Természet, jog, teológia Egy fejezet a politikai diskurzus történetéből a 18. századi Magyarországon
Nature, law, theology – a chapter from the history of political discourse in 18th-century Hungary

Summary/Abstract: In his paper the author focuses on a seldom spotlighted thread from the history of natural law in Hungary, the 18th century reception of modern Protestant natural law theories in Calvinist colleges. Providing an analysis of Theologia naturalis written by István Szentgyörgyi, one-time professor of the Sárospatak College, he wants to demonstrate that political culture in the early modern period in Hungary was more complex in terms of language than we usually think, and that within this political culture modern Protestant (Pufendorfian and Wolffian) natural law had some role. Also, he argues that the reception of modern Protestant natural law theory was not necessarily a mechanical acceptance but much rather an adoption determined by the local socio-cultural circumstances. First, the author reconstructs what the latest English-language literature says about modern Protestant natural law theory, then he provides an overview of Calvinism in 18thcentury Hungary and only after that, referring to these contexts, does he discuss Szentgyörgyi’s book. The conclusions he arrives at seem important in many respects. On the one hand, they call attention to the fact that the reception of modern Protestant natural law theory was not necessarily connected to the educational program of enlightened absolutism, either in institutional or in an ideological sense. On the other hand, they remind us that not only reform movements threatening the social-political status quo had a role in the dissemination of Enlightenment thought in Hungary but also such institutions that were conservative in character. This way, the moderate or conservative movements of the Enlightenment seem to have been present in Hungary, too, in their peculiar localized versions.

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