Camenius saw the times in which he lived as a three intersecting crises kind of colliding simultaneously with one another. One these was the religious crisis, going back to luther and calvin protestant theologians,. The other two were military conflicts across northern europe - 16 18 and 30 years war itself. And that's why he eventually germinated this notion of universal reformation. He envisaged not only a future state in which some kind of peace and enlightenment will be established across all domains, but also means to get us there.
Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the Czech educator Jan Amos Komenský (1592-1670) known throughout Europe in his lifetime under the Latin version of his name, Comenius. A Protestant and member of the Unity of Brethren, he lived much of his life in exile, expelled from his homeland under the Catholic Counter-Reformation, and he wanted to address the deep antagonisms underlying the wars that were devastating Europe especially The Thirty Years War (1618-1648). A major part of his plan was Universal Education, in which everyone could learn about everything, and better understand each other and so tolerate their religious differences and live side by side. His ideas were to have a lasting influence on education, even though the peace that followed the Thirty Years War only entrenched the changes in his homeland that made his life there impossible.
The image above is from a portrait of Comenius by Jürgen Ovens, 1650 - 1670, painted while he was living in Amsterdam and held in the Rikjsmuseum
With
Vladimir Urbanek
Senior Researcher in the Department of Comenius Studies and Early Modern Intellectual History at the Institute of Philosophy of the Czech Academy of Sciences
Suzanna Ivanic
Lecturer in Early Modern European History at the University of Kent
And
Howard Hotson
Professor of Early Modern Intellectual History at the University of Oxford and Fellow of St Anne’s College
Producer: Simon Tillotson