Book of Nature Research Group

Dr. Péter Bagyinszki fr. Ágoston OFM

Vice-Rector for education and research, Sapientia College of Theology of Religious Orders (SSzHF)

college associate professor

Head of Department Fundamental Theology Department, SSzHF

Research group leader: The Book of Nature Research Group, Institute for the Integrity of Creation

PhD Theology – Pázmány Péter Catholic University, Budapest, 2019.

Postgraduate studies (ABD[DB1] ) – Catholic University of America, Washington DC, 2012-2015

Licentiate in Fundamental Theology - Pontificia Università Gregoriana, Rome, 2001

Secondary school catholic catechist - College of Theology, Szeged, 1998

Theologist (baccalaureates) – College of Theology, Szeged, 1998

bagyinszki.agoston@sapientia.hu

THE RESULT OF THE RESEARCH:

What is the book of nature

Lectori salutem!

Ágoston Bagyinszki, OFM: What does it mean to read the Book of Nature?

Lukács Mészáros: The Book of Nature and the protection of creation

Ilona Anna Urbán: Nature Conservation in German Pastoral Care - What is already given and what is still missing

Németh Csaba: On the use and harm of creatures - Reflection on the created world and its place in Victorian theology

Zoltán Turgonyi: From the Book of Nature to Natural Law and Beyond

Mária Hernádi: The Direction of the Gaze - The Transformation of the View of Nature in the Poetic Method of the Object Lyric

László Z. Antal: What did people living near nature read from the Book of Nature?

The authors of the volume

DOWNLOAD  WHAT IS THE BOOK OF NATURE? pdf

Members of the research group:

  • Dr. Péter Bagyinszki fr. Ágoston OFM (research group leader, SSzHF)
  • Dr. Tubay Tiziano (scientific secretary, SSzHF)
  • Dr. László Antal Z. (MTA TK)
  • Dr. Mária Hernádi (PPKE BTK VJTK)
  • Dr. Lukács Mészáros (ELTE)
  • Dr. Csaba Németh (medievalist, independent researcher)
  • Dr. Zoltán Turgonyi (MTA BTK)
  • Dr. Ilona Urban (SSzHF).

Objective:

The research group uses a multidisciplinary method to explore the Christian liber naturae tradition as the most important classical source of the contemporary discourse on the protection of creation, in collaboration with experts from the fields of natural sciences, history of ideas, classical philology, religious studies, theology, health sociology, social ethics, literary studies, and ecology. The researches of the Italian astronomer-theologian Giuseppe Tanzella-Nitti guide us in this regard. His classic study is also available in Hungarian here (URL: https://acta-pinteriana.hu/archivum/acta_pinteriana_2_tanzella-nitti.pdf).


Activities:

The research group, established in May 2022, examines the classical roots and the current context of the basic set of concepts of the creation protection discourse with the tools of individual research work, working meetings of 2-3 people, and bi-weekly plenary online conference discussions, each time discussing the results of one researcher. The joint work planned in a six-month rhythm is concluded by a symposium day, when the members of the research group present their results to the wider professional public and prepare them for individual and joint publications. At the same time, many members of the research group connect university teaching activities to the studied topic, as well as broader educational work. The model of our joint work is a 2018 international symposium, the material of which is available in a conference volume: Ágoston Bagyinszki (ed.): The "Book of Nature" as an analogy of the "Book of Scripture". Today's significance of the "Two Books" metaphor in the dialogue between natural science and theology, Sapientia Füzetek 34., L'Harmattan – Sapientia SzHF, Budapest, 2019.