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Jan Amos Comenius (Renaissance and Reformation)

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  1. Introduction
  2.  
  3. Jan Amos Comenius (John Amos Comenius; Johannes Amos Comenius; Jana Amose Komenskeho; Jan Amos Komenský [b. 1592–d. 1670]) gained international fame for his innovative teaching methods and proposals for comprehensive educational reform. He advocated a holistic approach to knowledge and ethics called Pansophy (universal wisdom), which was rooted in the conviction that people should work with nature rather than against it. During his lifetime, Comenius published more than 150 works in Czech, Latin, and German on such diverse topics as linguistics, pacifism, social justice, human development, cartography, and spirituality. Few modern scholars have mastered the scope and complexity of Comenius’s intellectual endeavors, and the literature on him and his work is daunting. Comenius began his career in Moravia as a pastor and teacher in a small Protestant church known as the Unity of the Brethren, but he was forced into exile in Poland because of religious persecution. After his early pedagogical works were published in Latin and English translation in the 1630s, he was invited to establish a school system for England. The outbreak of war between Charles I and Parliament prevented those plans from maturing. Comenius accepted an offer from the Swedish Crown to produce new educational materials. In 1650, he was invited to set up a pansophic “school of play” in Transylvania, where he wrote his groundbreaking textbook Orbis pictus. He returned to Leszno, Poland, in 1654, but, two years later, the city was destroyed during the First Northern War. Tragically, many of his unpublished manuscripts were lost in the resulting fire. Comenius sought refuge in Amsterdam in 1656, where patrons published his collected pedagogical works under the title Opera didactica omnia. He was buried in Naarden in 1670. Scholars in many countries have proclaimed him the “father of modern education” because of his humanistic methods and advocacy of universal education. Comenius was one of the first pedagogical theorists to apply Francis Bacon’s epistemology. Comenius’s writings may have had as much impact in the 20th century as they did in his lifetime as his works were translated into several languages. Until the middle of the 20th century, Comenius was known primarily as a pedagogue, but the rediscovery of his pansophic writings, most notably De rerum humanarum emendatione consultatio catholica, launched a new appreciation for Comenius as a philosopher, social reformer, and peace activist. Much of the research on Comenius has been published in Czech, but literature in German and English is also considerable. The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) declared 1992 as the year of Comenius in honor of the quadricentennial of his birth. The creation of the Czech Republic and the admission of the country to the European Union in the 1990s facilitated research on Comenius for scholars outside of central Europe.
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  5. Primary Sources
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  7. It is not possible in this article to provide a complete bibliography of Comenius’s publications, much less all of the translations. Instead, this article focuses on modern editions, especially collections, of his writings. Research on Comenius is hampered by the international scope of his work, which means that the original manuscripts are found in several locations. Unfortunately, some of his unpublished manuscripts were lost in a fire in Leszno in 1654. The National Museum in Prague has the largest collection of Comenius’s manuscripts, including many found in Leszno in the 19th century. The State Archives in Poznań, Poland, also houses many manuscripts authored by Comenius. The Western Bank Library of the University of Sheffield in England has the largest collection of Comenius manuscripts outside of the Czech Republic, including much of his correspondence with individuals such as Samuel Hartlib. Some of his works went through multiple editions in numerous translations during his lifetime, which also complicates research. Most of Comenius’s writings have been published in critical editions.
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  9. Modern Critical Editions of Comenius’s Writings
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  11. The most important edition of Comenius’s writings is Dílo Jana Amose Komenského [Johannis Amos Comenii Opera Omnia] (Comenius 1969–), an ambitious effort of the Czech Academy of Science to publish all of Comenius’s writings in critical editions. This production is based on the earlier work of scholars such as Adolf Patera and Jan Kvačala (see Kvačala 1898–1902), who diligently sought out caches of Comenius’s manuscripts in libraries from Poland to England in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The fruit of their labor was published in the eighteen volumes of Veskere Spisy Jana Amosa Komenského (Comenius 1913–1926). The Czechoslovakian Academy of Sciences produced a beautiful reproduction of Comenius’s Opera didactica omnia (Comenius 1957) for the three hundredth anniversary of the original publication in 1957, which helped revive interest in Comenius. Brambora, et al. 1958–1975 is an eight-volume set of Comenius’s Czech works. Tschizewskij and Schaller 1973–1983, an edition of Comenius’sAusgewahlte Werke, provides facsimile reproductions of Comenius’s most important published works. In the 1930s, Tschizewskij rediscovered the lost manuscript of Comenius’s De rerum humanarum emendatione consultatio catholica, which was published for the first time in Červenka and Miškovskà 1966. Vladimír Urbánek, Iva Lelková, and Kateřina Horníčková edit an electronic database to aid research (Jan Amos Comenius: Digital Calendar and Archive), but it is not very user friendly.
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  13. Brambora, J., J. Červenka, Josef Váňa, et al., eds. Vybrane Spisy J. A. Komenského. 8 vols. Prague: SPN, 1958–1975.
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  15. The major writings of Comenius in Czech.
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  17. Červenka, J., and V. T. Miškovskà, eds. De rerum humanarum emendatione consultatio catholica. 2 vols. Prague: Academia, 1966.
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  19. This is the first publication of Comenius’s pansophic masterpiece on the reformation of society. The manuscript was rediscovered in Halle, Germany, in the 1930s and finally brought to press by the Czech Academy of Sciences.
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  21. Comenius, Jan Amos. Veskere Spisy Jana Amosa Komenského. 18 vols. Prague: Academy of Science, 1913–1926.
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  23. Early-20th-century edition of Comenius’s Czech and Latin works known at that time.
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  25. Comenius, Jan Amos. Opera didactica omnia. 3 vols. Prague: Academy of Science, 1957.
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  27. Republication of Comenius’s pedagogical works.
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  29. Comenius, Jan Amos. Dílo Jana Amose Komenského [Johannis Amos Comenii Opera Omnia]. Prague: Academia, 1969–.
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  31. This remains the standard critical edition of Comenius’s original works in Latin, Czech, and German, but it is not yet complete.
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  33. “Jan Amos Comenius: Digital Calendar and Archive. Cultures of Knowledge: An Intellectual Geography of the Seventeenth-Century Republic of Letters.
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  35. The Early Modern Letters Online project is an attempt to recreate digitally the “republic of letters” that linked scholars in the early modern period. Comenius was chosen as one of the first subjects because of the wealth of material available and because of his ties to most major thinkers of the period.
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  37. Kvačala, Jan, ed. Korrespondence J. A. Komenského. 2 vols. Prague: Česká akademie císaře Františka Josefa provedy, slovesnost a umění, 1898–1902.
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  39. A collection of most of the letters of Comenius that were known in the 19th century.
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  41. Tschizewskij, Dmitrij, and Klaus Schaller, eds. Ausgewahlte Werke. 4 vols. Hildesheim, West Germany: George Olm, 1973–1983.
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  43. Facsimiles of the major works of Comenius in Latin, Czech, and German with expository material.
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  45. Comenius’s Works in English Translation
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  47. Many of Comenius’s Latin works were translated into English in the 17th century and are available in several British research libraries, most notably the British Museum and the Bodleian Library. Many of these texts are available online or in facsimile editions. In addition, several of his works were translated in the 20th century, but no concerted effort has been made to provide a modern critical edition of Comenius’s major writings in the English language. M. W. Keatinge’s translation of The Great Didactic (Comenius 1896) made Comenius’s pedagogical theories widely available to English-language readers and remains a valuable starting place for research on Comenius. Eller’s edition of The School of Infancy (Comenius 1956) is a republication of an early English-language version of this important text. Eller’s introduction and commentary are now outdated. E. T. Campagnac’s translation of The Way of Light (Comenius 1938) is a valuable source for investigating the origins of the Royal Society. A number of English translations of Comenius’s literary and devotional classic Labyrinth of the World and Paradise of the Heart have appeared, but the best (and most recent) is that of Louthan and Sterk (Comenius 1998). After Czech Protestants were left out of the Peace of Westphalia in 1648, Comenius published The Bequest of a Dying Mother, which Matthew Spinka translated and published as The Bequest of the Unity of the Brethren (Comenius 1940). Comenius hoped this would preserve some of the heritage of his church. One of his last works, Unum necessarium was translated into English by a student at the Moravian Theological Seminary and is now available online (Comenius 1958). The English scholar A.M.O. Dobbie’s translations of Panegersia or Universal Awakening (Comenius 1990) and Panorthosia or Universal Reform (Comenius 1995) in the 1990s are the first translations of these works in English and have greatly expanded access to Comenius for English-language readers.
  48.  
  49. Comenius, Jan Amos. The Great Didactic. Translated by M. W. Keatinge. London: Adam and Charles Black, 1896.
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  51. Although over a century old, this remains the standard translation of Comenius’s Didactica magna, which was originally published in Latin in Amsterdam after he fled from Poland.
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  53. Comenius, Jan Amos. The Way of Light. Translated by E. T. Campagnac. London: Hodder & Stoughton, 1938.
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  55. Comenius’s Via lucis was written in connection with his sojourn in England prior to the English Civil War, and some have argued (most notably Christopher Hill) that it played a role in the creation of the Royal Society.
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  57. Comenius, Jan Amos. The Bequest of the Unity of the Brethren. Translated by Matthew Spinka. Chicago: National Union of Czechoslovak Protestants in America, 1940.
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  59. After the Peace of Westphalia, Comenius wrote a “last will and testament” of the Bohemian Brethren that highlights the Brethren’s contributions to Protestantism.
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  61. Comenius, Jan Amos. The School of Infancy. Edited by Ernest Eller. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1956.
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  63. This is one of Comenius’s most accessible works, which was written as a guide for mothers educating their young children.
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  65. Comenius, Jan Amos. “Unum necessarium.” Translated by Vernon Nelson. M.A. diss., Moravian Theological Seminary, 1958.
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  67. Comenius wrote Unam necessarium late in his life and so this spiritual classic offers insight into the mind of the mature Comenius. This translation was made by a student in the 1950s.
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  69. Comenius, Jan Amos. Panegersia or Universal Awakening. Translated by A. M. O. Dobbie. Warwickshire, UK: Drinkwater, 1990.
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  71. Comenius’s call for the reformation of church and society was first published by the Pietists in Halle in the early 1700s. This is the only English translation.
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  73. Comenius, Jan Amos. Panorthosia or Universal Reform. Translated by A. M. O. Dobbie. Sheffield, UK: Sheffield Academic Press, 1995.
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  75. See chapters 1–18 and 27 in this volume. See also chapters 19–26 in Panorthosia or Universal Reform (Sheffield, UK: Sheffield Academic Press, 1993). Comenius’s great pansophic work De rerum humanarum emendatione consultatio catholica was never completed and was lost until the 1930s. Dobbie translated the largely completed section on universal reform.
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  77. Comenius, Jan Amos. The Labyrinth of the World and Paradise of the Heart. Translated by Andrea Sterk and Howard Louthan. New York: Paulist Press, 1998.
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  79. Comenius’s spiritual classic can be viewed as a modern dystopia or an early Pietist text. Sterk and Louthan’s translation is very readable, and they include a very helpful summary of Comenius’s life and influence.
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  81. Anthologies and Selections
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  83. Comenius’s writings are so voluminous that it has proven helpful to have anthologies of selective texts. Patočka and Chlup 1957 includes some of Comenius’s most important pedagogical writings. Some of the same selections are found in Kyrasesk 1964 and Needham 1942. These collections focus on Comenius’s humane teaching methods and advocacy of progressive education based on developmental psychology. Hromadka and Molnár 1957 gathers some of Comenius’s proposals for improving the church of his day, including some material that has never before been translated. Gossmann and Schröer 1992 and Arnhardt and Reinert 1996 are substantive collections of the most important published works of Comenius in German translation. Both are notable for the breadth of material on Comenius they include. Michel and Beer 1992 is helpful in that it focuses on Comenius’s autobiographical materials.
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  85. Arnhardt, Gerhard, and Gerd-Bodo Reinert, eds. Jan Amos Comenius über sich und die Erneuerung von Wissenschaft, Erziehung und christlicher Lebensordnung. 2 vols. Donauwörth, Germany: Auer, 1996.
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  87. German version of several of Comenius’s writings along with biographical material.
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  89. Gossmann, Klaus, and Henning Schröer, eds. Auf den Spuren des Comenius: Texte zu Leben, Werk und Wirkung. Göttingen, Germany: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 1992.
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  91. Selections from Comenius’s works in German. Includes an introduction to the life and work of Comenius.
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  93. Hromadka, J. L., and Amedeo Molnár, eds. and trans. J. A. Comenius: A Perfect Reformation. Prague: Comenius Faculty of Theology, 1957.
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  95. Selections from some of Comenius’s theological writings with a focus on his program for church reform and ecumenism produced by two of the leading Czech theologians of the mid-20th century.
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  97. Kyrasesk, J., ed. J. A. Comenius: Selections from His Works. Translated by Z. Konecny. Prague: University of the 17th Nov., 1964.
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  99. These writings are primarily taken from Comenius’s educational works.
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  101. Michel, Gerhard, and Jürgen Beer, eds. and trans. Johann Amos Comenius: Leben, Werk und Wirken: Autobiographische Texte und Notizen. Sankt Augustin, Germany: Academia Verlag, 1992.
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  103. A collection of Comenius’s autobiographical writings translated into German.
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  105. Needham, Joseph, ed. The Teacher of Nations: Addresses and Essays in Commemoration of the Visit to England of the Great Czech Educationalist Jan Amos Komensky (Comenius), 1641–1941. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 1942.
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  107. Though outdated, this collection of essays includes pieces from some of the prominent Comeniologists of the mid-20th century
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  109. Patočka, Jan, and Otakar Chlup, eds. John Amos Comenius, 1592–1670. Translated by Iris Urwin and M. W. Keatinge. Preface by Jean Piaget. Lausanne, Switzerland: UNESCO, 1957.
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  111. This volume appeared in commemoration of the three hundredth anniversary of the publication of Comenius’s Opera didactica omnia, but it also includes the first English translation of portions of Comenius’s Pampaedia and Panorthosia. It is also of interest because of the introduction by Piaget.
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  113. Exhibitions and Magazines
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  115. Some of the exhibitions and commemorations of Comenius in 1992 produced helpful publications outlining Comenius’s work and influence, often with striking visuals. Particularly noteworthy are the Catalogue of the Exposition “J. A. Comenius’ Contribution to Humanity” (J. A. Comenius Museum 1992), which includes illustrations of numerous artifacts and materials related to Comenius from the major Comenius museum. Comenius’s involvement with England, including his role in the genesis of the Royal Society, was memorialized in an exhibition titled Hartlib and Comenius at the University of Sheffield, which houses the papers of Samuel Hartlib. A special issue of the journal Christian History on Jan Amos Comenius includes articles by leading Comeniologists, but it is written for a general audience. One of the most beautiful and enduring exhibitions on Comenius is the Comenius Garden in Neukölln, Berlin. Vierck 1992 discusses the ideas behind the garden and how it presents the breadth of Comenius’s reform vision.
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  117. Hartlib and Comenius. An Exhibition to Mark the 400th Anniversary of the Birth of Jan Amos Komensky Prepared by the Hartlib Papers Project. Sheffield, UK: University of Sheffield, 1992.
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  119. Catalogue of a major exhibition on Comenius held in England.
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  121. J. A. Comenius Museum. Catalogue of the Exposition “J. A. Comenius’ Contribution to Humanity.” Uherský Brod, Czech Republic: J. A. Comenius Museum, 1992.
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  123. Catalog of the largest exhibition on Comenius held during the four hundredth anniversary. Catalogue sponsored by UNESCO.
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  125. Special Issue: Jan Amos Comenius, 1592–1670. Christian History 6.1 (1987).
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  127. Attractive and accurate presentation of Comenius’s life and work intended for a general audience.
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  129. Vierck, Henning, ed. Der Comenius-Garten: Eine Leseprobe aus dem Buch der Natur. Berlin: Edition Hentrich, 1992.
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  131. A beautiful garden with modern sculptures was dedicated in Neukölln in Berlin in 1992 to commemorate the four hundredth anniversary of the birth of Comenius. This volume describes the exhibition and explores the role of nature in Comenius’s pansophic program.
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  133. Symposia and Collections of Articles
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  135. Most of the research on Comenius has been presented at international conferences, often held in connection with key Comenius anniversaries. The contributions within the collections of articles vary widely in terms of quality, length, and focus. Analytical and synthetic articles by the leading Comeniologists are accompanied by panegyrics to Comenius offered by public officials and nonexperts. These collections are particularly helpful for scholars who do not have a reading knowledge of Czech since the papers often summarize research written in Czech. Space in this article precludes highlighting all the important papers contained in the published collections of papers and articles. It should be noted that the quality of papers presented in these collections varies since they are typically not peer-reviewed. Some of the contributions praise Comenius and extol him as setting an example for modern-day values (such as toleration or humanistic education) but add little to our understanding of his life, theories, or methods.
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  137. Collections 1945–1989
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  139. After World War II, many international conferences dedicated to Comenius were held, especially in connection with the three hundredth anniversary of the publication of his Opera didactica omnia in 1957, the four hundredth anniversary of his birth in 1992, and the three hundredth anniversary of his death in 1970. Patočka 1981 includes some of the most significant eastern European work on Comenius. One of the most helpful collections related to pedagogy is Dobinson 1970 even though it is now dated. Čapková and Frijhoff 1992 is a collection of very substantive articles from an international symposium related to Comenius’s impact on modern education. The publication of his lost pansophic masterpiece on the reform of human affairs, the Consultatio catholica, in 1966 caused a great deal of excitement among Comeniologists and early modern historians. Čapková 1970 includes papers from the leading experts on the Consultatio, which opened new avenues of research on Comenius as a philosopher and political reformer. Kyralová and Přívratská 1989 includes works by international scholars representing many disciplines.
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  141. Čapková, Dagmar, ed. Consultationes de Consultatione. Translated by D. Čapková, J. Dohnalek, and E. Turkova. Prague: J. A. Comenius Institute of Education and the Czechoslovak Academy of Sciences, 1970.
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  143. The publication of the Consultatione opened many new avenues for Comenius research, which were discussed at length in this symposium.
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  145. Čapková, Dagmar, and Willem Frijhoff, eds. Special Issue: Jan Amos Comenius, 1592–1670. Paedagogica Historica 28 (1992): 175–326.
  146. DOI: 10.1080/0030923920280201Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  147. Comenius’s role in the history of education. Published on the occasion of the quadricentennial of the birth of Jan Comenius.
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  149. Dobinson, C. H., ed. Comenius and Contemporary Education: An International Symposium. Hamburg, West Germany: UNESCO Institute of Education, 1970.
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  151. UNESCO sponsored a major international symposium to commemorate the tercentennial of Comenius’s death. The participants explored the claim that Comenius is the “father of modern education,” with papers examining many different aspects of his pedagogical theories and methods.
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  153. Kyralová, Marie, and Jana Přívratská, eds. Symposium Comenianum 1986. J. A. Comenius’s Contribution to World Science and Culture, Libice, 16–20 June 1986. Prague: Academia, 1989.
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  155. Presents articles on a wide range of topics related to Comenius’s continuing relevance in the modern world.
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  157. Patočka, Jan. Jan Amos Komenský: Gesammelte Schriften zur Comeniusforschung. Bochum, West Germany: Comeniusforschungsstelle, 1981.
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  159. This volume has made available to a wider audience important Comenius research, some of which was published in hard-to-access eastern European journals.
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  161. Collections since 1990
  162.  
  163. The four hundredth anniversary of Comenius’s birth was celebrated with several important international conferences that brought together historians, education theorists, theologians, and other writers. In general, a greater appreciation was expressed for Comenius’s pacifism and pansophy after the fall of communism and the emergence of the European Union than had been the case previously (see Schaller 1992). It was also more acceptable for Czech scholars to investigate the religious aspects of Comenius’s thought after the end of communism. The close conjunction of the Velvet Revolution of 1989 and the Comenius anniversary of 1992 reinvigorated Comeniology and made it easier for Czech scholars to participate in international gatherings. Pešková, et al. 1991 includes papers from one of the first Comenius conferences of the post-communist era. Some of the papers are very well written, but the English translations are inelegant to say the least. German and Czech Comeniologists gathered for a very productive colloquium in 1991, and the papers were published in Kotowski and Lášek 1992. Koťa and Mišurcová 1992–1998 are four volumes of papers focused on ways that the insights made by Comenius may prove helpful for education in the 21st century. Some of the papers are less about Comenius than the problems of modern education. Golz, et al. 1996 addresses the question of Comenius’s continuing relevance rather than investigating Comenius’s works themselves. The papers in van Vliet and Vanderjagt 1994 are interesting but generally too short. Comenius’s proposals for international cooperation and for an end to military conflict are the focus of Korthaase, et al. 2005.
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  165. Golz, Reinhard, Werner Korthaase, and Erich Schäfer, eds. Comenius und unsere Zeit: Geschichtliches, Bedenkswertes und Bibliographisches. Baltmannsweiler, Germany: Schneider-Verlag Hohengehren, 1996.
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  167. Interesting collection of articles by Comeniologists and modern educators; includes selections from Comenius’s works on the theme of the continuing relevance of Comenius in the European Union.
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  169. Korthaase, Werner, Sigurd Hauff, and Andreas Fritsch, eds. Comenius und der Weltfriede/Comenius and World Peace. Berlin: Deutsche Comenius-Gesellschaft, 2005.
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  171. This massive collection of articles includes a variety of pieces exploring Comenius’s role as an advocate for world peace through international cooperation and education. It presents Comenius as the forerunner of UNESCO and other modern bodies dedicated to international cooperation.
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  173. Koťa, Jaroslav, Věra Mišurcová, Josef Hendrich, et al., eds. Comenius’ Heritage and Education of Man for the 21st Century. 4 vols. Prague: Charles University, Comenius Institute of Education, 1992–1998.
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  175. Papers from several international symposia beginning in 1992 in commemoration of the quadricentennial of Comenius’s birth. Each volume is dedicated to a different theme of Comenius’s work, such as early childhood education or pansophy.
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  177. Kotowski, Norbert, and Jan B. Lášek, eds. Internationales Comenius-Kolloquium: Evangelisches Bildungszentrum Bayreuth Ostakademie Königstein/Ts., Hussitisch-Theologische Fakultät der Karlsuniversität Prag, Bayreuth, 26–29 September 1991. Bayreuth, Germany: Flacius-Verlag Fürth, 1992.
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  179. Papers given in German by some of the leading Comeniologists at an international symposium in 1991, which includes examination of Comenius’s theology as well as his pedagogy.
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  181. Pánek, Jaroslav, ed. Comenius in World Science and Culture: Contributions of Scholars from European Countries for the 17th International Congress of Historical Sciences in Madrid, August 1990. Prague: Historical Institute of [the] Academy, 1991.
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  183. Addresses Comenius’s ambiguous role in the history of science and science education. Though Comenius himself was suspicious of some of the new scientific theories, preferring the older cosmology, his methods helped pave the way for modern scientific experimental research.
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  185. Pešková, Jaroslava, Josef Cach, and Michal Svatoš, eds. Homage to J. A. Comenius. Prague: Karolinum, 1991.
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  187. Published in Czech under the title Pocta Univerzity Karlovy: J. A. Komenskému (Prague: Univerzity Karlovy, 1991). Charles University invited scholars throughout Europe to reconsider Comenius and his legacy in honor of the four hundredth anniversary of his birth in 1992. Many insightful pieces that present Comenius and his work from multiple angles are included.
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  189. Schaller, Klaus, ed. Comenius 1992: Gesammelte Beiträge zum Jubiläumsjahr. Sankt Augustin, Germany: Academia Verlag, 1992.
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  191. Major collection of papers and articles presented as part of the Comenius jubilee edited by one of the leading Comeniologists in Germany. This is a good starting place for Comenius research.
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  193. van Vliet, P., and Arie J. Vanderjagt, eds. Johannes Amos Comenius, 1592–1670: Exponent of European Culture? Amsterdam: North-Holland, 1994.
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  195. This volume includes articles by experts in several areas of studies on Comenius who call for a renewed appreciation of Comenius’s vision of international cooperation and humanistic science.
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  197. Bibliographies
  198.  
  199. Comenius has had many admirers in several countries since his rediscovery in the latter half of the 19th century. A vast amount of literature has been written about Comenius, much of it in Czech, and many bibliographies are available to help researchers. Bad’urová 2007 is an online guide to the vast amount of literature on Comenius published before 1800. Unfortunately, it is difficult to negotiate. Nečasové and Dokoupila 1957 covers the scholarly research prior to 1957 and is especially useful for works in Czech, while Michel 2000 provides a comprehensive listing of German-language publications. One of the leading research institutions devoted to Comenius is the Deutsche Comenius Gesellschaft, which provides the online bibliography John Amos Comenius: Secondary Sources, edited by Werner Korthaase. Though Urbánková 1959 is obviously outdated, it does provide help in locating materials on Comenius, including manuscripts, in archives and libraries in the Czech Republic. Some of the bibliographies focus on specific aspects of Comenius’s work, such as Beckova 1970 and Pilz 1967, which traces the long publication history of Comenius’s most famous text.
  200.  
  201. Bad’urová, Anežka, ed. Bibliography of the Works of John Amos Comenius Printed before 1800. CD-ROM. Prague: Academy of Sciences Library, v.v.i., 2007.
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  203. Not very user friendly, but comprehensive.
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  205. Beckova, Marta. “Bibliography on Consultatio Catholica.” In Consultationes de Consultatione. Edited by Dagmar Čapková, 157–198. Prague: J.A. Comenius Institute of Education, Czechoslovak Academy of Sciences, 1970.
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  207. This is an annotated bibliography of largely Czech-language resources on the Consultatio up to 1970.
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  209. Korthaase, Werner. John Amos Comenius: Secondary Sources.
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  211. One of the most extensive online bibliographies. It includes entries in multiple languages, but it is marred by multiple typological errors.
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  213. Michel, Gerhard. Comenius Bibliographie: Deutschsprachigen Titel, 1870–1999. Sankt Augustin, Germany: Academia Verlag, 2000.
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  215. This is the most comprehensive bibliography of publications on and by Comenius in German. It has separate registers for primary and secondary literature and includes the numerous publications that appeared as part of the quadricentennial of Comenius’s birth.
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  217. Nečasové, Vĕry, and Miroslava Dokoupila, eds. Knižní dílo J. A. Komenského: Studie Bibliografacká. Prague: Státní Pedagogické Nakladatelství Praha, 1957.
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  219. Though older, this chart of Comenius’s publications remains helpful.
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  221. Pilz, Kurt. Die Ausgaben des Orbis Sensualium Pictus: Eine Bibliographie. Nuremberg, West Germany: Selbstverlag der Stadtbibliothek Nurnberg, 1967.
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  223. Extensive listing of the editions of the Orbis Pictus.
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  225. Urbánková, Emaa. Soupis dĕl J. A. Komenského v Československých Knihovnách, Archivech a Museích. Prague: Státní Pedagogické Nakladatelství v Praze, 1959.
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  227. Extensive listing of Comeniana preserved in libraries in Bohemia, Moravia, and Slovakia.
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  229. Journals
  230.  
  231. The Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic (Akademie věd České republiky) in Prague, which was formally the Czechoslovak Academy of Sciences, is the leading academic research institution in the Czech Republic. Since its inception it has supported research and extensive publication on Comenius. The academy has also sponsored many international symposia on Comenius. Working with journals dedicated to Comenius can be confusing because of the various changes in the names of the journals. There are two Acta Comeniana, one of which is a continuation of the Archiv and is primarily in Czech (Acta Comeniana: Archiv pro bádání o životě a díle Jana Amose Komenského). The other focuses on international scholarship and includes articles in English (Acta Comeniana: Internationale Revue für Studien über J. A. Comenius und Ideengeschichte der Frühen Neuzeit/International Review of Comenius Studies and Early Modern Intellectual History). Many of these journals are hard to locate outside of central Europe. Some of the groundbreaking modern research on Comenius prior to World War I was published in the Monatshefte de Comenius-Gesellschaft. The Canadian Society of Comenian Studies (Société canadienne d’études coméniennes), founded by Jean-Antoine Caravolas, publishes a newsletter of Comenius research that includes articles, research notes, reports of conferences, and bibliographies with a focus on pedagogical studies (Comenius: Bulletin de la Société canadienne d’études coméniennes [since 1993]). Much of the material is in French. More substantive is the Comenius-Jahrbuch, which is published annually by the Deutsche Comenius Gesellschaft and that supports a wide range of research on Comenius. Most of the material is in German. Klaus Schaller’s Comeniusforschungsstelle im Institut für Padagogik der Ruhr-Universität has published very high-quality Comenius research in Schriften zur Comeniusforschung, most especially in the 1970s and 1980s. The Comenius Museum in Uherský Brod, the hometown of Comenius, publishes Studia Comeniana et Historica, which focuses on research in Czech.
  232.  
  233. Acta Comeniana: Archiv pro bádání o životě a díle Jana Amose Komenského. 1970–1994.
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  235. Published in Prague by the Czechoslovak Academy of Sciences. Continuation of Archiv pro bádání o životě a díle Jana Amose Komenského (1957–1970) and Archive pro badani o zivote a spisech J. A. Komenskeho (published in Brno, 1910–1957).
  236. Find this resource:
  237. Acta Comeniana: Internationale Revue für Studien über J. A. Comenius und Ideengeschichte der Frühen Neuzeit / International Review of Comenius Studies and Early Modern Intellectual History. 1995–.
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  239. Published in Prague by Filosofia. Continuation of Acta Comeniana: Revue international des études comeniologiques. International journal of Comenius studies with articles in English, French, German, and Russian.
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  241. Comenius: Bulletin de la Société canadienne d’études coméniennes. 1993–.
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  243. Published by the Canadian Society of Comenian Studies, Université de Montréal, Faculté des Sciences de l’Education. Research notes and brief articles in French and English, with special attention given to Comenius’s pedagogical work.
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  245. Comenius-Jahrbuch. 1993–.
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  247. Published by the Deutsche Comenius-Gesellschaft, which promotes the study of Comenius in Germany. Most of the articles are in German.
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  249. Monatshefte de Comenius-Gesellschaft. 1892–1912.
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  251. Much of the pioneering work on Comenius is preserved in the twenty-two volumes of reports from the Comenius Gesellschaft.
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  253. Schriften zur Comeniusforschung. Edited by Klaus Schaller. 1970–.
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  255. Published by the Comeniusforschungsstelle im Institut für Padagogik der Ruhr-Universität Bochum, an organization founded in 1970 by Klaus Schaller to promote Comenian studies in the West.
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  257. Studia Comeniana et Historica. 1971–.
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  259. The Comenius Museum (Muzeum Jana Amose Komenského) in Uherský Brod boasts one of the best libraries of Comeniana. Articles in the journal are primarily in Czech, but it does include German and English pieces as well.
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  261. Biography
  262.  
  263. Comenius’s personal history is so compelling that it has been retold many times in a variety of works, including film, but surprisingly few scholarly biographies of Comenius have appeared in English or German. Several biographies appeared in the wake of the commemoration of the three hundredth anniversary of his birth in 1892, but only a few appeared in the 20th century. Blekastad 1969 remains the definitive critical biography of Comenius. Since Comenius remains an important Czech national hero, many popular biographies of him are available in the Czech language. Pánek 1991 is an English translation of one of the better Czech popular biographies. Jakubec 1971 (originally published in 1928) gives a nationalistic portrayal of Comenius. It also includes a preface by Thomas Masaryk, who viewed Comenius as an exemplar for Czech scholars. Hay Anastasas 1973 is one of the better popular biographies available in English, but Spinka 1943 is more accurate and comprehensive, if harder to locate. Veit-Jakobus 1991 was published in time for the anniversary and its best feature is the bibliography of Comenius’s works in German. Lochman 1982 is a popular biography rather than a critical one, but it is noteworthy for its attention to Comenius’s role as a bishop of the Unitas Fratrum. Murphy 1995 is a generally solid biography written by a scholar whose primary focus is education, but it does not have the scope of Blekastad 1969. Murphy attempts to integrate Comenius’s pedagogy with his role as a bishop, but it is not well informed about the Czech Reformation. A new biography of Comenius is needed, especially one written in English, that makes use of the advances in Comeniology since 1970.
  264.  
  265. Blekastad, Milada. Comenius: Versuch eines Umrisses von Leben, Werk, und Schicksal des Jan Amos Komensky. Oslo: Universitetsforlaget, 1969.
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  267. Although it was written more than forty years ago, this remains the most comprehensive biography of Comenius in a major European language.
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  269. Hay Anastasas, Florence. And They Called Him Amos: The Story of John Amos Comenius. Jericho, NY: Exposition Press, 1973.
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  271. A popular rather than a critical biography written by an educator. It serves as a good introduction to Comenius.
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  273. Jakubec, Jan. Johannes Amos Comenius. Introduction by Thomas Masaryk. New York: Arno, 1971.
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  275. This is of interest mainly because the introduction was written by the founder of Czechoslovakia. Reprint of 1928 edition.
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  277. Lochman, Jan. Comenius. Hamburg: Friedrich Wittig, 1982.
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  279. Written by a prominent Czech Protestant theologian who emphasizes Comenius’s role as a bishop of the Unitas Fratrum.
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  281. Murphy, Daniel. Comenius: A Critical Reassessment of His Life and Work. Dublin: Irish Academic Press, 1995.
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  283. This is one of the few major biographies of Comenius in English that includes analysis of his pedagogical theories and methods.
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  285. Pánek, Jaroslav. Comenius: Teacher of Nations. Translated by Ivo Dvořák. Prague: Orbis, 1991.
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  287. Also titled Joan Amos Comenius, 1592–1670. This is an engaging popular biography of Comenius produced for the four hundredth anniversary of Comenius’s birth. It includes many images, but the English translation is frequently flawed (such as calling him Joan instead of John).
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  289. Spinka, Matthew. John Amos Comenius: That Incomparable Moravian. New York: Russell and Russell, 1943.
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  291. Though it is now outdated, it presents the facts of Comenius’s life admirably.
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  293. Veit-Jakobus, Dieterich. Johann Amos Comenius. Reinbek bei Hamburg, Germany: Rowohlt Taschenbuch, 1991.
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  295. Brief German biography of Comenius that includes a selective bibliography of German-language works related to Comenius.
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  297. Comenius’s Early Life and Formative Influences
  298.  
  299. A Moravian nobleman named Charles Žerotín, who was a member of the Unity of the Brethren, arranged for young Comenius to attend two of the most important Protestant schools in western Europe: Herborn and Heidelberg. Herborn Academy was particularly noted for Ramist logic. Michel 1985 and Hofmann 1985 examine the impact of Herborn on Comenius’s later work. Hotson 2000 is the most thorough examination in English of Comenius’s mentor, Alsted. Hotson 1994 uncovers one of Comenius’s earliest works, which demonstrates the influence of the irenicism of David Pareus in Heidelberg. While in Heidelberg, Comenius was associated with a circle of reformers and visionaries who were responsible for the Rosicrucian Manifestoes (see Deutsch 1965). Pleskot 1972 examines Comenius’s work in his first parish, which included the publication of his first book addressing social justice issues.
  300.  
  301. Deutsch, Morton. “Johann Valentin Andreae, the ‘Fama Fraternitatis’ and Jan Amos Comenius.” Zeitschrift fuer Religions- und Geistesgeschichte 17 (1965): 275–281.
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  303. This short piece discusses the relationship of Comenius to the utopian writer Andreae.
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  305. Hofmann, Franz. “Der enzyklopadische Impuls J. H. Alsteds und sein Gestaltwandel im Werke des J. A. Komensky.” In Comenius: Erkennen, Glauben, Handeln. Edited by Klaus Schaller, 22–29. Sankt Augustin, West Germany: Richarz, 1985.
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  307. Investigates the influence of encyclopedist Alsted on Comenius’s early pansophic vision.
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  309. Hotson, Howard. “A Previously Unknown Early Work by Comenius: Disputatio de S. Domini Coena, sive Eucharistia under David Pareus, Heidelberg, 19 March 1614.” Studia Comeniana et Historica 52 (1994): 129–144.
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  311. This early work provides insight into how young Comenius applied the ideas of his mentor David Pareus.
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  313. Hotson, Howard. Johann Heinrich Alsted, 1588–1638: Between Renaissance, Reformation, and Universal Reform. Oxford: Clarendon, 2000.
  314. DOI: 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198208280.001.0001Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  315. This is one of the few biographies of the teacher who probably had the most influence on the young Comenius.
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  317. Michel, Gerhard. “Komensky’s Studien in Herborn und ihre Nachwirkungen in seinem Gesamtwerk.” In Comenius: Erkennen, Glauben, Handeln. Edited by Klaus Schaller, 11–21. Sankt Augustin, West Germany: Richarz, 1985.
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  319. The Herborn Academy was one of the premier Reformed schools in Europe, and it promoted a less dogmatic understanding of Reformed theology than the Swiss schools at the time.
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  321. Pleskot, Jaroslav. Jan Amos Komenský’s Years in Fulnek. Translated by Pamela Crossley. Ostrava, Czechoslovakia: Státní Pedagogické Nakladatelství v Praze, 1972.
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  323. One of the few works investigating Comenius’s early work in Fulnek in Moravia. Includes examination of letters that purport to be from Comenius and discussion of his earliest publications, including Letters to Heaven.
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  325. Pedagogical Theory and Method
  326.  
  327. Comenius is most famous as an educational reformer whose methods helped shape modern education. It was the publication of his new approach to the teaching of Latin that first brought him international fame. The works included here are in English. Many of the works listed elsewhere in this article also address Comenius’s pedagogical theories. He objected to the traditional method of having students memorize the grammatical rules (and exceptions). Instead, he believed that Latin should be learned in the same way that one learns one’s native tongue. Drawing inspiration from Francis Bacon’s empiricist epistemology, Comenius argued that words should be connected to things in the students’ experience as much as possible, and students should start using Latin from the start. He also believed that teachers should make learning enjoyable for students. They should write and perform plays in Latin, go on field trips to explore the world of labor and trade, and work in the school’s gardens. Jelinek 1953 remains a classic presentation of Comenius’s pedagogical theory related to language instruction. Sadler 1966 presents Comenius as the originator of the modern concept of universal education structured according to developmental stages. Comenius believed in a spiral approach to education in which the same subject matters are taught in increasing levels of complexity and depth and students grow and develop mentally. His approach anticipated Piaget’s idea of cognitive development. Education for young children should focus on concrete objects, but adults may master abstract concepts. Čapková 1970 demonstrates that Comenius continued developing his understanding of humanity after publishing his primary didactic works. Even though Comenius was opposed to the Jesuits religiously and politically, he learned some of his methods from them, as Čornejová 1991 shows. Bednář 1991 argues that Comenius’s idea of universal knowledge is rooted in Platonism rather than medieval scholasticism. Comenius believed that all knowledge is interrelated because all things are created by God. Although Comenius is most celebrated for his methods of teaching languages, some researchers are investigating the important role that music and art played in his humanistic pedagogy, as seen in Settari 1998 and Uždil 1991. Willard 1981 is one of the few critical studies comparing Comenius and John Dewey.
  328.  
  329. Bednář, M. “Comenius’s Idea of Pampaedia and Plato’s Conception of Paideai.” In Homage to J. A. Comenius. Edited by Jaroslava Pešková, Josef Cach, and Michal Svatoš, 137–145. Prague: Karolinum, 1991.
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  331. Bednář argues that Comenius can best be understood as a disciple of Plato rather than Artistotle or modern rationalism.
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  333. Čapková, Dagmar. “Some Questions of the Integrity of Education and the Development of Man in Consultatio catholica.” In Consultationes de Consultatione. Edited by Dagmar Čapková, 85–118. Prague: J. A. Comenius Institute of Education, Czechoslovak Academy of Sciences, 1970.
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  335. This article provides a critical appraisal of Comenius’s understanding of human development.
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  337. Čornejová, I. “The Jesuit School and John Amos Comenius.” In Homage to J. A. Comenius. Edited by Jaroslava Pešková, Josef Cach, and Michal Svatoš, 82–96. Prague: Karolinum, 1991.
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  339. Often overlooked is the fact that Comenius drew some of his ideas on education from the Jesuits, even though he regarded them as enemies of his church.
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  341. Jelinek, Vladimir. The Analytical Didactic of Comenius. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1953.
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  343. This is both a study of Comenius’s pedagogical theories and a translation of the tenth chapter of his Linguarum methodus novissima, which had not been included in the translation of the Didactica magna by Keatinge.
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  345. Sadler, John Edward. J. A. Comenius and the Concept of Universal Education. London: Allen and Unwin, 1966.
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  347. Sadler played an important role in introducing English-language scholarship to Comenius’s theories on education.
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  349. Settari, Olga. “Music and Music Education in Comenius’ Didactic and Hymnographic Works.” In Johannes Amos Comenius, 1592–1992: Atti del convegno internazionale di studi Macerata, 2–5 dicembre 1992. Edited by Clara Ferranti, 177–189. Macerata, Italy: Quodlibet, 1998.
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  351. True to the heritage of the Czech Reformation, music played an important role in Comenius’s approach to education and church life.
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  353. Uždil, J. “Comenius, a Great Initiator of Esthetic Education.” In Homage to J. A. Comenius. Edited by Jaroslava Pešková, Josef Cach, and Michal Svatoš, 145–156. Prague: Karolinum, 1991.
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  355. Uždil shows that Comenius’s use of visual images in his pedagogy was not simply for practical explanation of concepts, it also encouraged creativity in students.
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  357. Willard, Diane Elizabeth. “Natural Order in the Works of Comenius and Dewey.” PhD diss., Boston College Graduate School, 1981.
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  359. One of the few works comparing Comenius and the American pedagogical theorist John Dewey, but it relies heavily on materials that were already outdated in 1981.
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  361. Linguistics
  362.  
  363. Comenius’s innovative approach to teaching Latin made him famous in his lifetime, but his interest in linguistics went beyond the use of pictures as a tool for learning a new tongue. Several European intellectuals in the Early Modern period were acutely aware of the great diversity of languages and the problems caused by the inability to communicate across cultures. Eco 1995 explores some of the attempts to create a perfect language, which helps place Comenius’s efforts into a larger context. Sychrova 1973 shows the close connection between Comenius’s efforts to create a universal language and his proposals for improvement of society. Comenius hoped to overcome this “curse of Babel” through an artificial language that would replace Latin as the common tongue for the intelligentsia. Erben 2012 sees Comenius’s quest as part of a distinctive theological, or even mystical tradition, that was lived out in creative ways in colonial Pennsylvania among various German and English sectarian groups. Miskovska-Kozakova 1970 and Miskovska-Kozakova 1979 investigate Comenius’s linguistic methods and theories, emphasizing that Comenius’s approach was rooted in his own teaching instead of being merely Utopian. Comenius devoted a great deal of time in his later years to the problem of how to create a universal language that could be easily mastered by anyone. Caravolas 1993 focuses on the relationship of Comenius’s understanding of linguistics as foundational for the practice of teaching. Comenius was, of course, familiar with the difficulties of translating among Slavic, Germanic, and Latin languages, but the effort to translate the Bible into Turkish raised particular challenges to his dream of an easily mastered universal language. Malcolm 2007 looks at Comenius’s translation methods in connection with other attempts in the Early Modern period.
  364.  
  365. Caravolas, Jean-Antoine. “Comenius (Komenský) and the Theory of Language Teaching.” Acta Comeniana 10 (1993): 141–162.
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  367. Comenius’s greatest contribution to the culture of his time and his biggest impact on history was his approach to the teaching of languages.
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  369. Eco, Umberto. The Search for the Perfect Language. Oxford: Blackwell, 1995.
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  371. Includes a section on Comenius’s plans for a universal language.
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  373. Erben, Patrick. A Harmony of the Spirits: Translation and the Language of Community in Early Pennsylvania. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 2012.
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  375. Although Erben’s work focuses on multilingualism and cross-cultural translation in 18th-century Pennsylvania, he grounds his discussion in the millenarian and spiritual ideals of Comenius as understood by the Moravians and other radical Pietist groups.
  376. Find this resource:
  377. Malcolm, Noel. “Comenius, Boyle, Oldenburg, and the Translation of the Bible into Turkish.” Church History and Religious Culture 87 (2007): 327–362.
  378. DOI: 10.1163/187124107X232453Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  379. This article explores one particularly interest aspect of Christian-Muslim encounter in the Early Modern period, namely the translation of the Bible into Turkish.
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  381. Miskovska-Kozakova, V. T. “Elements of Syntaxis in the Constructed Language of Comenius.” In Consultationes de Consultatione. Edited by Dagmar Čapková, 119–140. Translated by D. Čapková, J. Dohnalek, and E. Turkova. Prague: J. A. Comenius Institute of Education, Czechoslovak Academy of Sciences, 1970.
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  383. Even though Comenius did not finish his own universal language, Miskovska-Kozakova examines his early work on syntax.
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  385. Miskovska-Kozakova, V. T. “Comenius’s Linguistic Theory and Experiment.” Acta Comeniana 4 (1979): 291–317.
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  387. Miskovska-Kozakova demonstrates that Comenius’s theories on language were rooted in his own experience with teaching languages.
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  389. Sychrova, Hana. “Language as One of the Means of the Reform of Human Affairs and Its Function in the World of the Scientific and Technological Revolution.” Acta Comeniana 3 (1973): 365–375.
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  391. Comenius believed that a common language could facilitate investigation of the natural world.
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  393. Pansophy and Natural Science
  394.  
  395. Comenius was active during the so-called Scientific Revolution, and his writings may have inspired the creation of the Royal Academy. Despite his interest in scientific discovery and his early curiosity about the Copernican system, Comenius remained skeptical of many of the new scientific theories of the 17th century, and he promoted a conservative cosmology. Polišensky 1970 and Polišensky 1971 argue that Comenius should be considered part of the so-called Scientific Revolution even though so little of his work deals with scientific research and method, but he was important in advocating Francis Bacon’s inductive method. Especially since 1970, scholars have been investigating Comenius’s own attitudes toward natural science in light of his general pansophical ideas. Kunna 1991 examines the differences between Comenius and Descartes, especially their divergent anthropologies and epistemologies. Červenka 1970 and Schaller 1958 trace the origins of the concept of pansophy in classical and Renaissance thought. Although Schaller did not have access to the full Comenius corpus at that time, his mastery of the material is impressive. One of the most provocative and enlightening examinations of the role of mysticism, religion, and philosophy in the development of science in the Early Modern period is Yates 1972. Yates offers convincing evidence that Comenius was part of a circle of intellectuals associated with Frederick V, Count Palatine, who promoted their program of universal reform of learning, science, religion, and politics under the guise of the Rosicrucians. Floss 1985 is a succinct presentation of the key differences between Comenius’s holistic approach to knowledge and Descartes’s analytic and deductive approach. Comenius was not a physician or scientist, but Neuwirth 1991 offers an insightful picture of how Comenius combined contemporary scientific knowledge with human compassion in confronting an actual outbreak of the plague.
  396.  
  397. Červenka, Jaromír. “Die Grundlagen der pansophischen Idee des Johann Amos Comenius.” Acta Comeniana 1 (1970): 77–84.
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  399. Červenka investigates the origin of Comenius’s pansophical ideas in the work of other early modern philosophers and mystics.
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  401. Floss, Pavel. “Komensky’s Auseinandersetzung mit dem Cartesianismus in seinen naturwissenschaftlichen Schriften.” In Comenius: Erkennen, Glauben, Handeln. Edited by Klaus Schaller, 189–196. Sankt Augustin, West Germany: Richarz, 1985.
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  403. This short piece sets forth nicely the different approaches to natural science advocated by Comenius and Descartes. For Descartes, the material world is essentially without value in contrast to the world of consciousness, whereas Comenius held to a more unified understanding of existence.
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  405. Kunna, Ulrich. Das Krebsgeschwür der Philosophie: Komenskys Auseinandersetzung mit dem Cartesianismus. Sankt Augustin, Germany: Academia Verlag, 1991.
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  407. Erudite examination of the differences between Comenius’s pansophy, with its holistic view of humanity, and Cartesian dualism and skepticism. Comenius was suspicious of rationalism devoid of ethics.
  408. Find this resource:
  409. Neuwirth, J. “Comenius and the Plague in Leszno.” In Homage to J. A. Comenius. Edited by Jaroslava Pešková, Josef Cach, and Michal Svatoš, 106–113. Prague: Karolinum, 1991.
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  411. When plague struck Leszno in 1631 Comenius published a pamphlet outlining ways that the city could address the health issues of the plague while treating the victims humanely.
  412. Find this resource:
  413. Polišensky, Josef. “Comenius and the 17th-Century Social and Scientific Revolution.” Acta Comeniana: Revue internationale des études coméniologiques 2 (1970): 139–145.
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  415. Comenius is most famous for his educational reforms, but he was an advocate of Bacon’s theories on scientific method. Even so, Comenius did not accept the new heliocentric cosmology.
  416. Find this resource:
  417. Polišensky, Josef. “Comenius, Huygens, and Newton or: The Social and Scientific Revolutions of the 17th Century.” In Jan Amos Comenius: Geschichte und Aktualität, 1670–1970. 2 vols. Edited by Heinz Joachim Heydorn, 187–200. Glashutten im Taunus, West Germany: Detlev Auvermann, 1971.
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  419. Polišensky investigates the international character of 17th-century science and shows the interrelationship between social reform and new scientific theories.
  420. Find this resource:
  421. Schaller, Klaus. Pan: Untersuchungen zur Comenius-Terminologie. The Hague: Mouton, 1958.
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  423. Although written before the publication of Comenius’s most important pansophic works, Schaller’s investigation into Comenius’s use of the term pan to describe his program of universal reform remains enlightening.
  424. Find this resource:
  425. Yates, Frances A. The Rosicrucian Enlightenment. Boston: Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1972.
  426. DOI: 10.4324/9780203166017Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  427. Yates opened up new avenues of research with this book that demonstrated that the social, political, and scientific reform movements of the Early Modern period were often rooted in Christian mysticism and hermeticism. Comenius is one of the major figures in her study.
  428. Find this resource:
  429. Social and Political Reform
  430.  
  431. Much of the interest in Comenius in the 20th century, particularly after World War II, stems from his writings on peace and social justice, which have been valued by Marxist and non-Marxist historians alike. Kumpera 1994 (cited under Influence of Comenius) offers a good review of the new appreciation for Comenius as a political thinker that emerged in the second half of the 20th century. Polišensky 1974 provides a good example of the way Marxist historians saw Comenius’s concern for social justice as a precursor to socialism. In contrast, Schroer 1985 argues that Comenius’s Utopian social vision was deeply rooted in the Christian understanding of the Kingdom of God on earth. The publication of the Consultatio catholica allowed scholars to investigate in more detail Comenius’s pansophic vision of social and political reform. For an introduction, see Schurr 1981. Urbánek 1995 argues that Comenius objected to the notion that politics must be governed by the type of cynicism associated with Machiavelli. Urfus 1991 examines the nature of the law in the time of Comenius as a way to highlight Comenius’s contributions to the development of the concept of international law. The end of communism and the formation of the European Union in the final decade of the 20th century renewed interest in Comenius’s political thought (see Michel 1997).
  432.  
  433. Michel, Gerhard. Comenius und der Friede: Internationales Kolloqium der Deutschen Comenius-Gesellschaft und der Comeniusforschungsstelle, Heinrich-Heine-Universität, Düsseldorf, Saltzgitter-Steterburg, 1995. Sankt Augustin, Germany: Academia Verlag, 1997.
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  435. Collection of papers from an international colloquium devoted to Comenius’s peace advocacy. Some of the papers focus on Comenius’s writings while others look for inspiration from Comenius for contemporary peace work.
  436. Find this resource:
  437. Polišensky, Josef. “The Social and Political Premises of the Work of J.A. Comenius.” Acta Comeniana: Revue internationale des études coméniologiques 4 (1974): 5–26.
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  439. An examination of Comenius’s social and political ideas, particularly his concern for the poor and oppressed, from a Marxist perspective.
  440. Find this resource:
  441. Schroer, H. “Reich Gottes bei Comenius.” In Comenius: Erkennen, Glauben, Handeln. Edited by Klaus Schaller, 87–93. Sankt Augustin, West Germany: Richarz, 1985.
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  443. Schroer examines Comenius’s work from the perspective of his belief in the coming reign of God on earth.
  444. Find this resource:
  445. Schurr, Johannes. Comenius: Eine Einführung in die Consultatio catholica. Passau, West Germany: Passavia Universitätsverlag, 1981.
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  447. Comenius’s Consultatio is a complex and incomplete work, but Schurr’s introduction helps make sense of it.
  448. Find this resource:
  449. Urbánek, Vladimír. “J. A. Comenius’ Anti-Machiavellianism.” Acta Comeniana 11 (1995): 61–69.
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  451. Urbánek shows that Comenius proposed a different, more republican, approach to politics than that favored by advocates of absolutism such as Hobbes.
  452. Find this resource:
  453. Urfus, V. “Jurisprudence in Comenius’ Times.” In Homage to J. A. Comenius. Edited by Jaroslava Pešková, Josef Cach, and Michal Svatoš, 97–105. Prague: Karolinum, 1991.
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  455. Helpful discussion of the nature of the law during the time of Comenius and the growing concept of international law.
  456. Find this resource:
  457. Theology and Spirituality
  458.  
  459. Modern scholars have been interested in Comenius primarily as a pedagogue and pansophic social reformer, but it is important to recognize that Comenius understood himself primarily as a theologian and pastor of the Unitas Fratrum, as Molnár 1957 argues. Much of the research on Comenius’s theology and spirituality was done by theologians and was largely separate from the mainstream of Comeniology that focused on his pedagogical and political views, but van der Linde 1980 argues that one cannot fully understand Comenius’s thought without taking seriously his theology and work as a pastor. Lochman 1979 addresses one of the most controversial aspects of Comenius’s work, namely his fascination with the millennial age, and the author argues that this was part of the inspiration for Comenius’s social reform proposals. Likewise, Smolik 1983 proposes that Comenius’s interest in prophecy was consistent with his hope that better educational methods would improve the world. Molnár 1984 argues that Comenius’s theology constituted a liberal version of Calvinism informed by the theological tradition of the Bohemian Brethren. Lee 1987 attempted to integrate Comenius’s theology and his educational theory and methods. Nováková 1985 demonstrates that Comenius used the Bible as a resource for promoting the idea of progress through educational, spiritual, and political reform. Kučera 1991 is a brief, but insightful investigation of the relationship of pansophy to Comenius’s theology. This is an area of research that merits more attention.
  460.  
  461. Kučera, Z. “John Amos Comenius: A Theologian of Universality.” In Homage to J. A. Comenius. Edited by Jaroslava Pešková, Josef Cach, and Michal Svatoš, 190–198. Prague: Karolinum, 1991.
  462. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  463. Comenius viewed himself primarily as a theologian and, not surprisingly, his theology was rooted in the same type of universality that characterized his pedagogy and pansophy.
  464. Find this resource:
  465. Lee, Sook Jong. “The Relationship of John Amos Comenius’ Theology to His Educational Ideas.” PhD diss., Rutgers University, 1987.
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  467. One of the few attempts to connect Comenius’s educational theories to his theology.
  468. Find this resource:
  469. Lochman, Jan. “Chiliasmus verus: Eschatologie und Weltgestaltung in der Perspektive des Comenius.” Theologische Zeitschrift 35 (1979): 275–282.
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  471. Lochman examines Comenius’s understanding of the millennial age as one of the pillars of his social reform efforts.
  472. Find this resource:
  473. Molnár, Amedeo. “Comenius et l’unité des Frères tchèques.” Communio Viatorum 1 (1957): 110–115.
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  475. A brief presentation of Comenius’s work as a bishop of the Unity of the Brethren.
  476. Find this resource:
  477. Molnár, Amedeo. “Zum Theologieverständnis des Comenius.” Communio Viatorum 27 (1984): 227–241.
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  479. Molnár was one of the few Czech scholars interested in Comenius as a theologian. He shows that Comenius was deeply informed by the theological tradition of the Czech Reformation as well as a more liberal Calvinism that was expressed at the Synod of Dort.
  480. Find this resource:
  481. Nováková, Julie. “Bible Quotations in the Works of Comenius.” Communio viatorum 28 (1985): 225–238.
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  483. Nováková’s analysis of Comenius’s use of the Bible demonstrates that he drew heavily on prophecies that point to a better future on earth, especially the cessation of violence.
  484. Find this resource:
  485. Smolik, Joseph. “Das eschatologische Denken des Johan Amos Comenius.” Evangelische Theologie 43 (1983): 191–202.
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  487. Scholars have had difficulty relating Comenius’s belief in prophecy to his rationalism, but Smolik argues that it was part of the same eschatology that motivated his social reform efforts.
  488. Find this resource:
  489. van der Linde, Jan Marinus. “Der andere Comenius.” Unitas Fratrum 8 (1980): 35–48.
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  491. Investigates the important role that Christology played in Comenius’s pansophic work.
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  493. Church Reform and Ecumenical Work
  494.  
  495. Comenius’s life was shaped by the religious wars of the 17th century, and he believed that some resolution of ecclesiastical conflict was necessary for the promotion of international peace and social harmony. The near extinction of Comenius’s church, the Unitas Fratrum, during the course of his lifetime was disturbing to Comenius, and Neval 2005 investigates how Comenius tried to make sense of this tragedy. Hotson 1995 highlights the close connection between Comenius’s program for the promotion of peace and Pareus’s opposition to confessionalism in the early 17th century. Comenius encouraged secular governments to grant religious toleration and freedom of conscience to all citizens, and he also worked to reconcile Protestant churches. Molnár 1976 investigates Comenius’s opposition to the Habsburg effort to return Protestant regions of Europe to the Roman Catholic faith, especially Bohemia and Moravia. The limits of Comenius’s ecumenical vision is discussed in Malcolm 2007. Settari 1991 draws attention to the fact that Comenius’s interest in music was closely connected to his role as a pastor of the Unitas Fratrum. Crews 2008 and Atwood 2009 both discuss Comenius within the context of the larger history of the Unitas Fratrum, but Atwood 2009 gives more attention to Comenius’s theology and pansophy. Some historians, in works such as Atwood 2009, see Comenius as a forerunner of the Pietist movement that swept through Germany in the 18th century.
  496.  
  497. Atwood, Craig D. Theology of the Czech Brethren from Hus to Comenius. University Park: Pennsylvania State University Press, 2009.
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  499. Argues that Comenius’s pansophy was one of the most fruitful expressions of the theological tradition of the Czech Reformation.
  500. Find this resource:
  501. Crews, C. Daniel. Faith, Love, and Hope: A History of the Unitas Fratrum. Winston-Salem, NC: Moravian Archives, 2008.
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  503. Includes a chapter on Comenius’s work as a bishop of the Unitas Fratrum, including his advocacy on behalf of the Czech exiles in Poland.
  504. Find this resource:
  505. Hotson, Howard. “Irenicism and Dogmatics in the Confessional Age: Pareus and Comenius in Heidelberg, 1614.” Journal of Ecclesiastical History 46 (1995): 432–453.
  506. DOI: 10.1017/S0022046900017747Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  507. Demonstrates that Comenius was profoundly influenced by the work of his teacher, Pareus, who sought to resolve the doctrinal divisions between the Lutheran and Reformed churches.
  508. Find this resource:
  509. Malcolm, Noel. “Comenius, the Conversion of the Turks, and the Muslim-Christian Debate on the Corruption of Scripture.” Church History and Religious Culture 87 (2007): 477–508.
  510. DOI: 10.1163/187124107X258400Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  511. Comenius is often presented as an advocate for religious toleration, but scholars should take seriously his opposition to Islam.
  512. Find this resource:
  513. Molnár, Amedeo. “Comenius und die Gegenreformation.” Communio Viatorum 19 (1976): 97–108.
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  515. Comenius’s life and work were dramatically affected by the Counter-Reformation in his homeland.
  516. Find this resource:
  517. Neval, Daniel. “‘As Gold Is Purified by Fire’: Comenius’ Understanding of the History of the Unitas Fratrum.” In The Bohemian Reformation and Religious Practice. Vol. 5, Part 2, Papers from the Fifth International Symposium on the Bohemian Reformation and Religious Practice, Sponsored by the Philosophical Institute of the Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic, Held at Vila Lanna, Prague, 19–22 June 2002. Edited by Zdeněk V. David and David R. Holeton, 433–442. Prague: Academy of the Sciences of the Czech Republic, 2005.
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  519. In the 18th century, Comenius was known primarily through his works related to the history of the Unity of the Brethren, but that aspect of his activity was largely overlooked in the 19th and 20th centuries.
  520. Find this resource:
  521. Settari, O. “John Amos Comenius: Musicologist, Pedagogue and Hymnographer.” In Homage to J. A. Comenius. Edited by Jaroslava Pešková, Josef Cach, and Michal Svatoš, 157–165. Prague: Karolinum, 1991.
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  523. Among his many contributions to Western culture, Comenius also published a hymnal to preserve the musicological tradition of the Czech Reformation.
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  525. Labyrinth of the World and Paradise of the Heart
  526.  
  527. One of Comenius’s greatest literary works was Labyrinth of the World, which has been translated into several languages. It is one of the great allegories written in the Early Modern era (prior to Bunyan’s more famous Pilgrim’s Progress) and can be read as one of the great dystopias. Unfortunately, it has received relatively little attention from literary scholars outside of the Czech Republic. Kučera 1979 provides a technical analysis of Comenius’s use of words in the Labyrinth while Lehar 1979 analyzes the different characters of the book, most notably the Pilgrim and his guides “Delusion” and “Searchall.” Čiževsky 1953 remains a very useful guide to the resources that Comenius drew upon in writing Labyrinth, such as Erasmus’s famous work Praise of Folly. Crews 1992 is one of the few studies in English that takes seriously the Paradise of the Heart section of the book as the guide for interpreting the rest. Even though it appears to be a dystopia, Comenius intended the book to aid people in their spirituality. He saw it as a modern version of the biblical book of Ecclesiastes.
  528.  
  529. Čiževsky, Dmitry. “Comenius’ Labyrinth of the World: Its Themes and Their Sources.” Harvard Slavic Studies 1 (1953): 83–135.
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  531. One of the most detailed examinations of Comenius’s classic work.
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  533. Crews, C. Daniel. “Through the Labyrinth: A Prelude to the Comenius Anniversary of 1992.” Transactions of the Moravian Historical Society 27 (1992): 27–52.
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  535. Most noted for his work on the Bohemian Brethren, Crews explores Comenius’s Labyrinth of the World as an expression of the spirituality of the Brethren.
  536. Find this resource:
  537. Kučera, Karel. “An Analysis of the Vocabulary of The Labyrinth of the World and the Paradise of the Heart by J. A. Comenius.” Acta Comeniana 4 (1979): 339–353.
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  539. A very technical examination of the words Comenius used to describe his world.
  540. Find this resource:
  541. Lehar, Jan. “‘Labyrint sveta’ (The Labyrinth of the World) and Its Characters.” Acta Comeniana: Revue internationale des études coméniologiques 4 (1979): 225–249.
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  543. An important starting point for any serious examination of Labyrinth.
  544. Find this resource:
  545. Comenius’s Networks and Influences
  546.  
  547. The concept of “communities of discourse” inspired historians in recent years to pay closer attention to the networks of communication that were established in the Early Modern era, most notably that between Comenius and Samuel Hartlib. Turnbull 1920 did the groundbreaking research on that important relationship. Comenius was closely connected to a number of like-minded scholars and reformers in Protestant and Catholic countries. Sobotka 1991 examines Comenius’s personal and literary relationship with the thinkers of his day, including Descartes, and shows how Comenius promoted a humanistic approach to social and political reform. Gontscharow 1971 traces some of these contacts, but Urbánek 1997 demonstrates that Comenius also used his network of international contacts to raise funds to support the Unitas Fratrum in exile. Greengrass 1995 focuses more closely on how Comenius raised funds to support his own work and travel. Manuel and Manuel 1979 extends the discussion of Comenius’s Utopianism to include his disciples.
  548.  
  549. Gontscharow, Nikolai. “The Great Humanist John Amos Comenius.” Acta Comeniana: Revue internationale des études coméniologiques 1 (1971): 17–24.
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  551. Comenius was a member of an extensive “community of letters” in the 17th century that included luminaries such as Mersenne.
  552. Find this resource:
  553. Greengrass, Mark. “The Financing of a Seventeenth-Century Intellectual: Contributions for Comenius, 1637–1641.” Acta Comeniana 11 (1995): 71–87.
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  555. Comenius, like most scholars of his age, depended on patrons to finance his work and travels. The De Geer family, who made their fortune in munitions, proved to be particularly important.
  556. Find this resource:
  557. Manuel, Frank Edward, and Fritzie Prigohzy Manuel. Utopian Thought in the Western World. Cambridge, MA: Belknap, 1979.
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  559. Includes a chapter on pansophy as a scientific movement and a chapter on Comenius’s disciples.
  560. Find this resource:
  561. Sobotka, M. “J. A. Comenius and the Philosophy of His Time.” In Homage to J. A. Comenius. Edited by Jaroslava Pešková, Josef Cach, and Michal Svatoš, 125–136. Prague: Karolinum, 1991.
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  563. Comenius’s relationship with other philosophers of the 17th century, most notably Descartes.
  564. Find this resource:
  565. Turnbull, G. H. Samuel Hartlib: A Sketch of His Life and His Relations to J. A. Comenius. New York: Oxford University Press, 1920.
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  567. Turnbull’s groundbreaking work on the Hartlib circle that included Comenius.
  568. Find this resource:
  569. Urbánek, Vladimír. “The Network of Comenius’ Correspondents.” Acta Comeniana 12 (1997): 63–78.
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  571. Urbánek outlines Comenius’s extensive network, demonstrating that much of his activity was devoted to seeking help for his church in exile in Poland.
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  573. Comenius in England and its Colonies
  574.  
  575. Comenius and his ideas aroused considerable interest in English-speaking lands and many of his works were translated in the 17th century, some without his knowledge. In 1641, Comenius was invited by members of Parliament to come to England to discuss the possibility of establishing pansophic schools in the realm. Young 1932 provides the details of Comenius’s visit to England, while Turnbull 1947 uncovers new dimensions of Comenius’s involvement with Puritan reformers. Webster 1970 and Webster 1975 build on Turnbull’s work and argue that the Hartlib circle played a major role in the development of English education and science. Webster extended his argument for the role played by the millennialist Puritans (and Comenius) in the founding of the Royal Society. Trevor-Roper 1972 challenges the Webster-Turnbull thesis, arguing that the Hartlib circle was too focused on religion and mysticism to have played a significant role in English science, which was based on empiricism. While he was in England, Comenius met some of the leaders of the Massachusetts Bay Colony, who introduced some of his textbooks to America. Acheson 1997 and Schulte-Nordholt 1972 trace the use of Comenius’s works in the American colonies.
  576.  
  577. Acheson, Reed. “Traces of Comenius in America, 1635–1735.” Comenius: Bulletin de la Société canadienne d’études coméniennes 5 (1997): 11–20.
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  579. Traces the use of Comenius’s works in the English colonies and how he was viewed by figures such as Cotton Mather.
  580. Find this resource:
  581. Schulte-Nordholt, G. W. “Comenius and America, Some Remarks on Some Relations.” Acta Comeniana: Revue internationale des études coméniologiques 2 (1972): 195–200.
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  583. Some of Comenius’s textbooks were used by the Puritans in New England throughout the colonial period.
  584. Find this resource:
  585. Trevor-Roper, H. R. “Three Foreigners: The Philosophers of the Puritan Revolution.” In Religion, the Reformation and Social Change, and Other Essays. 2d ed. By H. R. Trevor-Roper, 237–293. London and New York: Macmillan, 1972.
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  587. Trevor-Roper challenged Turnbull’s claim that Hartlib, Dury, and Comenius played a significant role in the development of education and science in England, and he rejected the claim that Comenius was Baconian, dismissing his pansophic ideas as impractical mysticism.
  588. Find this resource:
  589. Turnbull, G. H. Hartlib, Dury and Comenius: Gleanings from Hartlib’s Papers. London: Hodder & Stoughton, 1947.
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  591. Turnbull argued that Comenius was part of an influential network of Baconian reformers who helped shape English society during the Commonwealth.
  592. Find this resource:
  593. Webster, Charles. Samuel Hartlib and the Advancement of Learning. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 1970.
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  595. Building on the work of Turnbull and directly refuting the claims of Trevor-Roper, Webster argues that Hartlib and Comenius played pivotal roles in the social aspects of the development of education and science in England.
  596. Find this resource:
  597. Webster, Charles. The Great Instauration: Science, Medicine and Reform, 1626–1660. New York: Holmes & Meier, 1975.
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  599. Webster places Comenius at the center of the Baconian revolution of science and medicine in England.
  600. Find this resource:
  601. Young, Robert F. Comenius in England. London: Oxford University Press, 1932.
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  603. A good presentation of Comenius’s activities in England.
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  605. Comenius in the Netherlands
  606.  
  607. Comenius spent his last years as a refugee in Amsterdam and was buried in the Walloon Church in Naarden. He was treated as a dignitary by the Dutch Republic, and his collected pedagogical works were published in 1657 in Amsterdam. He believed that the Dutch approach to religious toleration could provide a model for peace throughout Europe. Mout 1971 shows that Comenius had established important connections with individuals in the Netherlands long before he relocated there in 1656. Rood 1970 is a detailed study of Comenius’s long involvement with the Netherlands and his willingness to engage in theological controversies of the time. Hobrlant 2001 is a more recent work that discusses Comenius in the context of the Dutch Golden Age, when the Netherlands was one of the wealthiest and most culturally sophisticated nations of Europe. Groenendijk 1994 and Groenendijk and Sturm 1992 show that Comenius was an active participant in the theological discussions within Dutch Calvinism in the decades following the Synod of Dort, and his writings should be seen as part of early Dutch Pietism. Despite his deep appreciation for the toleration evident in Dutch society, the aged Comenius was deeply disturbed when the Netherlands went to war with England in 1667, which led him to write one of his last pacifist works (Polišensky 1971). Van Vliet 1994 also points to conflict caused in the Netherlands by some of Comenius’s more radical ideas.
  608.  
  609. Groenendijk, Leendert F. “Comenius und die Reformbestrebungen des niederländlischen Calvinismus.” In Johannes Amos Comenius, 1592–1670: Exponent of European Culture? Edited by P. van Vliet and Arie J. Vanderjagt, 35–39. Amsterdam: North-Holland, 1994.
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  611. Investigates the role played by Comenius in the development of Dutch Calvinism in the 17th century.
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  613. Groenendijk, Leendert F., and Johan C. Sturm. “Das Exempel Böhmens in den Niederlanden: Comenius’ Bedeutung für die familienpädagogische Offensive der pietischen Reformation.” Zeitschrift für Pädagogik 38 (1992): 163–182.
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  615. Comenius may have played a role in the early development of Pietism, particularly the importance of religious instruction in the home.
  616. Find this resource:
  617. Hobrlant, Vladimír. The Golden Age in the Netherlands and Johan Amos Comenius. Naarden, The Netherlands: Hobrlant, 2001.
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  619. After establishing independence from Spain, the Netherlands became one of the most prosperous and religiously tolerant countries in Europe. Hobrlant examines Comenius’s participation in Dutch culture during this expansive period.
  620. Find this resource:
  621. Mout, Nicolette. “The Contacts of Comenius with the Netherlands before 1656.” Acta Comeniana: Revue internationale des études coméniologiques 1 (1971): 221–231.
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  623. Comenius spent his last years in the Netherlands and published his Didactica magna there, but his contacts with the country began when he was a student at Herborn Academy.
  624. Find this resource:
  625. Polišensky, Josef. “Comenius, the Angel of Peace and the Netherlands in 1667.” Acta Comeniana: Revue internationale des études coméniologiques 1 (1971): 59–66.
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  627. One of Comenius’s most important works on pacifism was written in the context of Dutch and English hostilities, but it had little impact at the time.
  628. Find this resource:
  629. Rood, Wilhelmus. Comenius and the Low Countries: Some Aspects of Life and Work of a Czech Exile in the Seventeenth Century. New York: Abner Schram, 1970.
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  631. This remains a very helpful book that examines many aspects of Comenius’s involvement with the Netherlands, including his opposition to Unitarians and Anabaptists.
  632. Find this resource:
  633. van Vliet, P. “The Utopian Ideas of Comenius and the Dutch Republic: An Uneasy Relation.” In Johannes Amos Comenius, 1592–1670: Exponent of European Culture? Edited by P. van Vliet and Arie J. Vanderjagt, 85–92. Amsterdam: North-Holland, 1994.
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  635. Comenius hoped that the Netherlands would serve as the laboratory for his pansophic reform of church and state, but he failed to persuade the Dutch to adopt his programs and died in relative obscurity.
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  637. Comenius in Other Countries
  638.  
  639. Comenius was an international figure who worked in Moravia, Poland, England, Germany, Sweden, Hungary, and the Netherlands. Moreover, many of his works were used by individuals from Turkey to America. Pešková and Cach 1991 includes articles investigating the use of Comenius’s theories and methods in various countries from Russia to South America. Naturally, a great deal of literature is available in Czech on Comenius’s influence in Slavic lands, but since most of his publications were illegal in his homeland until the 19th century, his influence there was greatest long after his death. Čapková 1983 provides a nice summary in English of Comenius’s impact on education in Czech lands. Bečková 1994 demonstrates that Comenius had a more immediate impact on Polish culture than Czech culture. Comenius spent only four years in Transylvania, but, as many scholars in Foldes and Meszaros 1973 argue, this was a particularly fruitful and interesting period because he was able to establish his first “school of play.” He also became involved in Protestant politics in Poland. Antochi 1985 shows that Comenius was following in the footsteps of his mentor Alsted, who tried to use his encyclopedic approach to create a Protestant school system in Transylvania. Germany was another land where Comenius’s pedagogical theories were adopted, both during his lifetime and after his rediscovery in the late 19th century. Boyd 1972 examines the adoption of Comenian methods in various regions of Germany, while Schaller 1983 focuses on how the ideas of Comenius were used in Western Germany after World War II.
  640.  
  641. Antochi, Josif. “Alsted und Comenius in Transylvania.” In Comenius: Erkennen, Glauben, Handeln: Schriften zur Comeniusforschung. Edited by Klau Schaller, 38–48. Sankt Augustin, West Germany: Richarz, 1985.
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  643. For a few years in the 17th century Transylvania turned to the Reformed Church, and two of the great scholars of the age were invited to reform the schools of the realm, but they met with limited success.
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  645. Bečková, M. “Die Beziehungen des Jan Amos Komenskýs zu Polen und zur polnischen Kultur.” In Johannes Amos Comenius, 1592–1670: Exponent of European Culture? Edited by P. van Vliet and Arie J. Vanderjagt, 9–16. Amsterdam: North-Holland, 1994.
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  647. Comenius spent some of the most important years of his life as a pastor and teacher in Leszno, Poland. This article provides a very helpful introduction to Comenius’s Polish career and his impact on Polish politics and literature, especially for scholars who cannot read Polish.
  648. Find this resource:
  649. Boyd, William. “John Amos Comenius and German Education.” In The History of Western Education. 10th ed. Edited by William Boyd and Edmund J. King, 241–254. London: Adam and Charles Black, 1972.
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  651. Comenius had a greater immediate impact on German education than in his homeland.
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  653. Čapková, Dagmar. “Comenius and Universal Education in His Native Country.” In L’Offre d’École/The Supply of Schooling. Edited by Willem Frijhoff and M. Boulet, 141–151. Paris: Institut National de Recherche Pédagogique, 1983.
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  655. It was only with the rise of Czech nationalism and the rediscovery of Comenius in the 19th century that he had much influence in his homeland.
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  657. Foldes, Eva, and Istvan Meszaros, eds. Comenius and Hungary. Budapest: Akademiai Kiado, 1973.
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  659. This collection of essays examines various aspects of Comenius’s four-year sojourn in Sárospatak, where he tried to establish a “school of play.” Despite his pacifist tendencies, Comenius also encouraged the Reformed aristocracy to take up arms against the Habsburgs.
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  661. Pešková, Jaroslava, and Josef Cach, eds. Homage to J. A. Comenius. Prague: Karolinum, 1991.
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  663. Includes several articles on Comenius’s influence in different countries, such as France and Spain.
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  665. Schaller, Klaus. “The Influence of Modern Comenius Studies on the Philosophy of Education in the Federal Republic of Germany.” History of Education 12 (1983): 87–92.
  666. DOI: 10.1080/0046760830120202Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  667. Schaller was one of the leading proponents for incorporating Comenius’s theories and methods into modern German education.
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  669. Influence of Comenius
  670.  
  671. So much of what Comenius wrote in the 17th century resonates with modern concerns and hopes for the future that many writers have seen him as having a formative influence on the development of the more benign aspects of modernity, such as humanistic education and religious toleration. Čapková 1994 argues this point well. His fame in educational circles was such that the European Union named a major pedagogical initiative in his honor (Comenius Project of the European Union). Since his rediscovery by Czech and German historians in the late 19th century, he has been hailed as the Father of Modern Education, and, in the 20th century, he was often presented as a forerunner of modern scientific academies, the United Nations, UNESCO, the World Council of Churches, and the European Union. Kumpera 1994 traces the different interpretations of Comenius through the centuries. Many of the commemorative volumes discussed earlier in the article address these themes; however, it has been hard for historians to establish the precise influence Comenius had on his age or subsequent ages. Rýdl 1991 and Michel 1973 provide evidence that Comenius did have a limited impact on European education in the 18th century through his textbooks, while Goodrick-Clarke 1999 traces the often subtle influence of Comenius and his circle on the development of education, politics, and science in Protestant Europe despite the failure of the Rosicrucian movement. Alt 1970 examines the distribution and use of Comenius’s most famous textbook in which pictures are integral to the teaching of language. Schaller 1988 looks specifically at how Herder drew on Comenius in his proposals for the education of humanity.
  672.  
  673. Alt, Robert. Herkunft und Bedeutung des Orbis Pictus: Ein Beitrag zur Geschichte des Lehrbuchs. Berlin: Akademie Verlag, 1970.
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  675. Investigation of the reception of one of the most widely used textbooks of all time.
  676. Find this resource:
  677. Čapková, Dagmar. “The Cultural Inheritance of Comenius.” In Johannes Amos Comenius, 1592–1670: Exponent of European Culture? Edited by P. van Vliet and Arie J. Vanderjagt, 23–27. Amsterdam: North-Holland, 1994.
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  679. Succinct statement on the cultural significance of Comenius for the 21st century by one of the most important Czech Comeniologists.
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  681. Comenius Project of the European Union.
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  683. One of the major educational initiatives of the European Union after the end of communism in the Eastern bloc was named for Comenius.
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  685. Goodrick-Clarke, Clare. “The Rosicrucian Afterglow: The Life and Influence of Comenius.” In The Rosicrucian Enlightenment Revisited. Edited by Ralph White, 193–217. Hudson, NY: Lindisfarne, 1999.
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  687. Refinement of the thesis put forth by Yates that the Rosicrucian movement of the early 17th century had a definite practical impact on the development of science, education, and culture.
  688. Find this resource:
  689. Kumpera, J. “Reflections on the Changing Image of Comenius.” In Johannes Amos Comenius, 1592–1670: Exponent of European Culture? Edited by P. van Vliet and Arie J. Vanderjagt, 41–46. Amsterdam: North-Holland, 1994.
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  691. Comenius has been interpreted in different ways in different periods of history. During the Enlightenment he was ridiculed because of his belief in prophecy, but he became a hero to Czech nationalists in the 19th century because of his opposition to the Habsburgs. In the 20th century he was seen as an advocate for universal education and international cooperation.
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  693. Michel, Gerhard. Schulbuch und Curriculum: Comenius im 18. Jahrhundert. Düsseldorf: Henn, 1973.
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  695. This is one of the better attempts to document the actual influence of Comenius on European education by examining the use of his textbooks and curriculum in schools, especially in Germany, in the 18th century.
  696. Find this resource:
  697. Rýdl, K. “John Amos Comenius in the Development of European Pedagogical and Philosophical Thinking in the 18th Century.” In Homage to J. A. Comenius. Edited by Jaroslava Pešková, Josef Cach, and Michal Svatoš, 171–180. Prague: Karolinum, 1991.
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  699. Examines the direct and indirect influence of Comenius in the century after his death.
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  701. Schaller, Klaus. Herder und Comenius: Ein Lehrstück zur Aufklärung der Aufklärung mit Johann Gottfried Herders 57: Humanitätsbrief. Sankt Augustin, West Germany: Academia Verlag, 1988.
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  703. One of Comenius’s admirers in the 18th century was the preacher and philosopher Johann Gottfried Herder, who proposed that the true education of humanity required more than sharpening the intellect.
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