Individually Published Czech Festive and Occasional Preachings of the End of the 17th and the First Two Thirds of the 18th Century

Individually Published Czech Festive and Occasional Preachings of the End of the 17th and the First Two Thirds of the 18th Century Miloš Sládek The thesis concentrates on the area of festive and occasional homiletics in Bohemia after the Battle of White Mountain. Since the end of the 17th century, homiletics had represented the Czech leading literary genre with extraordinary influence on the masses. This influence was even strenghtened when printed preachings gradually became popular reading. The main focus of the thesis is on the questions of preparation of preaching, problematics of preaching handbooks, relationship of a preacher and his listeners, as well as the area of Classicist and conceptual preaching. The Baroque concept is described in connections with the aspect of growing author's self-esteem at that time. Editions of chosen sixteen preachings with introductions are added to demonstrate (or relativise) the conclusions of the first part of the thesis. Festive preaching in Bohemia was essentially influenced by legends, German Catholic preaching and myths and folk-tales. Emphasis on Christian morality is typical for Sunday preaching, however, it also appears in festive preachings. The influence of festive and occasional preaching of the end of the 17th and the first half of the 18th century on..