Hussite theology and the law of God

Abstract

Fifteenth-century Europe viewed Jan Huss and the Hussites as heretics, while the latter perceived themselves as reformers. Conflict was inevitable. Huss was burned at the stake in 1415 and crusades dispatched were to suppress his recalcitrant followers. Despite these adversities, Hussitism aimed at reforming church and society. This reform programme codified its goals in the 'Four Articles of Prague', promulgated in 1420: free preaching of the Word of God, communion in both kinds for all believers, elimination of ecclesiastical secular power, and the punishment of serious sins. Free preaching existed virtually everywhere in Hussite Bohemia and utraquism - both bread and wine for all believers - began in 1414. Divesting ecclesiastical wealth became a consequence of the Hussite wars, and by the 1420S an office was established to deal with punishing sin. Across the broad expanse of Hussite theology, these 'Four Articles' functioned as a reform focus. Hussite reform can be fully understood only within an eschatological consciousness. This awareness can be detected principally within the radical dimensions of the Hussite movement.