What does economic success have to do with what we consider honest, how we approach work, and how willing we are to stand up to those in power? More than 120 years after its publication, Max Weber’s work on the Protestant ethic still raises pressing questions for Hungary. Péter Ákos…
Writings
Is Christianity becoming fashionable? In recent years, we have witnessed a growing number of celebrities converting to Christianity or expressing an intense interest in it. The writer and activist Ayaan Hirsi Ali, Jordan Peterson, and the former New Atheist Richard Dawkins, who now describes himself as a “cultural Christian,” are…
Amid yet another episcopal election, it is worth asking the uncomfortable question: how truly Reformed is the hierarchical way of functioning in the Reformed Church in Hungary? How did such strong episcopal and deanly power emerge alongside the Reformed self-understanding, and what historical reflexes continue to sustain this system today?…
What happens when the election of a Reformed bishop turns into a campaign months before nominations, reducing the community to choosing from predetermined names? The Church’s task is broader: not only to elect but also to nominate – to recognise and approach, as a community, those who are not campaigning,…
We are naturally inclined to divide humanity into two categories: “us” and “them,” and “they”—the other group—are perceived as a threat to “us.” For this reason, people build not only physical walls but also invisible barriers by which they seek to protect their identity. Referring to the conflict between Jewish…
The study examines the theological interplay between trust and distrust in the context of the Church’s credibility crisis. The study proceeds from the premise that abuses of power in Christian communities, expectations of unconditional loyalty, and institutional distortions of trust call for a reconsideration of the notion of trust. The…
According to Max Weber’s famous thesis, Protestant ethics was one of the key driving forces behind the emergence of modern capitalism. Does this mean, however, that the capitalist economic and social order can be theologically justified? The author argues that it cannot; indeed, capitalism may rather be understood as a…
Throughout church history, moments of crisis repeatedly uncover deeper dimensions of Christianity that remain hidden in times of stability. This essay traces this pattern in the Hungarian Reformation and its later developments, showing how upheaval, material vulnerability, and changing relations to political power shaped the Church’s life. In the decades…
This essay, responding to articles by Tamás Fabiny and István Gégény, examines the cultural contexts of the political use of biblical texts and concepts through the example of the David and Goliath metaphor. It approaches the issue on three levels: the theological interpretation of the biblical text, the cultural patterns…
The concept of identity is experiencing a boom. Identity politics, and the demand for the formation of collective identities, has become a strategic instrument of political power in modern societies. Meanwhile, for the self-understanding of the churches of the Reformation, it is no longer dogmatic-confessional and liturgical traditions or differences…