Eschatology in the Work of Jan Hus

This study provides a systematic and comprehensive overview of Hus’s ideas on the last things as they are presented in both his work and life. It examines the content and language of his works, particularly his Latin sermons and correspondence, from a literary-historical perspective. It explores general eschatology (Antichrist, purgatory, heaven and hell), as well as its intertwining with the Last Things that Jan Hus experienced personally in his struggle against Antichrist. Thus, the reader will learn not only about Hus’s official ideas, but also about his intimate thoughts contained in correspondence written during his exile and even as he was in prison awaiting death.

The book also presents Hus’s eschatology in the broader context of Church reform. It clarifies how Hus’s eschatology developed from its beginnings up to his death, and takes into account the writings of other thinkers whose ideas are connected to Hus’s eschatology, such as John Wycliffe, Milíč of Kroměříž, Matěj of Janov, and Nicholas of Dresden. The book also features an introductory prolegomena on Hus’s life and work and early reform eschatology, which describes not only relevant Czech influences on Hus’s eschatology (e.g. university theology, social-political factors, the Czech preaching tradition), but also European influences (e.g. Peter Lombard, heterodox doctrines).

List of Illustrations, Abbreviations, Acknowledgements, Foreword

Introduction

• The Current State of Research on Hus’s Eschatology
• A Note on Methods

Chapter 1: Hus’s Eschatology: The Circumstances under which it Emerged and Developed

• Medieval Christian Eschatology
• The Eschatology of Heterodox Doctrines in Bohemia in the Fourteenth and Early Fifteenth Centuries
• The Eschatology of the Early Bohemian Reformation
• The Eschatology of John Wycliffe
• Prophecies
• Other Eschatological Ideas Contained in Contemporary Czech Literature
• The Possible Influence of Crisis Factors in the Fourteenth Century
• Hus’s University Education
• Milestones in Hus’s Life, Hus’s Personality, Works, and Career

Chapter 2: Antichrist in Hus’s Synodal Sermons

• The Development of Hus’s Ideas up to 1405
• The Marks of Antichrist in Hus’s Synodal Sermons Diliges Dominum Deum (1405) and State Succincti (1407)
• Evidence of the Coming of Antichrist: Biblical and Non-biblical Authorities and Hus’s Own Experience
• Antichrist Terminology in Hus’s Synodal Sermons
• The Rhetorical Devices of Hus’s Synodal Sermons

Chapter 3: Antichrist in Hus’s Correspondence

• The Terminology and Rhetorical Devices of the Correspondence
• The Development of the Antichrist Theme in Hus’s Letters

Chapter 4: Hus’s Notion of Antichrist in the Context of his Systematic Theological Works and the Writings of Other Authors

• A Comparison with the Notion of Antichrist in Super Quattuor Sententiarum
• Comparing Hus’s Notions of Antichrist with the Ideas of Milíč of Kroměříž
• Comparing Hus’s Notion of Antichrist with Matěj of Janov’s
• Comparing Hus’s Ideas with those of Wycliffe
• A Comparison of Hus’s Notion of Antichrist with Jakoubek’s Presented in Posicio de Anticristo

Chapter 5: Purgatory in the Sermon Dixit Martha ad Iesum

• What is the Nature of Purgatory?
• The Power of Prayers for Intercession
• A Comparison with the Sources of Dixit Martha
• A Comparison with Works Based on Hus’s Dixit Martha
• A Comparison with the Ideas of Hus’s Predecessors and Contemporaries

Chapter 6: A Postscript on Hus’s Eschatology

• Threats and the End of the World
• Death
• Hus’s Eschatology and its Place in Medieval Thought

Epilogue

Bibliography

• Primary Sources
• Secondary Works

Index