doubt that we can find disciplinary norms in the Church from her foundation (...) [the first] collections are brief descriptions of the disciplinary life of the Church and even in their name express the intention of following the apostolic teaching and those customary rules which are linked to the apostolic authority. These collections took their starting point from the ‘sacred law (ius sacrum) characteristic of canon law, since its norms promote, directly or indirectly, the sanctification of the individual persons. This is that idea which has continued in the latter epoch, without changing the fundamental concept (...). We can follow this crystallization process precisely until the Decretum Gratiani (around 1140) as well as in the evolution of the university instructional system.” This quotation is the essence of that Preface which can be read at the beginning of Szabolcs Anzelm Szuro- mi’s new English volume on the systematical summarizing description of the so-called Pre-Gratian medieval canonical collections (pp. 9-11). Prof. Szuromi is the President of the Catholic University of Budapest and the Canon Law Institute “ad instar facultatis” at the same university. His fundamental medieval canon law source, institute and science history researches are really remarkable, but at the same time he is very active teacher of several Hungarian, European and American universities from 2000; moreover, since 2013 he has arranged and leader a new International Canon Law History Research Center of Budapest which has unique source and auxiliary literature collection. This particular volume is a systematic summary of the author’s researches which were done between 2009 and 2014, moreover supplies well those fundamental publications which have appeared in the international medieval canon law scientific field, thanks basically to Martin Brett, Richard H. Helmholz, Linda Fowler-Magerl, Bruce Brasington, Karl-Georg Schon, Wilfried Hartmann, Hartmut Hoffmann, Rudolf Pokorny, Johanna B. Will, Greta Austin, Nicolas Álvarez de las Asturias, and naturally Peter Landau. It is quite clear that Prof. Martin Brett’s research (Robinson College. Cambridge, U.K.) made a most significant effect on Szuromi’s research concept (e.g., Brett, M., Finding the Law: The Sources of Canonical Authority before Gratian, in Andersen, P. - Münster-Swendsen, M. - Vog, H. (edd.), Law before Gratian. Law in Western Europe c. 500-1100 [Proceedings of the Third Carlsberg Academy Confe
