Lessons in Humanity from the Life and Work of Jan Amos Comenius

Though once called the “father of modern education,” Jan Amos Komensky receives little more attention than the occasional reference in a history of education text today. This is to be regretted, since Komensky has much humanizing fare to offer to the standards-driven educational scene today. Jan Habl’s important book reminds us of Komensky’s educational ideas and draws attention to the role of the transcendent in his thought. In these secular and often dehumanizing times, educators would do well to read this book. Dr. Steve Kaufmann, Professor of Education, Covenant CollegeLookout Mountain, Georgia, USA Lessons in Humanity is a perceptive and insightful analysis of how the religious and philosophical views of Comenius provided the framework for his groundbreaking work in education and pedagogy. It sheds new light on an educator who was much ahead of his time and from whose work we still can profit. Dr. Harro Van Brummelen, Professor of Education, Trinity Western Universit, Langley, British Columbia, CanadaDr. Jan Hábl is a happy husband and the father of two small children. He is a lecturer in pedagogical theory at the University Hradec Králové (Czech Republic) and pastor in the Církev bratrská (Brethren Church). He studied education at J. E. Purkyne University in Ústí nad Labem, theology at EMF School of Biblical Studies in England, and philosophy at the University of Wales. For many years he has been affiliated with the Comenius Institute. He has taught systematic theology and apologetics at Evangelical Theological Seminary in Prague, philosophy of education, ethical education, and history of pedagogy at the University Hradec Králové. He is completely in love with the phenomenon of education as has found it to be both one of the most fundamental needs and one of the most fascinating merits of human nature.