Josef Smolík – Učitel Komenského fakulty

Abstract

For four decades, 1950–1990, Josef Smolík was a professor at the Comenius Protestant Theological Faculty in Prague. As the only one of Czech practical theologians, he taught at the faculty throughout its existence and his teaching included all basic practical-theological disciplines. He gradually published textbooks of liturgics (Some Chapters from the Liturgics, 1960), catechetics (Commitment of Baptism, 1974), homiletics (Joy of the Word, 1983) and poimenics (Pastoral Care, 1991). Smolík’s theological works culminate in the theological encyclopedia Introduction to the Study of Theology (1978) and in the ecumenically conceived practical ecclesiology Christ and His People (1997). He applied the achievements of his academic theology to ecclesiastical practice in a small catechetical handbook The Way of Life (1968) and in two volumes of the liturgical book (Agenda I, 1983; II, 1988). He paid constant attention to Historical Theology, especially the theology of the Unity of Brethren (Sermon in the Reformation, 1954; Jan Augusta, 1984) and of his theological masters and colleagues (Comenius Faculty’s Teachers, 1989; J. L. Hromádka. His Life and His Work, 1989/1991). Several generations of Czechs interested in modern theology drew on the monograph Current Attempts to Interpret the Gospel (1966–1993, five editions). The jubilee lecture is an attempt to present the binding heritage of Josef Smolík in all its amplitude, enriched with personal memories of our unforgettable teacher.