„Príbeh historickej školy Annales mi dodnes pripomína veľké vedecké dobrodružstvo, spúšťačom ktorého bol návrat človeka do zorného uhla pohľadu historikov.“
“The story of the historical school Annales still reminds me of a great scientific adventure triggered by the return of man into the perspective of historians.”

Interview with Historian Rastislav Kožiak

Summary/Abstract: PhDr. Rastislav Koziak, PhD. (* 1969) undoubtedly belongs among the important personali¬ties of contemporary Slovak historiography. From the beginning of his career he has been associated with the Department of History of the Faculty of Arts and Letters of the Matej Bel University in Banská Bystrica, a department which he has also been the head of for a long time (since 2004). In his research he focuses on the history of Christianity, especially in the early Middle Ages, and on the history of historiography. As an author and editor, he collabo¬rated, for example, on the publications Orders and Monasteries in the Middle Ages, Pagan¬ism and Christianity, The Saint and His Function in Society, Saint Adalbert - Saint, Era and Cult, Chapters from the Contemporary Philosophy of History. He is also one of the tireless organizers of the life of the historical community in Slovakia and he actively participates in the development of historical science in surrounding countries. He completed his university studies at the Faculty of Arts and Letters of Comenius Uni¬versity in Bratislava (History and Slovak Language double major), where he also completed his doctoral studies. After their completion, he returned to his native Banská Bystrica, where he has worked ever since at the University of Matej Bel. In the academic environment he was also involved in the self-governing bodies of the faculty, as a two-time chairman of the fac¬ulty academic senate, which testifies to the trust he enjoys in the workplace. Students know him from his courses devoted to the history of medieval Europe, medieval Christianity, his¬tory and methodology of historiography. In the years 1999 - 2002 he lectured externally at our Department of History, first at the University of Žilina and later at the Catholic University in Ružomberok. He completed several research and lecture stays at universities abroad, for example in Giessen, Krakow, Lublin, Warsaw, Katowice, Kielce and Opole. His enthusiasm for history was apparent from his student days, when in 1993, together with Martin Kanovský and Ondrej Červený, he founded and edited the professional journal Text - revue for the humanities. He is a valued and respected member of various editorial boards of a number of scientific journals in Slovakia, the Czech Republic and Poland (Annal¬es historici Prešoviensis, Byzantinoslovaca, Kultúrne dejiny, Forum Historiae, Acta historica Opaviensis, Studia mediaevalia Bohemica, Saeculum Christianum, Przegląd Historyczny). He initiated the creation of the scientific journal Acta historica Neosoliensia, which has been published by his department since 1998. He also co-founded the Central European historical magazine Historia Slavorum Occidentis, which is published in Poznań under the auspices of historians from Adam Mickievicz University, and has been Deputy Editor-in-Chief of this journal since 2012. Rastislav Kožiak is also a member of many associations and societies. Since 2006 he has been a member of the Slovak National Committee of Historians, in the years 2008 - 2018 he was chairman of the Slovak National Commission of C.I.H.E.C. (International Commission for Comparative Ecclesiastical History), he has been a member of the Slovak-Polish Bilateral Commission of Historians since 2009, a member of the Scientific Board of the Institute of His¬tory of the Slovak Academy of Sciences since 2010, and a member of the Commission of the Early History of the Slavs at the International Committee of the Slavists since 2015. In 2006, he initiated the founding of the Centre for the Study of Christianity in Banská Bystrica, within which he co-organized several scientific conferences in the field of church history research. In 2012, he was awarded the Professor Ján Komorovský Award, which is awarded by the Slovak Society for the Study of Religions at the Slovak Academy of Sciences (SAS). In 2019, the rector of the Silesian University in Katowice awarded him the Gold Badge of the Silesian University for his support of the university. The year 2016 marked one of the peaks of his professional career when he was, during the congress of the Slovak Historical Society at the SAS in Skalica, elected chairman of this society.

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