Goodbye 2011--The Best of the American Church History Blog

In case you've not heard, the New Year comes in tonight.  December 31 marks the end of the first calendar year of this blog, although the first post didn't show up until May 4.  The average daily visitors has grown by about 400% since that first month.  That's not what's the most interesting point, however.  One of the things that I find interesting is the pages that have been viewed the most...

Here are the top 5 pages for this blog for all of 2011:

1. My Paper from the Northern Great Plains History Conference
2. Jan Hus--Pics from Bethlehem Chapel in Prague
3. Perry, Romney, and Mormonism
4. New England Execution Sermons
5. Olomouc, Czech Republic--Pics Included

From this quick perusal of the most popular posts, it appears that people like pictures of cool things from a foreign country.  That's no big surprise.  A couple of other topics that surprised me as to their popularity (as shown from search results) were Mormons and execution sermons.  The Mormons may be getting a bit more press this year because two of their number are running for president.  New England execution sermons, or some variation of this topic received quite a bit in the way of search traffic, which was very surprising.  Perhaps, people enjoy reading about morbid stuff.  I enjoyed the book Between Heaven and Earth, the subject of my post on the subject of Puritan execution sermons.

What topics did you find most interesting?  What topics would you like to see covered in the future?  I'm interested to know going forward. 

Oh, yeah, and have a great 2012--even if the Mayans were right.

Prague Pics--Jan Hus Monument

Yesterday, I posted some pics and commentary regarding the Bethlehem Chapel in Prague, Czech Republic.  The Bethlehem Chapel is famous as the home base of the religious reformer Jan Hus, who was sentenced to death as a heretic by the Council of Constance in 1415.  Today, Hus is widely considered a national hero in the Czech Republic, and there are monuments erected to his memory.  The Bethlehem Chapel itself is a monument to Hus, and is open to the public for a cost of 50 Czech Crowns (about $3 US).

Another major monument to Hus is located in the Prague town square.  Each town that I visited in the Czech Republic had a town square that included a town hall (some pics of these will be forthcoming) and various shops, churches, and restaurants. Here are a couple of pics of the Jan Hus memorial in the Prague town square:

 The monument was officially unveiled on the 500th anniversary of Hus's execution in 1415.  As a nation that has often been under foreign domination, the Czech Republic views Hus as a national hero for standing up to one source of foreign domination. Here is a link with information regarding the monument itself.

Jan Hus--Pictures of Bethlehem Chapel in Prague

In 1415 Bohemian religious reformer Jan Hus met his Maker after running afoul of Pope John XXIII over the sale of indulgences.  Hus also agreed with many of John Wycliffe's teachings.  Much of Hus's preaching took place at the Bethlehem Chapel in Prague, where he was also a rector at the university.  In the fifteenth century, the chapel had no seating and people stood to hear Hus preach, up to 3,000 at a time.  A Catholic view of Hus is available at the online Catholic Encyclopedia New Advent.  As an evangelical, I don't agree with the execution, nor the heresy charges, but this website gives the official reasoning for Hus's execution.

During my visit to Prague, I was able to take a short tour of Bethlehem Chapel.

Here is a photo of the exterior of the Bethlehem Chapel in Prague.






The use of the chapel is now generally restricted to the university and tours, except for a somewhat ecumenical service on the anniversary of Hus's burning at the stake.  The chapel now has chairs, but one of the most interesting aspects of the main auditorium is a well:

 

Here is an interior view of the Bethlehem Chapel.  Note the well in the foreground.  Artwork adorns each wall.  A door opens to the box above the platform.  The rooms on the other side of the door housed Hus during his rectorship and now house museum exhibits regarding the history of Hus and Prague.

Here is one of the more striking images on the walls of the Bethlehem Chapel.  This image depicts the actual execution of Jan Hus.








 While Hus did not directly affect American church history because of his European background, he is widely acknowledged as a precursor of the Protestant Reformation that broke out nearly 100 years after his execution.  There is also a tie between England and Hus through his espousing the teachings of Wycliffe.  Even though Hus was not an American, it was pretty cool to stand in a room as an evangelical and think that exactly 600 years ago, one of the forerunners of the Protestant Reformation preached to huge crowds in this very hall at the risk of his very life.  Few places can hold such a significance.