Benkő István és Reichert Gyula vitája a gyermekkeresztségről

Pető-Veres, Kata (2023) Benkő István és Reichert Gyula vitája a gyermekkeresztségről. In: Hagyomány, Identitás, Történelem 2022. Reformáció Öröksége (10). Károli Gáspár Református Egyetem Hittudományi Kar Egyháztörténeti Kutatóintézet, Budapest, pp. 545-558.

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Abstract

After the First World War, the Hungarian Reformed Church lived, with the words of Jenő Sebestyén,” in a state of complete stupor, passive indifference.” The church leaders believed that the pillars of the survival of our church were the return to the Creed and the support of the inner mission called Belmisszió. The distrust of ‘sects’ that had prevailed decades earlier was still present also on the part of state authorities. Some of the Reformed leaders considered the spread of Baptism and Nazareneism as one of the biggest problems, because of their predilection for luring away Reformed believers. On the Reformed side, it was typical to use almost any means to discredit and ridicule the opponent. Articles, conferences and pastors’ meetings were held on the subject and a number of theses, books and pamphlets were published describing the small churches, their doctrines and practices. The aim was to inform the Reformed believers and to keep them within the bosom of the Reformed Church. An example of this is István Benkő’s treatise defending infant baptism and discrediting the exclusivity of adult baptism. A response to Benkő’s letter was received shortly afterwards, however, not from a Baptist, but from the Lutheran (and then Methodist pastor) Gyula Reichert, who at the time of writing sympathized with adult baptism. The aim of this paper is to show that even the world war could not sweep the antipathy towards small churches under the carpet, because it was necessary for the confessions of faith and the redefinition of Reformed identity to show what true Reformed people think and practice, and what they shun and see as a threat.

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