ABSTRACT
Since 1989, Hungarian churches have played an important role in Hungary’s national discourse, even while Hungarian society itself has been relatively secular. The Roman Catholic Church, the Greek Catholics, and most Protestant denominations have occupied a place on the right of the political spectrum, attempting to ensure that patriotic narratives of Hungarian identity and the nation remain infused with Christian symbolism and imagery. However, perhaps the most prominent exception among the Christian faithful is Reverend Gábor Iványi’s Methodist community, notably the Hungarian Evangelical Fellowship (Magyarországi Evangéliumi Testvérközösség – MET). Reverend Iványi served as a Member of Parliament in the caucus of the Alliance of Free Democrats (Szabad Demokraták Szövetsége – SZDSZ) during the transition to democracy, and for eight years in the period that followed. Over the decades, Iványi has likely been more intentional in living the Social Gospel, and in advocacy work among the marginalized, than any other Christian religious leader in Hungary with national name recognition. Yet an equally noteworthy part of Iványi’s legacy is how he helped to shape public policies and narratives around the relationship between the nascent Third Republic of Hungary after 1989 and the country’s religious groups and denominations. Both in his poverty relief work—especially with the Roma, the homeless and refugees—and in policy around Church-State relations, Iványi charted a course that in many ways was at odds with the dominant Catholic and Christian Reformed Church, advocating for both those faith communities and individuals that have been marginalized by society and the dominant churches.
