Contents

Abbreviations

Chapter One On the Historiography of the Baptist Movement Among the Hungarians: An Introduction to a New Study of Hungarian Baptist Origins

Chapter Two Pioneers and Pilgrims: The First Attempt to Establish a Baptist Movement in Hungary

1. The Religious Situation in Hungary from the Reform Period through Neo-Absolutism

1.1. From the Reform Period through the Revolution of 1848

1.2. The Churches under Neo-Absolutism

2. Roots of the Hungarian Baptist Mission

2.1. J.G. Oncken—The Father of Continental Baptists

2.2. “For the praise of God and for the welfare of man, Hamburg, 1842.”

2.3. Oncken’s “Mission-School”

3. The First Baptist Missionaries in Hungary: The Sending of Rottmayer, Scharschmidt, and Woyka

4. The Baptist Missions in Pest and Pécs up to the Revolution

4.1. Johann Rottmayer’s Early Work in Pest

4.2. Johann Woyka and the Baptist Mission in Pécs

5. The Impact of the Revolution on the Hungarian Baptist Mission and the Missionaries

5.1. The Mission to Pécs and the Fate of Woyka

5.2. Progress Suppressed: The Work in Pest and the Loss of the German Brethren

6. The Last Man Standing: Rottmayer and the Baptist Mission in Pest under Neo-Absolutism, 1849–1866

6.1. Martial Law and the Bach Period, 1849–1859

6.2. From the Patent Fight to the Eve of Dualism: Rottmayer’s Renewed Cooperation with the Scottish Mission and the Baptisms of 1865

6.3. The End of Rottmayer’s Work in Pest

Chapter Three The Hidden Years: The Later Work and Ministry of Johann Rottmayer and the Bible Colportage of Antal Novák

1. The Bible Colportage and Evangelism of Johann Rottmayer and Antal Novák as Preparation for Success of the Hungarian Baptist Mission under Heinrich Meyer

2. Antal Novák: Pioneer of the Magyar Baptist Mission

3. Johann Rottmayer’s Work in Kolozsvár

3.1. Early Work and Travels

3.2. Rottmayer’s Trip to Hamburg and Re-Marriage

3.3. The Development of the Kolozsvár Depot

3.4. Rottmayer’s Sunday School and Hymnbook

3.5. Rottmayer’s Baptist Mission in Kolozsvár and Cooperative Baptist Work

3.6. Rottmayer’s Retirement and the Closure of the Depot

4. Why was No Lasting Baptist Mission Planted at the First Attempt?

Chapter Four Wandering Apostles and Prophets: The Establishment of a Sustained Baptist Mission in Hungary

1. The Impact of the Compromise on the Churches

1.1. Liberal Ideas of a ‘Free Church in a Free State’ and the Constraints of Politics

1.2. Nationalism, Magyarization, and the Churches

2. The Churches in the Age of Liberalism

2.1. Liberal Catholicism

2.2. Liberal Protestantism, Confessional Orthodoxy, and the Rise of Evangelical Renewal

2.3. The Problem of the Sects: To the Protestant First?

3. The Renewal of the Baptist Mission in Hungary under Heinrich Meyer

3.1. Heinrich Meyer’s Early Life and Ministry

3.2. Heinrich Meyer’s Arrival in Budapest and Early Baptist Work

4. The Internal Life of the Early Hungarian Baptist Movement

4.1. The Social Composition of the Baptist Movement

4.2. The Congregational Life of Hungarian Baptists

4.3. The Content of Hungarian Baptist Proclamation

4.4. The Internal Organization of the Baptist Movement in Hungary

5. The Origins of the Magyar Mission

6. Persecution of the Baptists, Anti-Baptist Polemics, and Heinrich Meyer’s Struggle to Achieve State Recognition for the Baptists

Chapter Five Concluding Thoughts on the Establishment of a Lasting Baptist Presence in Hungary

1. A Lasting Presence

2. The Importance of the Wesselényi Street Baptist Church

3. The Rapid Growth of the Magyar Mission from 1881 to 1893

4. Why did the Second Attempt to Establish a Lasting Baptist Presence in Hungary Succeed?

Bibliography

Index of Names

Index of Places

Subject Index