The Holy See’s interest in the Czech lands during the Protectorate

This article focuses on the departure of the Lovára from the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia to Slovakia upon Czechoslovakia’s disintegration in 1939. Based on a combination of archival research and oral history methods, it shows the Lovára’s departure in the context of the contemporaneous measures and efforts of the state administration to limit the mobility of “nomadic Gypsies” in the Czech lands, continuous throughout the pre-war period, and to stoke anti-Gypsy sentiments which were politically supported and growing in the society of the time. This description is enriched by the perspectives of participants - narrations of Roms who were perceived as “nomads” and witnessed these events. The study opens epistemic dilemmas of how to determine the category of Lovára in the available archival sources as well as how to speak about the Lovára in a historical context without essentializing this category. The author reconstructs the presence of the Lovára’s stay in the Czech lands during the First Republic from gendarme reports and other state administration documents and submits evidence of mobility of the Lovára in Czechia in the interwar decades. Their presence terminated upon Czechoslovakia’s disintegration in 1939 when the Lovára and other Roms of Slovak home affiliation had to relocate themselves from the protectorate to Slovakia. The author analyses the circumstances and the course of the departure of Lovára and other Romani families from the Czech lands to Slovakia on the eve of the Second World War and presents the narrators’ reflections on the sudden departure and subsequent peripeteia of individual families in Slovakia during the war.

The paper deals with re-education as one of the hidden symbols of modernity using the example of National Socialist nationality politics. It analyses a theoretical concept behind the National Socialist ethnic and racial policy in East Central Europe, especially in the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia. It presents the concept of Umvolkung as a theoretical basis on which it was possible to think of a significant part of the Czech population that met the racist criteria of the National Socialists, that it was originally the German population who lost its national identity during the centuries. The concept should also help to develop a strategy to re-educate the people of the Protectorate, and in the long run it should eventually lead to ethnocide, i. e. to disintegrate or directly destroy the Czech collective national identity. One of the key figures in shaping the concept was the young Nazi scholar Hans Joachim Beyer (1908–1971), who came to the Protectorate on the advice of the Deputy Reich Protector Reinhard Heydrich and headed the most politically influenced Science Foundation in Czech Lands (Reinhard Heydrich Foundation for Scientific Research in Prague). In order to justify the future National Socialist Germanization policy, Beyer developed a new theory of the origins of the Czech people in collaboration with the anthropologist K. V. Müller.

The Czechoslovak State came into existence on 28 Oct. 1918 after the dissolution of Austria-Hungary. Two days later the Slovak National Council declared its wish to unite with the Czechs. The Treaty of St Germain-en-Laye (1919) recognized the Czechoslovak Republic, consisting of the Czech lands (Bohemia, Moravia, part of Silesia) and Slovakia. In March 1939 the German-sponsored Slovak government proclaimed Slovakia independent and Germany incorporated the Czech lands into the Reich as the ‘Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia’. A government-in-exile, headed by Dr Edvard Beneš, was set up in London. Liberation by the Soviet Army and US Forces was completed by May 1945. Territories taken by the Germans, Poles and Hungarians were restored to Czechoslovak sovereignty. Elections were held in May 1946 following which a coalition government under a Communist prime minister, Klement Gottwald, remained in power until 20 Feb. 1948, when 12 of the non-Communist ministers resigned in protest against infiltration of Communists into the police. In Feb. a predominantly Communist government was formed by Gottwald. The May 1948 rigged elections resulted in an 89% majority for the government and President Beneš resigned.KeywordsForeign Direct InvestmentPrime MinisterSlovak RepublicCoalition GovernmentMusic FestivalThese keywords were added by machine and not by the authors. This process is experimental and the keywords may be updated as the learning algorithm improves.

The Czechoslovak State came into existence on 28 Oct. 1918 after the dissolution of Austria-Hungary. Two days later the Slovak National Council declared its wish to unite with the Czechs. The Treaty of St Germain-en-Laye (1919) recognized the Czechoslovak Republic, consisting of the Czech lands (Bohemia, Moravia, part of Silesia) and Slovakia. In March 1939 the German-sponsored Slovak government proclaimed Slovakia independent and Germany incorporated the Czech lands into the Reich as the ‘Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia’. A government-in-exile, headed by Dr Edvard Beneš, was set up in London. Liberation by the Soviet Army and US Forces was completed by May 1945. Territories taken by the Germans, Poles and Hungarians were restored to Czechoslovak sovereignty. Elections were held in May 1946 following which a coalition government under a Communist Prime Minister, Klement Gottwald, remained in power until 20 Feb. 1948, when 12 of the non-Communist ministers resigned in protest against infiltration of Communists into the police. In Feb. a predominantly Communist government was formed by Gottwald. In May 1948 elections resulted in an 89% majority for the government and President Beneš resigned.

Reviewed by: Images of Purgatory: Studies in Religious Imagination and Innovation (The Czech Lands, 1600–1800) by Tomáš Malý and Pavel Suchánek Marc R. Forster Images of Purgatory: Studies in Religious Imagination and Innovation (The Czech Lands, 1600–1800). By Tomáš Malý and Pavel Suchánek. Translated by Stuart Roberts. (Rome: Viella. 2021. Pp. xviii, 260. €36,00. ISBN: 9788833137421.) This detailed and densely argued study examines images depicting Purgatory in Catholic churches in the early modern Czech lands (Bohemia, Moravia, Silesia). The analysis of these images is placed in the context of the evolving theology of Purgatory, as well as the religious practices and popular beliefs that were linked to Purgatory. The authors show how Purgatory provides an excellent window into the nature and evolution of baroque piety in Early Modern Catholicism. The book is structured as a kind of top-down analysis of Purgatory. Chapter One discusses doctrine, Chapter Two the images, and Chapter Three pious practices around Purgatory. Chapter Four examines “popular culture,” that is unofficial beliefs and practices, sometimes called here “debatable” practices. This simple and somewhat old-fashioned structure does not do justice to the nuances of this study. The authors [End Page 205] are always interested in interactions between different media, social groups, and cultural traditions. Developments in the Czech lands are examined in the context of international Catholicism, with reference, for example, to pious literature from Germany, Spain, and France. The interactions between written texts and the images found in churches and chapels is also central to the study. The study is informed by wide reading in Czech, German, English, and French-language historiography and is methodologically sophisticated, particularly in its discussion of images. This study will open the eyes of historians who only know about the doctrine of Purgatory from Martin Luther’s critique of indulgences. Purgatory was confirmed at the Council of Trent, and gained importance in Catholic religious practice in the seventeenth century. Maly and Suchánek link much of the growing role of Purgatory to the Jesuits. From the beginning of the Society, the Jesuits promoted meditative practices that focused on imagination and emotion, most famously in the Spiritual Exercises. Purgatory, and images of Purgatory, were good for this kind of piety, with visions of tormented souls in Purgatory stoking the fears of punishment and appealing to the sympathy of the faithful. Pious practices around Purgatory were supported by, and in turn encouraged, other aspect of baroque piety. The authors highlight the growing importance of “privileged altars” (or indulgence altars), where people could pray for the release of family members and friends from Purgatory. The altars were often founded by confraternities and religious orders, important promoters of baroque religion. “The new altar allowed everyone, regardless of social status, to take an active part in commemorative rituals and was a reflection of the post-Tridentine concept of requiem culture with the principle of the exchange of merits between the living and the deceased” (p. 157). This “requiem culture” was also important in pilgrimage piety and processional practices, other important elements of Catholic culture in this era. The images of Purgatory drew on early modern ideas about the emotions. Emotions were understood to stimulate the “passions of the soul” and lead people to piety. Furthermore, the authors emphasize that “. . . in the case of Purgatory, negative emotions (fear, pain) and positive emotions (hope, the certainly of salvation–joy) were combined” (p. 88). The images presented in the book show the intensity of emotions as well as the “extraordinary multi-layered nature and diverse variety of the post-Tridentine iconography of Purgatory” (p. 81). This iconography reinforced Catholic doctrines of the Eucharist, the Passion, the cult of Mary, and the cult of St. Joseph, as the patron saint of the good death. Maly and Suchánek insist nevertheless, that the images of purgatory, while often didactic, also responded to the beliefs of the common people. For example, although fire was officially the only punishment found in Purgatory, the images also depict snakes, demons, dragons, and other creatures tormenting the souls in Purgatory. An important conclusion of Images of Purgatory is that the engagement with Purgatory changed perceptively over the period of this...

662Diplomatic relations — Diplomatic correspondence — Exchange of Notes between United States Embassy and United Kingdom’s Foreign and Commonwealth Office — Express waiver of United States Embassy Administrative and Technical staff’s diplomatic immunity from criminal jurisdiction of United Kingdom, in relation to acts performed outside course of duties — Whether express waiver of criminal immunity applying to family members of United States Embassy Administrative and Technical staff — Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations, 1961 — Whether entitling family members of diplomatic staff to derivative set of privileges and immunities or conferring separate entitlements to inviolability and immunity — The law of England

The Jews of Bohemia & Moravia: Facing the Holocaust, by Livia Rothkirchen. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press and Jerusalem: Yad Vashem, 2005.447 pp. $39.95. Livia Rothkirchen in the present publication takes up the task of describing the history of the Jewish presence in Bohemia and Moravia. It is, at this juncture, worth recalling the situation prevalent for many years regarding the mapping of Jewish history in the Czech lands. During the years of Communist domination (1948-1989), historians had only very limited possibilities in treating this theme. In the early 1950s, a climate of official antisemitism made it impossible for historians officially to perform research or to publish on Jewish themes. By the 1960s, conditions began to improve. Literary scholars, led by Eduard Goldstucker, began to write about the figure of Franz Kafka, or publish studies of Prague's German-language literature. Hana Volavkova's The Story of the Prague Jewish Museum (Ph'beh 2idovskeho muzea v Praze) finally saw publication, as well as the exceptional work of Karel Lagus and Josef Polik, The City Behind Bars (Mesto za mrizemi), a depiction of the Jewish ghetto of Theresienstadt (Terezin) during the Nazi occupation. After a long silence, writing about the sufferings of the Jewish population during World War Two was finally allowed. In short, it seemed that the time had come that would allow for more extensive research into the history of the Czechoslovak Jews. But after the invasion of Warsaw Pact troops in August 1968, thePrague Spring came to an end. In the ensuing period of cultural and political repression during the next two decades, the possibilities of conducting historical research in any official framework were again severely restricted. As far as topics in Jewish history were concerned, the maximum possible achievements were the publication of relatively brief studies of earlier Jewish history or significant Czech Jewish individuals in scholarly compendia or professional journals with a limited circulation. All of these limitations came to an end with the political changes of 1989. Czech historians began to publish a wide series of books and articles about the country's Jewish history, with the greatest emphasis devoted to the catastrophe of World War Two. The situation outlined above led to the paradox that the study of Czech Jewish history developed far more extensively abroad, particularly amongjewish emigrants from Czechoslovakia. It was a sovereign interest of the Jewish emigre communities that this history not be forgotten, and it was they who started initiatives to support research in the field. The impressive result of these efforts was the three-volume publication The Jews of Czechoslovakia, a decades-long collaborative effort headed by Czech-born Israeli diplomat and writer Avigdor Dagan. Understandably, the work of the authors was hindered by the fact that they could not work with documents kept in Czechoslovak archives, yet despite this handicap they succeeded in creating a publication that can be regarded as essential for the study of the history of the Jews of Czechoslovakia. One of the members of the team of authors was Livia Rothkirchen, who has been conducting research in this field for many decades. She formerly worked for the Yad Vashem Holocaust Memorial in Jerusalem, and has published many studies with a predominant focus on the period of World War Two. In her publication The Jews of Bohemia 6- Moravia, she has taken up the daunting task of capturing the history of the Jewish presence in the broadest sense, drawing on her long years of research. Her introductory chapter outlines the history of the Jews in the Czech lands from the 10th century until the creation of independent Czechoslovakia in 1918. She then turns her attention to the position of Jews in Czechoslovak society between the two wars, noting the manifestations of antisemitism in Czechoslovakia at the end of 1938 and the beginning of 1939. …

Purpose. The purpose of the study is to analyze the legal status of the satellite countries and the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia, and to identify common and distinctive features. Methodology. The methodological basis of the study is a combination of philosophical, general scientific and special methods of cognition. The dialectical method was used to clarify the prerequisites for the emergence, formation and development of the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia. The systemic-structural method made it possible to distinguish the constituent elements of the legal status of the Protectorate and its satellite countries. The comparative legal method was used to compare the forms and methods of interaction between the Third Reich and the satellite countries. Results. Thus, the Nazi theory of the occupation administration in the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia aimed to preserve the appearance of a relatively independent Czech state under German administration. In this regard, a dual system of governance, the German-Czech system, was maintained for a long time. The Czech component was represented by the president and the government, which had executive and administrative functions. The general management of the protectorate was entrusted to a protector appointed by the Reich Chancellor. The satellite states retained national power. Restrictions concerned only foreign policy activities, which had to be coordinated with the Third Reich. Common to the Protectorate and the satellite states was the subordination of the economic and military spheres to German needs. Scientific novelty. The study shows that the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia did not correspond to the classical understanding of the concept of "protectorate", as it was not the result of an interstate agreement, but a unilateral decision of the Nazi German authorities. In addition, the author clarifies the organizational and legal framework of the autonomous authorities of the Protectorate and establishes that their activities were regulated by the regulations adopted in the Third Reich. Practical significance. The formulated conclusions can be used in research work – for the formation of a systematic approach to understanding the legal status of satellites and protectorates and in the educational process – in the formation and teaching of the discipline "History of State and Law of Foreign Countries".

В центре внимания данного исследования находятся два списка запрещенных книг, составленные в XVIII в. иезуитом Антонином Кониашем для Чешских земель: «Ключ к еретическим заблуждениям» и «Индекс чешских запрещенных книг». Эти списки рассматриваются в контексте побелогорской рекатолизации Чешских земель и конфессиональной эпохи в целом. Автор анализирует отношение к чтению в данный период и приходит к выводу, что католическая церковь стремилась установить контроль над мировоззрением паствы, чему могла способствовать работа над доступной для населения литературой. В статье также рассмотрен состав обоих списков. Их основу составляли книги на чешском и немецком языках, поскольку именно эти языки были наиболее распространены в Чешских землях. Антонин Кониаш включил в списки сочинения некатолических авторов, работы, содержащие неверную трактовку католических доктрин. Значительную часть запрещенных книг составляют проповеди и нравоучительная литература, поскольку именно эти тексты были наиболее доступны простому населению, а, следовательно, наиболее опасны для католической церкви. Важно отметить, однако, что иезуит провел тщательную работу с подлежащей запрету литературой, часть вошедших в списки книг могла быть исправлена. В заключении делается вывод о том, что составление списков запрещенной литературы могло служить инструментом рекатолизации. Деятельность Кониаша соответствовала общей тенденции к углублению религиозности населения, которая была характерной чертой конфессиональной эпохи и тридентского католицизма. The study focuses on two lists of forbidden books compiled in the XVIII century by the Jesuit Antonin Koniash for the Czech lands: “The Key to Heretical Delusions” and “Index of Forbidden Czech Books”. These lists are considered in the context of the Post-White Mountain re-Catholicization of the Czech lands and also in the context of the confessional era. The author analyzes the attitude to reading in this period and concludes that the Catholic Church tried to establish control over the people's minds. This could be facilitated by work on literature accessible to the population. The article also discusses the composition of both lists. They were based on books in Czech and German, since these languages were the most common in the Czech lands. Antonin Koniash included in the lists works by non-Catholic authors and books containing incorrect interpretation of Catholic doctrines. A significant part of the forbidden books are sermons and moral literature, since these texts were the most accessible to the common people, and therefore the most dangerous for the Catholic Church. It is important to note, however, that the Jesuit carried out a thorough work with the forbidden literature, some of the books in the lists could be corrected. In conclusion, important to say that the lists of prohibited books could serve as an instrument for re-Catholicization of the Czech lands. Koniash's activity corresponded to the general tendency to deepen the religiosity of the population, which was an important characteristic of the confessional era and Trident Catholicism.

This study deals with the transformation of Czech historical science's view of the rule of the Habsburgs in the lands of the Czech Crown at the beginning of the modern era. Firstly, the author briefly describes the opinions of historians who from the 19th century onwards criticized the Habsburgs for their notable detachment from Czech national interests. This negative evaluation of them as a hostile dynasty which caused social, national, and religious oppression in the lands of the Czech Crown, especially after the Battle of the White Mountain, was prevalent in Czech historical science well into the 20th century. The difference in the views of Western European and Czech historians about the historical role of the Habsburgs in Central Europe became still more pronounced in the 1950s to 1980s. The framework of ideologically distorted viewpoints was transcended only by the work of Josef Janáček and later of Jaroslav Pánek, who in the early 1990s was the first to adopt a programmed critical approach to evaluating the rule of the Habsburgs without ideological, moralizing and above all emotionally patriotic prejudices and stereotypes. The failure of his project was influenced by a complete absence of case studies which would permit comparative research into the political, religious and cultural history of the Czech Crown Lands in the early modern Habsburg monarchy. Next, the author of this study follows the research journeys of Czech historians who over the past thirty years have investigated topics relating to the political power of the Habsburgs, their Catholic faith and dynastic representation in the Czech lands in the 16th and 17th centuries. Their scientific efforts are presented within the broad international context of research into the history of the Habsburg dynasty in Central Europe. Despite case studies and the most recently published two-volume work on the Habsburgs, modern Czech historical science has not yet been able to get to grips in the fullest sense with the rule of this dynasty in the Czech Lands. In future years, the long-awaited climax of the journey towards the fulfilment of a conceptually demanding scientific aim should be a "Czech" view of the history of the Habsburg monarchy - of the Habsburgs' rule within the Central European monarchy and the representation of their power and piety.

Occupation Policy in Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia Industry: An Example of Ĺ koda Works The study describes occupation policy and administration, including goals in the Pro-tectorate of Bohemia and Moravia. It analyses measures carried out by the occupation administration in the manufacturing, more specifically in the armament industry, and presents selected specific measures and their impacts on the industrial sector and arms production. In this regard, the company Ĺ koda Works, the largest arms manufacturer, serves as an illustrative case study. The measures affected the Protectorate industry, which was completely restructured based on the needs of the German war economy. By analysing selected principles of the administration's operation, specific measures and their real effects on the arms industry, the study shows the potential and real economic significance of the German occupation of the Czech lands.

In the present article the author analyzes the process of transformation of the policy of historical memory in the Second Czechoslovak Republic, which emerged after the Munich capitulation of Czechoslovakia in September 1938, and in the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia, created by Hitler after the final occupation of the Czech Republic in March 1939. The main change in the policy of historical memory consisted in its complete adaptation to the interests of the Third Reich and was intended to maximally legitimize the seizure and occupation of the Czech lands by Nazi Germany. As the result, the national revival, Hussite and Awakening traditions that dominated during the period of the First Czechoslovak Republic (1918-1938) were completely discarded. Instead, the cult of the traditional patron of the Czech lands, Saint Prince Wenceslas of the Přemyslid dynasty, was revived and interpreted by protectorate propaganda as a wise and far-sighted politician who immediately made the only correct choice in favor of Germany, and that allowed the protectorate authorities to pursue a clearly pro-Nazi policy of collaborationism, which continued until the beginning of May 1945.

 Reviews narrator, the tragic story from Ovid that sends him to sleep, and the mysterious man in black. Here, B. S. W. Barootes sheds light on the therapeutic benefits of idle activities, including reading; and Rebecca Davies explores the recuperative work of sleep. Ardis Butterfield’s valuable retrospective of the book’s contents completes the framework begun by Fumo’s excellent Introduction. Butterfield reconfigures some of the key features of the Book of the Duchess—including its literary allusions, referencing of lyric, and shape-shiing—as an archive that memorializes Blanche by allowing access to her memory not as an inert image of an irretrievable past but as a living affect assimilated to the continuing present. U  K P B Lying in Early Modern English Culture: From the Oath of Supremacy to the Oath of Allegiance. By A H. Oxford: Oxford University Press. . xvi+ pp. £. ISBN ––––. ‘[T]he opposite of truth hath many-many shapes.’ Montaigne’s observation in his essay ‘Of Lyers’ could serve as an apt motto for Andrew Hadfield’s wide-ranging study of lying in early modern England (where it is quoted on page ). Attending to various religious, rhetorical, and political contexts, Hadfield’s ‘cultural [. . .] history of lying’ (p. ) persuasively demonstrates that early modern conceptions of mendacity were marked by their plurality. A recognition of the noxious effects of lying existed alongside a politics that exploited dissemblance and a literary culture that understood the power of persuasive fictions. A perceived tension between God’s authority and the power wielded by temporal rulers also played an important role in shaping the manner in which lies were used. Hadfield’s volume comprises two parts. e first of these discusses the relationship between lying and oaths: its two chapters, focusing on the Oath of Supremacy () and the Oath of Allegiance (), bookend the historical period covered by the study. Chapter  discusses the trials of omas More and Anne Boleyn, which are informed by ‘a context of oath-breaking, perjury, and lying precipitated by the Reformation’ (p. ). Hadfield’s treatment of More is especially illuminating , showing how appeals to divinity could justify dissimulation: More’s promise before God surpassed Henry’s oath in its binding force. Hadfield’s discussion of Wyatt’s poetry is likewise effective in demonstrating how a new scrutiny on spoken words inflected literary representations. In Chapter  Hadfield’s investigation of the accounts of the persecution of Roman Catholics later in the period uncovers further connections between lies, political power, and discursive practices. Whereas James’s oath demanded that it be sworn ‘according to the plain and common sense and understanding’ of its own words (quoted on page. ), Catholic adherents formulated an array of verbal dissemblance techniques that would preserve the speaker as a ‘truth-teller before God, while deliberately misleading the authorities’ (p. ). Again, Hadfield usefully places the treatises and trials of Catholics that he examines within broader literary and political contexts. e second part contains expansive and detailed case studies, showing how MLR, .,   notions of lying depended on different circumstances. Chapter  examines lying in religious contexts: it demonstrates the variety of positions adopted vis-à-vis dissemblance in the religious turmoil of the period, when a polemically stark distinction between truth and lies existed alongside strategic ‘duplicity’ in terms of religious allegiance (p. ). Hadfield turns to rhetoric, commonplacing, and poetics in Chapter , where he examines the dangers and uses of mendacity in Renaissance rhetoric, and the strategic advantage of literary fictions for Sidney. Perhaps the most compelling part of this chapter occurs when it thinks about the hermeneutic aspects of deception, particularly in addressing the relationship between lying and humanist reading practices adumbrated by Erasmus. Chapters  and  are arguably the strongest elements of the volume’s second part. e first of these, examining courtesy, lying, and politics, draws on Spenser, courtesy books, Machiavelli, and Cicero to assess the uneasily close relationship between courtly politics and dissembling; it also features a superbly nuanced reading of political lying in Marlowe’s plays. Chapter  attends to testimony, and as such allows for a wonderfully detailed account of fictive embellishments and literary archetypes...

It is one of the many ironies of early Methodism that John Wesley was accused by some opponents of being a Jesuit and Jacobite enemy of the British crown, despite his numerous polemical writings warning against the spiritual and political dangers posed by Catholicism. In a period when an intellectual elite were increasingly tolerant of Catholicism, Wesley remained highly suspicious of Roman Catholic intentions. As a noted controversialist in a resolutely Protestant vein, he was even blamed by some for being among the chief instigators of the anti-Catholic Gordon Riots of 1780 in London. If Wesley’s theological and practical appraisal of Catholicism was undoubtedly complex, the contradictory accusations levelled against him reflect the feverish state of British public life in the eighteenth century, when religion and politics were inseparably intertwined. Accusing an opponent of harbouring Roman Catholic sympathies was a convenient means of political mudslinging.Typical of Wesley’s literary output on the subject, Popery Calmly Considered (1779) offers anything but a measured assessment of Catholicism. Yet his earlier sermon Catholic Spirit (1755) and Letter to a Roman Catholic (1749) are often cited without reference to their historical context to claim that an apparently eirenic Wesley was more tolerant of Catholicism than most of his contemporaries and in certain respects the forerunner of the twentieth-century ecumenists.Although many commentators have recognized Wesley’s decidedly ambivalent appraisal of Catholicism—a combination of popular anti-Catholicism, reluctance to unchurch its adherents, and appreciation for selected Catholic devotional literature—Methodist and Wesley studies have lacked an in-depth historical study of his intellectual response to the existential encounter with Roman Catholics in person and print. To fill the gap, The Limits of a Catholic Spirit ‘is a historical investigation of John Wesley’s relationship with Catholicism, examining the limits to which Wesley, as an evangelical Protestant, practised his ideal of a catholic spirit’ (197).Yates pays careful attention to Wesley’s journal, letters, and diaries, together with the sermons and other publications, making extensive use of unpublished correspondence and manuscripts relating to Methodist missions in Ireland as well as the Gordon Riots. She argues that the sermon Catholic Spirit was never intended to apply in the case of Roman Catholics but rather was directed toward defusing internal Protestant disputes, typically involving Calvinists and Anglicans. Furthermore, Letter to a Roman Catholic, written in the aftermath of serious riots in Dublin, was intended as a gesture of goodwill to win the trust of Roman Catholics, thereby making them more amenable to evangelical conversion.Yates teaches at Southern Nazarene University, Northwest Nazarene University, and Indiana Wesleyan University. This book is a revision of her PhD thesis completed through the University of Manchester. Such is the scope for reinterpreting the Wesleyan corpus (to which should be added the hymns of Charles Wesley) against its contemporary backdrop, scholars will no doubt continue to debate the theological and political influences on Wesley as well as his strategic intentions. Moreover, a complete understanding of the significance of Wesley’s purposeful editing for Methodist consumption of a select number of popular and obscure Catholic devotional writings awaits with the recent publication of volume XVI in the critical edition of the Works of John Wesley. Meanwhile, The Limits of a Catholic Spirit provides an authoritative survey of Wesley’s reaction to Catholicism in its historical and political context.In the nineteenth century, despite claims to be ‘friends of all, enemies of none’, Methodists in Britain and North America were among the leading opponents of Catholicism, with significant political and civic consequences. Only in the wake of the Second Vatican Council did Methodists begin to perceive Catholicism in more positive light. Nowadays Methodists generally reveal a selective memory of the Wesleyan patrimony, conveniently overlooking their forebears’ anti-Catholic zeal. Proud of Methodism’s long-standing commitment to ecumenism, Methodist leaders often fail to understand why successive popes should be reluctant to share in acknowledging notable Wesleyan anniversaries. Since John Wesley bears a heavy responsibility for shaping subsequent Methodist attitudes toward Catholicism over the course of two centuries, Yates has provided Methodist and Wesley studies with a welcome contribution to understanding his mixed legacy in this regard. For Church historians, The Limits of a Catholic Spirit locates Wesley’s writings on the subject in their immediate religious and political context. Ecumenists will draw salutary lessons from Wesley’s failure to apply to Roman Catholics that catholic spirit of which he wrote so eloquently. Overall, scholars and general readers alike will appreciate this well-researched and accessible study of John Wesley’s response to Catholicism in a turbulent political age of Enlightenment and formative period of Methodist history and theology.

Ancient diplomatic correspondence to China from East Asian states has been a subject of research interest in Sinology, especially with respect to its relevance to historical politics and ideology in Asia. References to its implications to translation studies, if any, were, however, quite minimal. This article represents an initial attempt to examine China-bound diplomatic correspondence from the perspective of translation history. Diplomatic letters sent in medieval times by Yamato (known as Japan since 700) and the three Korean states (namely, Paekche, Silla, and Koguryǒ) were generally confirmed to be written in Chinese, not translated. However, the case for China-bound diplomatic correspondence from Türk (on Mongolia steppes)—previously a rival state to China, and later on a vassal state—is still controversial. In this article, examples are chosen from two letters presented by the Türkish qaqhans (tribal chieftains) to China during the Sui dynasty (581–618), to find out if these letters might have been translated from the Türkic language into Chinese. Evidence from standard histories of Northern dynasty China (Zhoushu and Beiqishu, among others) suggests the existence and use of a written Türkic language by the mid-sixth century. This written language, borrowing some Sogdian (present-day Uzbek) words, was said to be similar to the other written languages on the steppes, and was found to have been used in diplomatic and religious contexts, as early as the mid-sixth century. This article argues that if there was a written language in Türk at the time, it is reasonable to assume that the Türkish state letters presented to China might have been written in the Türkic language first, before being translated into Chinese.