Baptistic Theologies, 2009

first missionary and the first converts opened and allowed this source to flow through their lives Pastor Claudiu Handaric, Romania. 54 Biserica Crestina Baptista Bicazu Ardelean, Registrul cu spesele. 55 Emil Constantin, Istoric monetar. Online: http://www.leulgreu.ro/istoric_monetar/de_la_schimburile_intertribale_la_denominarea_leului_ultima_m oned_naional_a, cited on 19 lh August 2008. 54 Baptistic Theologies 5 Revival among Hungarian Baptists in Transylvania in the period of the ‘peasant prophets’ Istvan Gergely In 1892 the leaders of the large Austro-Hungarian Baptist Union noted that the number of Hungarian Baptists was doubling each year. Oliver Szebeni highlights this in his book on the Hungarian Baptist Mission. 1 2 3 The most significant growth during the previous decade had been among the Baptist churches in the Transylvania region, which had grown to seventy-five churches." Growth continued to be significant in the 1890s. This study looks at the reasons for the growth within the Hungarian Baptist community in Transylvania - which today is part of Romania. The title of the study refers to the ‘peasant prophets’. These were a group of younger men who became outstanding evangelists from the 1870s onwards. Their work was not the only reason for Baptist advance, but they played a significant part in this advance in the later nineteenth century. In this study I suggest that the growth which took place among Hungarian Baptists in Transylvania by the end of the nineteenth century was stimulated by a deep desire for an evangelical spirituality especially within the experience of those Hungarians who were members of the Protestant churches. Also I wish to emphasise that the spirituality the first Hungarian Baptists inherited was a spirituality based on the Bible. I will look at the role of Bible Society colporteurs. They prepared the way for the work of the peasant prophets. The acceptance of evangelical spirituality and the way in which it was lived out by the peasant prophets, by other leaders, and by the communities that they helped to form, contributed enormously to the development and growth of the Baptist mission in Transylvania. 1 See Oliver Szebeni, Magyar Baptista Misszio Tortenelem [The History of the Hungarian Baptist Mission] (Budapest: A Baptista Teologiai Akademia Jegyzete, 1990), p. 22. 2 Geza Kovacs, A baptista istentisztelet kezdeti tortenete Magyarorszdgon [The Beginnings of the History of Baptist Worship in Hungary] in Lajos Bereczki, ed., Krisztusert Jarvan Kovetsegben, Tanulmdyok a Magyar baptista misszio 150 eves tortenetebol [Walking as Ambassadors for Christ: Papers on the 150 years of the History of the Hungarian Baptist Mission] (Budapest: Baptista Kiado, 1996), p. 68. See also: Szebeni, Magyar Baptista Misszio Tortenelem, p. 20. 3 Laszlo Kiss, Erclelyi Magyar Baptista Missziotortenelem [The history of Hungarian Baptist Mission in Transylvania], Manuscri