Self-Image and Mutual Perception of the Catholic and Evangelical Church of the Augsburg Confession in Upper Hungary in the Context of the Second Confessionalization

This study analyzes confessionally conditioned self-image and mutual perception of the Catholic and Evangelical Church of the Augsburg Confession in Upper Hungary in the context of the second confessionalization process. Based on comparative research of the contemporary press, including either the printed or handwritten homiletic and catechetical literature, predominantly from the area of Upper Hungary, the study examines which phenomena and processes taking place since the 1830s until the end of the 1850s signaled a renewal in confessional identities in both the Catholic and Evangelical Churches. A particular emphasis has been placed on indicators of the second confessionalization, such as the debate on mixed marriages, a rising number of conversions, or legislative interventions in the freedom of religion. Through discourse analysis, the study explores how the image and self-image of the Catholic and Evangelical Church of the Augsburg Confession evolved as a result of the expansion of the catechetical literature and apologetic works and identifies the narrative strategies employed in their respective confessional discourses. The Catholic discourse stressed maintaining dogmatic integrity and Church authority in particular, whereas the Evangelicals more frequently accentuated a thorough biblicality and rationality as a counterposition to Catholic piety. Both traditions claimed exclusive access to “true religion” and used apologetic genres to defend and enhance their identity. Polemical texts also served as tools to form confessionally conditioned collective consciousness, as well as a part of contemporary cultural and political debates.