Baráth Béla Levente: „Földbegyökerezés és égbe fogózás...” A Tiszántúli Református Egyházkerület története Baltazár Dezső püspöki tevékenységének tükrében (1911-1920) - Nemzet, egyház, művelődés 10. (Sárospatak, 2014)

Summary

to the landmarks of political history, the beginning of World War I, the October ,aster’ revolution in 1918, the proclamation of the first Hungarian Republic, the proletár dictatorship, and finally the occupation of the Transtibiscan by the Romanian troops. Within the chronological units the dissertation deals with various themes which emerged during the course of research.

In the introduction, the references relevant to the subject matter and the historical evaluation of the work of Dezső Baltazár are outlined. Based on recent historical-geographical research findings and also that of local history, the adversary effects in the Reformed Church are described with regard to the economic, ethnic, denominational, and social relations of the Transtibiscan region of the period. Then, after a description of the structure and operation of the church district, the challenges to the church leadership are also shown. In Chapter II the personality and the career of Dezső Baltazár is analysed. Beyond the family and educational background, his life of piety and theological attitude determined by. the neo- confessionalism of the ,confessional orthodoxy’ of Debrecen, is dealt with. He was deeply influenced by the Christian doctrines based upon the Holy Scripture and the traditions of Reformers, especially Calvin. Analysing his political orientation in relation to party politics, which may seem to be contradictory, the researcher attempted to point out the bishop’s primary church political motivations. The research came to the conclusion that his role as a prominent public figure, can be much more related to the concept of political Protestantism’ rather than to any other political ideology. In this regard, particular attention should be paid to the election campaign for the position of bishop, that took place in 1911.

In the next larger unit, the efforts under the leadership of Baltazár, to mode;nise education and church are described. Similarly, the attempts to look after the diaspora in the Békés-Bánát classis, the revival of the missionary work in congregations of cities, and the setting up of the Debrecen Center for Deaconess (the so called,Mother-House’), are dealt with in great detail. It is also pointed out that the bishop, as the chairman of the Association of Reformed Ministers in Hungary, whole-heartedly insisted on restoring the prestige of the Reformed Church’s pastors. Likewise, initiating reforms in the training of ministers, he took steps to improve the livelihood of the family of the pastors, which were of great importance to him.

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