CONFESIUNE, IDENTITATE, TOLERANȚĂ RELIGIOASĂ ÎN COLEGIILE REFORMATE DIN ROMÂNIA: MODELAREA UMANISMULUI RELIGIOS ÎN SECOLUL XX-XXI
Confession, Identity, Religious Tolerance in Reformed Colleges in Romania: Shaping Religious Humanism in the 20th-21st Century

Summary/Abstract: The Reformed colleges were the product of Protestant pedagogy within the framework of the Reformation. They developed in competition with existing models, by copying, multiplying, or even replacing other educational centers. The pedagogical institutions were closely linked to pedagogical centers in the Netherlands, the German Principalities, Switzerland, and England. The existence of these centers generated identity debates within the Reformation. Protestant education in Transylvania is represented by several exceptional pedagogical centers of the Reformed Church in Aiud, Alba Iulia, Cluj, Zalău, Odorhei, Sfântu Gheorghe, Oradea, Târgu Mureș, and Orăștie. The establishment of Reformed colleges meant the progressive building—up to the 18th century—of a Hungarian identity discourse beyond the confessional one. The relationship between primary schools—general schools at the level of rural or semi-urban localities—and higher-level educational institutions was deeply dynamic. The formation of educational centers was closely tied to the political figures of the Principality, whose erudition and humanism formulated educational goals with the aim of forming elites in a tolerant and humanist spirit. Socially, it represented the only chance for the lower classes to rise and for the middle classes to engage in a long educational process carried out under the auspices of pietas et eruditio.

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