COLLEGIA IN THE EUROPEAN EDUCATIONAL AND RELIGIOUS SPHERE OF THE XVII–XVIII CENTURIES

Abstract

The purpose of this article is to examine how the kolehium, as a type of educational institution, became one of the leading institutions in the European religious, educational, and scientific sphere of the Early Modern period. The author examines various religious-confessional factors that influenced the formation of different educational systems and led to the emergence of various types of kolehii and kolehiumy. To address the set objectives, the author primarily employs the method of comparative analysis.

Results. The development of education and the spread of the kolehium as an educational institution are closely linked to the crisis of universities and the educational and religious-confessional processes of the XVI – XVII centuries. In response to the criticism of medieval university scholasticism, humanistic education and humanistic kolehiumy emerged as an alternative to universities, where scholasticism prevailed. The Reformation established its own system of mass religious education, which was fundamentally new for that time. In the course of the Reformation and Counter-Reformation, the Jesuit Order took the lead in implementing this new system of mass education. It was within the Jesuit educational system that the kolehium, as a type of educational institution, took on its «classical» form. Tested in Jesuit schools and kolehiumy, the Jesuit pedagogical system proved its efficiency and became universal. Pietism established a new type of kolehii and kolehiumy and introduced a range of new methods for creative teaching and education.

Conclusions. Kolehii and kolehiumy were flexible educational models, which facilitated their spread and adaptation to various religious-confessional systems.