The Author's Confession and the Confessional Character of the Text. Considerations Based on Speeches and Occasional Letters Contained in The 17th Century Evangelical Annals

Abstract

In the article some conclusions are presented from studies of the 17^th century Calvinist occasional texts. Letters as well as wedding and funeral speeches that are analysed in the article show certain features, called distinctive ones by the author, that point to Evangelical origin of the texts. The author proposes the thesis that confession significantly influences the composition of a speech or a letter. This is connected with a careful selection of part of the rhetoric scheme that was obligatory at that time, as well as with a possibility of understanding additional meanings from the elements defined by the usage and corresponding to the Calvinist doctrine. In the described texts, among others, discussions of genealogy (well developed in Catholic noblemen's speeches), lack of heraldic metaphors, limiting the enkomion significantly, as well as the choice of quotations and paragraphs adequate to the contents of the Evangelical-Reformed Church's teaching are considered to be distinctive features.