From 1805 to 1820, Bernard Bolzano was professor of religious doctrine (Religionslehre) at the University of Prague. The lectures he had to deliver were part of the so-called Philosophical Studies that every student of the university had to complete before he entered the higher studies, i.e. the studies of medicine, law or theology. As professor of religious doctrine, Bolzano also had the duty to deliver the homilies on Sundays and holidays during the academic year to all the students of the Philosophical Studies. This explains the enormous influence Bolzano exerted through these homilies on the intellectual and political life of Bohemia in his time, whose offshoots reached even the Charta 77 movement in former Czechoslovakia. The chairs of religious doctrine were established by the Austrian emperor Franz at all universities of the Austrian empire in order to shape the students into good Christians and law-abiding citizens as it was ordered in a decree. The homilies Bolzano had to deliver at the University of Prague (as did all professors of religious doctrine at Austrian universities) were called Erbauungsreden (edifying addresses) or exhortations. There is evidence for 582 Erbauungsreden Bolzano delivered as a professor at the University of Prague of which 414 are extant; of these, 153 have not yet been published at all. The 414 Erbauungsreden that are extant have survived in different form: some of them (70) as autographs, i.e. in Bolzano's own handwriting, others in handwritten copies of Bolzano's manuscripts, others in notes taken by Bolzano's students. Several collections of Bolzano's Erbauungsreden have already appeared in print, some of them during Bolzano's lifetime, while others were published posthumously by his students or other editors. - The new critical edition of Bolzano's Erbauungsreden presents all of them in chronological order. Those which are extant will be edited on the basis of the best version which has remained. Those Erbauungsreden which are not extant will be documented and described according to an index Bolzano himself has prepared.In the academic year 1811/1812, Bolzano held 46 edification speeches. All of these have been preserved completely and in multiple versions, with one exception which has only been preserved in the form of written notes (1812.40). Bolzano's own lecture notes for 10 of the speeches serve as a basis for the edition. 22 speeches were previously unpublished. 16 of the 46 speeches deal with religious issues, the other 30 give secular advice. Im Studienjahr 1811/1812 hat Bolzano 46 Erbauungsreden gehalten. Sie sind alle vollstandig und mehrfach uberliefert - mit einer Ausnahme, die nur in einer Mitschrift vorliegt (1812.40). Bei zehn Reden dienen Bolzanos eigene Vorlesungsunterlagen als Editionsgrundlage; 22 Reden sind bisher unveroffentlicht. Ihrem Inhalt nach sind 16 von den insgesamt 46 Reden religiosen Charakters, die restlichen 30 dienen weltlicher Beratung.

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