John Amos Comenius

"Komenský" redirects here. For other uses, see Komensky (disambiguation).
"Comenius" redirects here. For the EU education programme, see Comenius programme.

The Right Reverend

John Amos Comenius
Bishop of the Unity of the Brethren
Personal details
Born
Jan Amos Komenský
Johann Amos Comenius

(1592-03-28)28 March 1592
Nivnice, Moravia, Crown of Bohemia
(now the Czech Republic)
Died15 November 1670(1670-11-15) (aged 78)
Amsterdam, Holland, Dutch Republic
(now the Netherlands)
DenominationMoravian Church
Philosophy career
EducationHerborn Academy
(1611–1613)
University of Heidelberg
(1613–1614)
Main interests
Theology, philosophy of education
Notable ideas
Pansophism

John Amos Comenius (/kəˈmiːniəs/;[1] Czech: Jan Amos Komenský; Polish: Jan Amos Komeński; German: Johann Amos Comenius; Latinized: Ioannes Amos Comenius; 28 March 1592 – 15 November 1670)[2] was a Moravian philosopher, pedagogue and theologian who is considered the father of modern education.[3][4] He served as the last bishop of the Unity of the Brethren before becoming a religious refugee and one of the earliest champions of universal education, a concept eventually set forth in his book Didactica Magna. As an educator and theologian, he led schools and advised governments across Protestant Europe through the middle of the seventeenth century.

Comenius introduced a number of educational concepts and innovations including pictorial textbooks written in native languages instead of Latin, teaching based in gradual development from simple to more comprehensive concepts, lifelong learning with a focus on logical thinking over dull memorization, equal opportunity for impoverished children, education for women, and universal and practical instruction. He also believed heavily in the connection between nature, religion, and knowledge, in which he stated that knowledge is born from nature and nature from God.[5] Besides his native Moravia,[6][7] he lived and worked in other regions of the Holy Roman Empire, and other countries: Sweden, the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, Transylvania, England, the Netherlands and Hungary.

  1. ^ "Comenius". Random House Webster's Unabridged Dictionary.
  2. ^ Daniel Murphy, Comenius: A Critical Reassessment of His Life and Works (1995), p. 8 and p. 43.
  3. ^ "John Amos Comenius." Encyclopedia of World Biography, 2nd ed. 17 Vols. Gale Research 1998. Reproduced in Biography Resource Center. Retrieved 2 January 2010.
  4. ^ Ivan Illich, Deschooling Society, 1972
  5. ^ HILL, ALAN G. (1975). "Wordsworth, Comenius, and the Meaning of Education". The Review of English Studies. XXVI (103): 301–312. doi:10.1093/res/xxvi.103.301. ISSN 0034-6551.
  6. ^ "Clamores Eliae" he dedicated "To my lovely mother, Moravia, one of her faithful son...". Clamores Eliae, p. 69, Kastellaun/Hunsrück : A. Henn, 1977.
  7. ^ "Moravian by nation, language Bohemian, profession theologian, servant of Gospel from the year of grace 1616." It is his own identification in "Opera omnia didactica" 1657, http://www.uni-mannheim.de/mateo/camenaref/comenius/comenius1/p3/jpg/s468.html