Dénes Dienes: History of the Reformed Church Collég in Sárospatak (Sárospatak, 2013)
SPIRIT AND MOOD - The Strong Pillar of the College - Education in Theology and in the Liberal Arts
SECONDARY SCHOOL AND COLLEGE 156 can be found on the cover of a popular medical textbook and a Hungarian-Latin dictionary as well. István Zsindely (1829-1891) taught mathematics and natural sciences. Having studied in Vienna, Göttingen, Basel and Zurich, he first taught at the teacher training faculty and then at the secondary school right until his death. He wrote textbooks for the subjects he taught and also envisaged and prepared the plans for a public school project. As a member of the Economic Board, his task was to oversee the financial and economic operations of the College. THE STURDY PILLAR OF THE COLLEGE - EDUCATION IN THEOLOGY AND IN THE LIBERAL ARTS The Faculty and the graduating class of the Theological Academy in 1905 As will be seen, the Academy of Law and the Teacher Training School caused much chagrin for the leaders of the College. This unhappy situation was touched upon in the discussion pertaining to the history of the secondary school. Relative to these two institutions, the theology and liberal arts branch of the College could be called an ‘island of peace’. This is perhaps not surprising in that these two disciplines reflected the most traditional aspects of the College throughout its history, the educating and training of pastors being the main function of the institution. Entered further into the mix was the fact that the church district could exercise its right of autonomy much longer over the theological academy than any other of the other branches of the College. It was this branch which had to effect the least adjustments to conform to the requirements of the state’s educational policy, the centralization efforts or in the implementation of new regulations. Apart from minor exceptions, all this guaranteed wholesome internal development, but there were negative aspects to this, also. The perturbations incited by the state-dictated expectations pertaining to the institutions and branches over which the state had more control often gave rise to a lack of composure and procrastination in effecting the state-mandate requirements. Overall, however, the theological academy continued to stand, both intellectually and spiritually, as a sturdy pillar of support in the large-scale development of the institution. Due to the relatively low profile of this theological branch, reports on smaller or larger issues appeared from time to time. One example, was the observation that the interest of theology students towards competitions involving the submission of scholarly works was waning. To address this, the teachers, in 1891, decided to implement the ‘seminar style’ of study which was tried and tested elsewhere and proved useful in helping scholars become better immersed in their work. In the closing years of World War I, problems pertaining to academic
