Binding: Paperback Dewey Decimal Number: 949.803092 EAN: 9780891076247 ISBN: 0891076247 Label: Good News Pub Manufacturer: Good News Pub Number Of Items: 1 Number Of Pages: 226 Publication Date: 1991-07 Publisher: Good News Pub Studio: Good News Pub
Customer Rating: Summary: Self-Made Revolutionary Comment: Following the Romanian Revolution of 1989, everyone wanted to be known as a "revolutionary" ... and Laszlo Tokes is no exception. Much of the first half of the book is an attempt, through self-praise, to present Laszlo as having been a revolutionary force for years instead of just one early spark in a revolution that was larger than any one participant.
And I thought his Hungarian nationalist rhetoric was somehow out of place for the supposed topic of the book. He writes as though all of his troubles (and the troubles of the Hungarian Reformed Church of which he was a pastor) was the result of Romanian communist oppression. But I've read some other texts about the Hungarians under their own communist rule ... and I think Laszlo would have found himself in a similar situation if Transylvania had still been part of Hungary. All Soviet satellite countries under Communism, including Hungary, were atheistic ... and all of them favored the preferred church of the Soviet Union (the Orthodox Church).
Personally, I was astonished to read Laszlo's comment on p.78 that he "was well aware that every honest Christian agreed with me in my analysis of the problem." This implies that those who disagreed with him were either not Christians or were dishonest Christians. And when he compared his struggle to gain his position as pastor of the church in Temesvar (Timisoara) to the struggle by Joseph in the Old Testament (p.94), I had to chuckle. Even when the Romanian authorities were lenient with him, he claimed it was some sort of devious plot to get him to go along with the regime.
However, despite his often boastful approach and his use of what surely appears to be a "manufactured memory" of events, it is still a worthwhile account of the Revoulution from one person's perspective. In reality, Laszlo Tokes was a man at the right place at the right time ... and the congregation that supported him was responsible for lighting the spark that flared into the Romanian revolution.
The value in the book is being made aware of the plight of Hungarians in Romania during the communist years and in understanding the build-up of tensions in Timisoara that led a few brave members of Laszlo's congregation to stand up to the oppression of communism, knowing full well that it might be a life-or-death stance. For it was their defiance more than Lazlo's that lit the fuse. Customer Rating: Summary: The pastor who refused to fall to fear Comment: This book is excellently written. It captivated my attention from page one to the end. It is a first-hand account of the pastor that started the revolution in Romania.
