Jan Hus between Time and Eternity: Reconsidering a Medieval Heretic by Thomas A. Fudge

Abstract

Reviewed by: Jan Hus between Time and Eternity: Reconsidering a Medieval Heretic by Thomas A. Fudge Louis J. Reith Jan Hus between Time and Eternity: Reconsidering a Medieval Heretic. By Thomas A. Fudge. Lanham, Maryland: Lexington Books, 2016. xx + 275 pp. A Czech professor friend who has met historian Thomas A. Fudge considers him to be “very provocative, sarcastic and fun. Czech Hus [End Page 350] scholars are bewildered by him. He is too much for them, but he does a great job of opening up new questions, perspectives, and forcing them from their comfort zones.” That tongue-in-cheek commentary from one of Jan Hus’ fellow countrywomen summarizes one view of the historian/theologian who undoubtedly is the most prolific non-Czech scholar publishing about Hus in the English language today. Author of no fewer than a dozen books and a multitude of articles about the martyred Czech heretic (all listed meticulously in the select bibliography at the end of the volume), Fudge has gathered together eleven essays under two guiding principles: “The first has reflected on what has not been investigated adequately within the historiography of Jan Hus while the second has considered what is unavailable in the English language” (xiv). His goal is not to write yet another Hus biography but rather to present “a series of portraits” of Hus that will enable us to understand better “his ambiguous stance between time (as an historical figure) and eternity (his memory and significance)” (xv). Each chapter, Fudge tells us, was developed specifically for the 2015 sexacentennial anniversary of Hus’ death and was prepared for presentation at “a variety of conferences, symposia, panel discussions, roundtable fora, and keynote addresses and lecture series” (xvii). Part One focuses upon Hus’ career as priest and reformer in Prague (one chapter suggestively entitled “The Sex Life of Jan Hus” concludes that he actually had none). Part Two examines Hus at Constance, focusing especially upon his trial and his views and sermons on heresy, but also on how he was viewed by his many enemies and detractors. Part Three examines Hus’ mixed legacy to the world, in the alleged “Hussite Crusade” in his native Bohemia (where Fudge judges his role to have been surprisingly slight), and particularly in his seven last words, which Fudge compares with the seven last words which Jesus Christ spoke from the cross. It is the final essay, an Epilogue entitled “Politicizing the Legend of Jan Hus” which is likely to prove most provocative for its intended audience of historians and scholars of the Czech Reformation—especially Fudge’s deliberate demolition of three modern legends of Hus: (1) a Catholic legend of Hus as a dangerous subversive and heretic; (2) a Protestant legend of Hus as a forerunner of Martin [End Page 351] Luther; and (3) a Czech national legend of Hus as an idealized national figure “manipulated as a mechanism for reviving and sanctifying the Czech nation” (227). As Fudge readily admits, it is the latter demolition that has provoked cries of outrage from a number of Czech scholars who, he claims, appear “more concerned with the Hus of myth than the Hus of history” (236). The chief objects of his ire appear to be those Czech historians whom he castigates for believing that Hus scholarship can only be carried out by Czech nationals. Inasmuch as Fudge alludes directly to some painful personal experiences of marginalization (even condescension) at the hands of some Czech colleagues, one could be forgiven for wishing that some sympathetic persons could have gently reminded them of Martin Luther’s similar elevation to heroic national stature in late nineteenth-century German historiography, until the twin scourges of National Socialism and Communism ushered in drastic reappraisals and sober reassessments of the great reformer in post-Nazi and post-Communist historical scholarship. Surprisingly, Fudge does not mention Czechoslovakian President Tomáš Masaryk’s oft-expressed desire for a “Hussite state,” despite Masaryk’s selection of a quotation from Jan Hus as the national motto: “Pravda vítězí [Truth prevails].” Similarly, he overlooks the continuum that connects Czech history, from Jan Hus’ zeal for truth to Václav Havel’s famous dictum six hundred years later, that “truth...