Márton Szentpéteri: The Book of Psalms as a Means of Universal Reformation

Organized by the Department of Comenius Studies and Early Modern Intellectual History

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Márton Szentpéteri (Moholy-Nagy University of Art and Design, Budapest):
The Book of Psalms as a Means of Universal Reformation

Anotation
The paper intends to show how psalms could be conceived of as means of enhancing intellectual and spiritual goals set by the representatives of further reform in early modern Central Europe. The case study is focusing on the theological and poetic views of Johann Heinrich Alsted (1588-1638) and Albert Szenci Molnár (1574-1634) taking their correspondence of 1609 which mainly focuses on questions of psalm translation as starting point. Touching upon such Millenarian themes mentioned in their letters as the conversion of the Jews (and Turks!), the theology of King David or the search for the perfect language, The paper intends to shed more light on the idea of „parafrasis metro-rhytmica“ that demonstrates how theological doctrines could be conveyed and indoctrinated by poetic form.