Sárospataki Füzetek 20. (2016)
2016 / 2. szám - ARTICLES / STUDIEN - Henk E. S. Woldring: Comenius' Search for Conditions of Peace set against the Perspective of Shalom
ARTICLES /STUDIEN Henk ES. Woldring COMENIUS' SEARCH FOR CONDITIONS OF PEACE SET AGAINST THE PERSPECTIVE OF SHALOM 1. Introduction The central question this paper addresses is as follows: What conditions does Jan Amos Comenius describe as necessary to achieve enduring peace, and, finally, to promote shalom?. To answer this question, in part I of this paper I will analyse causal factors of warfare, and the conditions necessary to achieve enduring peace. In part III will elaborate on the characteristics of a situation of enduring peace from the perspective of shalom. For this elaboration I will use Comenius’ pansophic method of research. Firstly, I will use the analytic method to divide the situation of enduring peace into its components. Secondly, I will use the synthetic method to reconstruct a situation of enduring peace to better understand the connection and order of its components. Thirdly, I will use the syncritic method to discover analogies between enduring peace and comparable phenomena. The conclusion will be that these analogies clarify those conditions of enduring peace that may promote shalom. PART I: ANALYSIS OF ENDURING PEACE 2. Causal Factors of Warfare After a period of ten years during which Comenius had lived in Amsterdam, in 1667 he made a trip to Breda. He wished to meet the diplomats who were gathered there for negotiations to finish the Second Anglo-Dutch War. To promote these peace negotiations he had written the book Angelus pads (The Angel of Peace), of which he took along a number of copies to hand over to the diplomats. In his book Comenius addresses the diplomats with the words of the prophet Isaiah (59, 8): ‘They do not know the road of peace.’ Next, he explained that greed and avarice had nourished warfare, and had made people blind in the search for peace. The war between Eng2016-2 Sárospataki Füzetek 20. évfolyam 67
