CHRISTIAN VALUES IN SOCIAL UTOPIAS
/KRESŤANSKÉ HODNOTY V SOCIÁLNYCH UTÓPIÁCH/

Lukas PERNY

doctorand, Faculty of Arts, University of Presov, Ul. 17 novembra 1, 081 16 Presov, Slovakia, lukas.perny@smail.unipo.sk

Abstract

The social legacy of Christ's teachings has significantly influenced authors, who are best known as utopians. Utopians designed an ideal worlds, but the founder of the utopian genre of literature, Thomas More, was directly influenced by Christian communitarianism. The book Civitas Solis by the monk Tommaso Campanella, which was followed by J. V. Andreae in Christianopolis, has a similarly strong Christian influence. The presented study will analyze the influence of Christianity on utopian works, focusing primarily on Thomas More and Tommaso Campanella, but with a broader scope of their influence until the further development of utopian thinking.

Keywords

Christianity, utopia, utopianism, Christian utopianism, Thomas More, Tommaso Campanella, Francis Bacon, J. V. Andreae

SUMMARY

Christian values ​​can be found in utopias on several levels. Above all, it is the community values ​​of Christianity and the idea of ​​equality and brotherhood that are present in all the utopias mentioned. In the understanding of social justice in these early modern utopias, in accordance with the current philosopher of communitarianism Michael Sandel, it can be primarily placed in the category of the ancient notion of justice as a virtue, which differs from the social-liberal notion of justice mainly in rejecting radical plurality. The Christian notion of justice, but also Christian values ​​in general, preclude radical plurality. Christian micro-communities as small utopias are also realized in the form of monasteries, small Christian communities, municipalities or monastic states (an example is the Orthodox Athos). However, the basic attribute is the focus on the issue of social property, common production and common life, ie above all the emphasis on community values ​​in Christianity, which are projected into social reality. Thus, the ideals of utopians are partially realized in the practice of the lives of Christians around the world. An example of such a life was the famous Hussite camp, which operated on the principle of collective sharing of property, but also a community of Anabaptists led by Thomas Müntzer, communities of Quakers, Mormons, Amish, Habans. After all, there is still a hutterite community in Germany that lives like Thomas More wrote. Thus, the idea of ​​a common life of Christians did not remain only in literary utopias, but is still applied in practice, in the lives of many Christians around the world. In addition, utopias can also serve as inspiration in consolidating fraternal reciprocity, unity, and a lifestyle that is at odds with the individualism and selfishness of the contemporary hypermodern age.

(Language: slovak)

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