Fraternity-Testvériség, 1958 (36. évfolyam, 1-11. szám)
1958-10-01 / 10. szám
FRATERNITY 17 now greatly swollen sum that the Bey had demanded and so were able to have their superintendent set free. Szegedi was as humble a man as he was learned and never sought honor for himself or a public for his writings. It was only after his death that his “Assertio vera de Trinitate” was published by Beza in Geneva. Then much later again, in 1608, his monumental work on comparative dogmatics and ethics, “Theologiae sincerae loci communes de Deo et homines”, appeared in Basel in its fifth edition. In this book Szegedi sets side by side the doctrines and ethics of the Bible, the Roman Catholic Church, and the various branches of Protestantism. His second great work, “Speculum romanorum pontificum”, appeared in Basel in 1581. It is a moral history of the Popes of Rome, or rather, it is more truly a record of their sins. It, too, came out in four Latin editions. Lastly, his “Tabulae analyticae”, was published in Schaffhausen in 1592. It is a typically “Reformed church” work, in that it is a handbook to the Bible, in the form of systematic expositions of Scripture in simple language for use in the pulpit. It appeared in four Latin editions and later still another edition of this work was actually issued in London. Szegedi embodied in his person the common sense and objectivity of thought of the Hungarian peasant, but also the peasantry’s fanatical stand on what it has grasped in the realm even of difficult dogmas. He is much less of a mystic than are Calvin or Beza. His writings are the essence of Reformed theology, and just for that reason they show no one-sided leaning to any particular school of thought. Yet we might say that his theology is that of the Swiss Reformation, though his particular shade is more nearly that of Buliinger than of Calvin. Gal Huszár Huszár is the reformer of the northwest, of the area ruled over by King Ferdinand. Because of the loyalty of the royal house to Rome, Huszár had to lead a gypsy life; but he was never de-
