Kristliku askeesi ja munkluse uuringutest Tartu ülikoolis enne Arthur Võõbust ja tema kaasajal

Abstract

The Research of Christian Asceticism and Monasticism at the University of Tartu before Arthur Voobus and at his TimeFor international academic auditory the best known alumnus of the Faculty of Theology of the University of Tartu (Dorpat) is probably the syrologist Arthur Voobus (1909-1988; later the professor at the Lutheran School of Theology in Chicago) - if to consider the period after 1919, when the University of Tartu became Estonian national university.As it is not unusual in the history of scholarship, the academic career of Voobus was not anything what we define nowadays as 'normal academic career’. It is hard to take as natural that the most splendid fruit of a Lutheran theological faculty is a syrologist. In the traditional Lutheran context the Syriac studies should remain within the limits of Biblical exegesis.In the paper the question will be posed how much the earlier academic traditions and ‘the common theological attitude’ of the Theological Faculty of that time supported the forming of the specific profile ofVoobus’ interests. What was ‘normal’ in this institution?To find an answer (1) an overview of permanent and intensive language studies (incl. Syriac) at the Faculty of Theology during the 19th c. is given; (2) the whole set of postgraduated research works on Christian asceticism and monasticism from the time ofVoobus’ studies are characterized; (3) it is concluded that Voobus’ interests were not exceptional, but his remarkable achievement was a creation of fruitful new connection of two separated academic disciplines