Die Kerkhervorming in Hongarye

Abstract

The Reformation in Hungary

This article focuses on a description of the Reformation in Hungary. Research into the historical backgrounds of the South-African clerical family Papp (of which the progenitor, the Reverend Kálmán Papp, is the only Hungarian immigrant to date to have become a minister in the reformed churches of South Africa), provided the stimulus for the exploration of this topic. The article briefly describes the political and ecclesiastical circumstances in Hungary prior to the Reformation, the course thereof, with specific reference to the most prominent Hungarian reformers, the outcome of the Reformation, as well as the birth of the Reformed Church of Hungary. The influence of Heinrich Bullinger, whose Confessio Helvetica Posterior was accepted as an official article of faith of this church in 1567, is dealt with in more detail. The article concludes with a few cursory remarks on the effects of the ecclesiastical and political developments in Hungary on the church in the sixteenth century and also provides some statistical data with regard to the present situation.