Heroes And Movements

Posted by MadScientist (Düsseldorf, Germany) on 18 September 2010 in Art & Design.

Prague's Jan Hus monument, in the background the Týn church.

Hus was a reformer of the church (something he would have to pay for with his life later), and is considered a predecessor of Protestantism. Hundred years later, Martin Luther would give credit to Hus. It is an interesting fact that both reformators became symbolic figures of national movements in their appropriate countries. If this was something they had in mind besides all religious issues or if their protest was a welcomed occasion for the awakening civic class (usually merchants), which would later benefit from a tamed civil religion, would give an interesting matter of research. Similarly interesting would be the question which role the vanity of these religious leaders played. At least Luther didn't want a schism at first place, but later, when his Protestantism became part of a social and national movement (shaking Europe for at least 200 years), things went off course and he might have been driven more than he was able to control the situation.

My (old) coffee-table book of selected postings.

More MadScientist: eclecticimaging.tumblr.com, the guy behind this blog