Modern Society and the Church (transl. from Czech by Mykhailo Pavlyk): Lviv, Nakladom redaktsii “Hromadskoho holosu”, 1908, 89 p.

A work by the Czech thinker Theodor Bartošek devoted to the relationship between modern society and the church. The author, by his own account, holds an anti-church position and seeks to restrain religious authority. He analyzes the causes of the conflict, naming intellectual changes brought about by mass education; the political course toward equality and democratization; and cultural changes in the perception of the church, caused by the discrepancy between the postulates of faith and the immoral conduct of its representatives. These causes are incompatible with the traditional model of religious authority. At the same time, the author considers the reasons for society’s temporary compromise with the church, such as its historical role. He concludes that the causes of the conflict are much stronger than those of the compromise, and therefore the trend toward a diminishing role of the church in society will continue.

Translated from the Czech by Mykhailo Pavlyk.

Contents

Preface

Introduction

Legal Protection of the Church

Our Personal Relations to the Church

The Social Significance of the Anti-Church Movement

The Socio-Political Significance of the Hierarchy

On the Causes of the Split Between the Church and Modern Society

How the Church Itself Regards Modern Society

On the Causes of the Temporary Compromise Between Modern Society and the Church

Conclusion