The Idol Moloch in the Church. The Interconnection of Calvinist Identity and the Memory of Reformation in the South-Eastern Part of the Hungarian Kingdom in the 18th Century

Abstract

"In Vadász, Arad County, in the second third of the 18th century, the statue of Moloch in the village church caused a conflict, as the local Reformed minister had had it destroyed around 1769. At first glance, the situation seems simple since it is not customary in Reformed churches to have the decoration typical of Catholic churches, so it is not surprising that the minister removed it. Yet the situation is not clear-cut because we do not know why it had not bothered anyone in the two hundred years since the Reformation began. In our study, we describe – through the example of the statue destruction in Vadász – what Reformed identity was like in the Kingdom of Hungary in the 18th century. In our analysis, we find that the development of Reformed conscience was delayed compared to the western half of Europe. The same is demonstrated in the 18th-century Reformed Church history writings, as the events of the Reformation had not been put on paper in most congregations up until then. Most congregational histories are based on oral traditions, with little historical literature being used to support them. Keywords: collective memory, Reformed church, oral tradition, historiography, Calvinist identity, history of reading, idol demolition, history of Reformation, Hungarian Kingdom "