IDEA OF GOD IN THE CHRISTIAN SOCIALISM OF SANDOR GIESSWEIN, THE

Sandor Giesswein (1856-1923) was a unique religious and political figure in late nineteenth, early twentieth century Hungary. Somewhat traditional in his theology, he embraced enthusiastically what was then the contemporary science of the times and expressed his Christian Socialism in radical, often solitary ways. Throughout his career, he was on good terms with the church's hierarchy; indeed, he was a canon and Papal Prelate of the Roman Catholic Church. he was able to maintain this relationship throughout his career, in spite of his radicalism and his closeness to groups and parties that were predominantly anti-clerical, even anti-religion. Giesswein felt that it was his Christian responsibility to reach out to and stand in solidarity with (in a non-paternalistic way) the urban working class and their labor unions. Disagreeing with its Marxist materialistic philosophical underpinnings, he was supportive of the program of the Social Democratic Party, which represented much of the urban working class (this was in sharp contrast to the mutual antagonism between much of the hierarchy of the church, the Christian parties, and most of the Social Democrats). The prelate was a consistent pacifist, unusual in a country that has fought for its independence and survival for a good part of its history, with little in the way of a pacifist tradition (although, to be sure, there was the non-violent, "passive" resistance of the Hungarian nobility in response to the repression of the "Bach era" in the aftermath of the suppression of the Revolution of 1848-1849). he backed the Revolution of 1918 and its radically democratic reforms even though the major political parties involved were anti-clerical. Giesswein supported the feminist movement and its aspirations - a movement that had had a role in the October 1918 Revolution and was represented in the government. He withdrew from public life during the short-lived Soviet Republic of 1919, and was later critical of the "Red Terror." Giesswein was also one of the staunchest critics of the "White Terror" of 1919-1920 and its attendant anti-Semitism. Virtually universally admired in Hungary, Giesswein was one of the most consistent parliamentary opponents of the Horthy regime (1920-1944) at the time of his death.

Though he wrote relatively little about his understanding of God, what he did write emanates into his Christian Socialism. Reciprocally, his Christian Socialism is a window into his understanding of God. In this article, I set out to explore the idea of God in the Christian Socialism of Sandor Giesswein.

LIFE AND TIMES

Sandor Giesswein was born in Tata on 4 February 1856. His father worked on the estate of the famous Esterhazy family, the wealthiest aristocratic family in Hungary. His mother was of Viennese origin and, as a result, Giesswein grew up in a bilingual household.

He attended his first four years of "gimnazium" in Tata; for his upper grades he was enrolled in Gyor, already preparing for the priesthood. His seminary training was in Vienna and Budapest. An excellent student, his favorite subjects were languages; he learned Latin, Greek, French, English, and Italian. His summers he liked to spend at home in Tata.

Giesswein was ordained a priest on 9 july 1879 at the ripe old age of 22. His first assignment was in Kismarton, where he would serve until 1881. Within two years, he was working in the bishop's office as an archivist and in the secretariat. In 1891, he was named "examining judge" ("examinator prosynodalis"); the following year he was appointed bishop's secretary. he was appointed canon of the Diocese of Gyor in 1897, Abbott in 1902, and in 1909 he received the title of Papal Prelate.

During this time, his scholarly pursuits revolved around what was then called "Oriental studies." His varied lectures and papers included "Buddhism and Christianity" ("Buddhizmus es Keresztenyseg") in 1889 and "The Egyptian Book of the Dead" ("Az oegyiptomi Hallotak konyve"), which he gave at the Hungarian Academy of Sciences. he was also preoccupied with the comparative study of languages, particularly those spoken in the region adjacent to the Ural Mountains in Russia, one of the ancestral homes of the Magyars ("Magyar" is the Hungarian word for Hungarian). One of these works he delivered to the St. Istvan Society in Hungary, and in Brussels in French under the title "Les elements localo-demonstratif du type" (1894). In 1899, he delivered a paper to the Societe bibliographique in Paris on "Progres del la linguistique."

For all his scholarly productivity, Giesswein was even more active as priest. he often preached and gave Lenten meditations in Gyor, not infrequently in German and in Hungarian since much of the older population of the city was German-speaking. His reputation was such that he was invited to speak and to preach in Budapest, Vienna, Rome, and Freiburg. Active in the Catholic circle of Gyor, he was elected a lifetime member. he was invited to speak to the Catholic circle of Budapest, which he did on "The Social Mission of the Catholic Church" (1896).1