Some who look at the world from an economic historical perspective see the discovery of America as the end of the Middle Ages and the beginning of the New Age. Others, who consider cultural values ​​to be more important, claim that the end of the beginning of the Modern Age is 31 October 1517. It was then that Martin Luther’s 95-point disputation, which the Augustinian monk-turned-theologian hoped to improve and reform his church, was published—and perhaps published is the accurate way to put it, since many doubt that it was indeed nailed to the door of the castle church in Wittenberg.

According to Luther, the church’s only compass should be the gospel, that is, it must approach all problems on a biblical basis, such as the sale of letters of indulgence, the obtaining of church positions with money, and the lifestyle and power of the pope. It is no exaggeration to state that this simple and yet immensely powerful teaching changed the course of history.

A Reformation of Education and Art

When the reformer’s 95 theses were made public, however, no one, not even Luther himself thought that a schism would occur, but that is what happened: the sectarian division of Western Christianity that still exists today. However, the Reformation also had significant cultural effects, without which the world would look very different today. Let’s take a look at some of them!

Without the Reformation, in all likelihood, scientific literature in Latin would have maintained its dominance. Thanks to Luther and then his followers, the idea that people should read the Bible in their mother tongue took root. Soon other church and secular writings were also printed in various languages, with which the authors wanted to appeal not only to those versed in sciences, but also to simpler people who could read and write. By definition, the pioneers of this endeavour were primarily Bible translators.

We must also mention the role the Reformation played in strengthening education. Although there was no such thing yet as compulsory schooling in the 16th century, the fact that more emphasis started to be placed on education is indisputable. The possibility of studying, starting with the spread of new ideas, also opened up to the less wealthy. It is also a fact that the newly established churches, first the Lutheran and then the Reformed Church, played a major role in this. With boarding schools, colleges and significant financial support they provided the opportunity to learn and at the same time the opportunity to prosper in life to the sons of common people. These students coming from lower social classes and who worked hard to get ahead in life never forgot who they owed their career to, and always remained loyal to their denominations.

The Reformation also affected poetry. New songs and religious poems were born replacing the old ones. A significant number of these works are still part of our present-day Protestant songbooks. Musical culture was also fertilized, thanks to the melodies of Protestant songwriters, who often took inspiration from folk tunes. The paintings of altarpieces, and certain elements of architecture developed in a specifically Protestant way.

It must be also acknowledged, however, that sculpture was the biggest loser of the Reformation, as statues were removed and no new ones displayed in churches, for theological reasons and in order to prevent worshippers to be distracted by them. It is also undeniable that the Swiss branch of the Reformation, Calvinism, that also took action against instrumental music, and in many places not even the organ was allowed at church services.

The Impact of Protestantism on the Hungarian Nation

The Reformation gained ground in the territory of the Kingdom of Hungary from the very beginning. One tragic even that played a significant role in the quick absorption of the new teachings in the medieval Kingdom of Hungary was the Battle at Mohács on 29 August 526, which caused the fall of the medieval Hungarian kingdom, and the splitting of Hungary into three parts. Contemporaries interpreted the failure against the Turks and the more than 150 years of Ottoman occupation of the country as God’s punishment, unleashed on the Christian peoples of the Central European region due to the deterioration of the church. The new faith, which spoke in people’s mother tongues, offered hope and and helped the subjugated people cling onto their national identity. Although eventually masses returned to the Catholic Church thanks to the role played by the Habsburg Court in the Counter-Reformation and the activities of Péter Pázmány, the ‘Hungarian-preserving’ nature of Protestantism is still present in the Carpathian Basin.

After the final expulsion of the Turks, marked by the 1699 Peace of Karlóca (Karlowitz), the Counter-Reformation measures of the Habsburg Court in Vienna, acting as the new occupier (Leopold I, for instance, revoked religious freedom, and Protestants were once again persecuted) played a significant role in the beginning of an all-Hungarian social collaboration and uprising against Austria, which became known in history as the Rákóczi War of Independence (1703–1711). Perhaps these are the years when Protestantism in the Kingdom of Hungary became not only a religious conviction, but also a symbol of the fight against foreign invaders and the struggle for the creation of an independent Hungary.

It is therefore no wonder that Protestants played an irreplaceable role in the formation of Hungarian literary language, as well as in the renewal of the language. It is no coincidence that Ferenc Kölcsey, who wrote the Hungarian National Anthem in 1823, was a student at the Reformed College in Debrecen for many years, just as it is no accident that it was in the same Debrecen, known as the Calvinist Rome, that the Hungarian National Assembly—headed by Lajos Kossuth, who hailed from a Lutheran small noble family—proclaimed the dethronement of the House of Habsburg on 14 April 1849. It is also unquestionable that the Protestant churches played a key role in the preservation of the Hungarian communities that came under the authority of foreign states as a result of the Trianon Peace Treaty, as well as in the preservation of national identity in communist Hungary between 1947 and 1989. Since the vast majority of the Hungarians of the Carpathian Basin professed and still profess the Calvinist, i.e. the Reformed, of the Protestant traditions, and still do so to this day, we can confidently say: the spiritual and cultural face of the Hungarian nation cannot be imagined or drawn without the traits of Calvinism.

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