Abstract
The study focuses on the concept of the church in the theology of the Bohemian Brethren bishop Jan Augusta (1500-1572). It inquires into its specifics and traces the influences of the Czech and European Reformation theologians, Matthew of Janov, Luke of Prague, Martin Luther and Martin Bucer.
The study consists of three parts. The first part deals with the issue of soteriological relevance of the church in Augusta's ecclesiology.
The second part pursues the primary sources for the study of Augusta's concept of the church and the historical context of their origin, namely Augusta's controversy with the Utraquist priests. It provides evidence for the claim that the anonymous treatise Dialog, to jest, Dvou formanů rozmlouvání [Dialogue, or a Conversation between Two Carters] (1543), generally attributed to Adam Šturm, was in fact written by Jan Augusta and that it presents an important source for the study of his ecclesiology.
The third part examines the essential features of Augusta's ecclesiology, his special distinction between the manifest and hidden church, and his concept of the church as a visible, concrete and personal community assembled in the name of Christ and filled with his Spirit.