The Unity of the Brethren has a rich history in Mladá Boleslav. This thesis focused on the social status of members of the Unity of the Brethren in Mladá Boleslav in the early 17th century. The basic source, from which the research is based, is a part of a unique finding of the Brethren Church correspondence, which had been found in 2006. This is the registra of Boleslav corps Church from the years 1610 and 1611. By the processing and evaluation of entries in these registers is determined by amount of members of the Corps unity and their percentage representation of Bohemian Brethren in the population of the city. The participation of members of the Unity in the administration of the city has been identified according to the data in the indexes and records preserved in the books of the early 17th century. The work also pays attention to the representation of Bohemian Brethren in the leading positions of individual guilds in Mladá Boleslav. The subject of research is also the property status of the members of the Unity corps in Mladá Boleslav. Research found that in 1610 and 1611 members of the Unity corps in Mladá Boleslav were 17 % to 18 % of the population of the city. Members of the Unity of the Brethren participated in the administration of the city. The average representation of Bohamian...

The dissertation is engaged in the history of the Baptist Church in Pardubice. This church became independent in 1922 and belongs to the Baptist Union of the Czech Republic. The dissertation is focused to the time frame from 1922 to 1989. The paper also contains brief information about the Baptist Union and about the beginning of Baptist work on the ground of Bohemia. This paper introduces history of the church, its life and activities. Observes the development of the member base, held events, work with children and youth. An important part of this paper presents the first pastor of this church, Jan Ricar. A special attention is given to a political case whose victim he became. In the outline are stated brief biographies of all pastors in this church until the year 1989.

Women in Reformation The position of women developed throughout history. Religious reformation, which took place in the early 16th century in the German speaking countries and hundred years earlier in the Czech Kingdom, was one of the movements which changed radically the position of women in the society. First, the religious leaders beginning with Martin Luther changed the clerical view which saw women as incompetent, incomplete and sinful beings into one of respect to the gender and its specifics and to the biological role played by women - motherhood. As a result, women were respected in the society as wives and mothers; nobody wrote preaching about them being danger to men anymore. But with the attack on the monasteries women were deprived of the only way for higher education and independence offered to them in these institutions. The Czech reformation never fully changed its view on marriage. Celibacy and virginity were still considered better ways to salvation then marriage and especially its consummation. In the end both Utraquists and the Unity of Brethren accepted Luther's view on marriage, especially the marriage of priests, but never fully. They tended to see celibacy as the better although for most people impossible way. But the position of women in these branches of Czech reformation was...

Studies and Correspondence of the priests-to-be of the Bohemian Brethren in 1610-1618 Markéta Růčková Two wooden boxes were found during the reconstruction of the former Minorite monastery Na Karmeli at Mladá Boleslav in 2006. The boxes concealed the so-called Archives of Matouš Konečný. The Archives contained documents that originated in the office of, or were addressed to, one of the four bishops of the Bohemian Brethren, Matouš Konečný (1569-1622), whose seat was at Mladá Boleslav. A significant part of the discovery consists of correspondence addressed to Bishop Konečný. A substantial part of the correspondence are documents related to the dispatch of young aspiring Brethren priests for study at educational institutions abroad. Along with letters of the students themselves, sent from Bremen and Beuthen an der Oder (Bytom Odrzański in Poland), where the young men attended academic grammar schools (gymnasia illustria), the boxes contain the students' pledges and accounts of their expenditures. The students' reports are supplemented with the correspondence of their teachers. The collection of letters from students and teachers as well as other documents being thus thematically delimited, our principal objective was to perform an analysis of their content and to prepare an edition of the documents....

This diploma thesis is focused on the topic of religious education of youth in the Church of Brethren. Its main aim is to describe the process of religious education of youth according to the theoretical and practical sources of the Church of Brethren. The results were compared in the last part of the thesis to the educational concepts of other churches studied in the theoretical part. The theoretical part defines the terms related to religious education such as catechesis, pastoral care, evangelization, discipleship, religious pedagogy etc. It also includes the characteristics of the Church of Brethren and youth in the context of postmodern era. The last chapter deals with religious education of youth in church in general with regards to the personality of a youth pastor, educational goals and teaching methods. The practical part is designed as an analysis of three areas: Department of Youth of the Church of Brethren, other Christian organizations working with youth and an interview with the Leading pastor of the Council of the Church of Brethren who has been working with youth for many years. The results of each area are further reflected in the context of the studied literature. The results indicate that religious education of youth in the Church of Brethren is mostly focused on evangelization,...

The birth and the baptism of child were significant events in the life of people in all historical periods. This diploma thesis demonstrates meaning of the baptism rite and its reflection in the urban society in the Early Modern Age. In comparison to bachelor thesis was used more sources. The research of six families memoirs is supplied with analysis of parish register of Český Krumlov town from 1662 to 1666. Sources of religious area represents catholic, evangelical and Lutheral clerical works and especially polemics. Wider spectrum of sources made possible deeper sight at meaning of baptism and confrontation between religious order and everyday practice in baptism and godparenthood in towns in the 16. and 17. centuries.

Between Defence and Resistance: Destinies of Eighteenth-Century Protestant Communities in Eastern Bohemia and Haut-Languedoc Abstract Based on archive research and literature the thesis compares the religious life of illegal Protestant communities in the 18th century Eastern Bohemia and Haut-Languedoc. From macroanalytical perspective it assesses the strategies of protestant minorities used to resist the disciplining efforts of the absolutist state. The confessional homogeneity, economic background and social stratification of Protestants in Eastern Bohemia and Haut-Languedoc differed. Yet, the contrasting comparison opens up the way to analyse the divergent resistance strategies. Further, the thesis examines the existence and nature of attempts to simplify the religious doctrine and to modify the liturgy undertaken by the lay and ordained priests and the worshippers. The structure combines the thematic and chronological approach, while keeping a broad perspective that encompasses also the economic and cultural context. First tree chapters outline and conceptualize the problem of prohibited Protestantism in both regions during the 17th and most of the 18th centuries. While in Languedoc the Presbyterian-synodic structure was revived (albeit illegally), in Eastern Bohemia and in whole Bohemia and Moravia...