Introduction

 

The Pannonhalmi Szemle (“Pannonhalma Review”) is published quarterly and maintained by the Pannonhalma Abbey. With its diversity of interests and a culturally open mindset, the journal carries on the legacy of what we call “the old Pannonhalma Review,” the predecessor that was published from 1926 to 1944.

In re-launching  the journal, in the spring of 1993, the founder’s intention was not to come out with yet another “denominational” publication, but to offer the readership a forum for dialogue which , taking direction from the 2nd Vatican Synod regards culture less as a field for missionary groundwork than as a sovereign intellectual-spiritual reality in its own right. This approach requires the churches to remain receptive of other values even as it enables them to communicate their own. The Pannonhalmi Szemle has therefore undertaken a unique task that assigns to it a very special position among publications ecclesiastic and cultural, precisely  by virtue of the ambition to rise above those lines of demarcation that appear increasingly insurmountable today. In short, then, our quarterly wishes to foster a peaceful and genuine dialogue, outside and beyond daily politics, among intellectuals open to embrace humanistic core values embodied by such disciplines as philosophy, theology, art theory and history, psychology, and pedagogy.

Each issue begins with a representative introductory note. This is followed by a handful of studies and essays, each linked to the discussion of a work of art, then a book review section, and, in closing, by a brief meditation drawing on the Benedictine spiritual tradition. As for belles lettres, poetry is the only genre chosen for publication in our quarterly.

It follows from the thematic nature of individual issues that articles and translations appearing in the Pannonhalmi Szemle are invariably commissioned from chosen authors, and are often written specifically for the issue at hand. Through their selection of topics, the editors attempt to respond to questions of our readers and the world around us today.

The Pannonhalmi Szemle is edited jointly by Benedictine monks and lay staff.
In 2001, the quarterly received the Pulitzer Prize in the “Creative Community” category, and in 2002 was invited to be featured on the web site of the Central and Eastern European Online Library in Frankfurt (http://www.ceeol.com).