The mission of the Institute is to study:

(a) the person, life, thought, work and legacy of Max Josef Metzger, condemned to death and executed at the will of A. Hitler;

(b) his community Societas Christi Regis (today: Christkönigs-Institut), active in Moravia in the first half of the 20th century;

(c) the theological legacy of Johannes Oesterreicher, member of the Societas Christi Regis and founder of the Institute of Jewish-Christian Relations at Seton Hall University (South Orange, New Jersey);

(d) related topics, especially the origins of ecumenism, pacifism and liturgical renewal in the first half of the 20th century, or the development of ecumenism after Vatican II.

(e) Special attention is given to dialogue and reconciliation as key anthropological and sociological themes.

The archival materials managed by the Institute include, among others:

• digital versions of documents from the archives of the Christ-königs-Institut in Meitingen, including Metzger’s personal correspondence, his letters from prison and a number of texts written in his prison cell;
• books, newspaper articles and brochures authored by Metzger or published by him in his own publishing house;
• monographs, anthologies, articles and pamphlets devoted to the person, work and thought of Metzger;
• monographs, anthologies, articles and pamphlets on periods and topics directly or indirectly related to the person, thought and work of Metzger, as well as to the historical and geographical context in which he lived and worked;
• Johannes Oesterreicher’s books and pamphlets, original personal correspondence with members of the Metzger community;
• archival material relating to the Metzger communities living in Moravia in the first half of the 20th century, including personal documents and letters of their members;
• ecumenical literature from the legacy of the interfaith community Una Sancta, founded by Metzger.

• Indexing of published and unpublished writings of M. J. Metzger and publications devoted to his person, thought and work; creation and continuous updating of a list of “Metzger literature”.
• Research on the person, life, thought and work of Metzger; deepening of thematic aspects that have not been the subject of research by historians and theologians or have been studied only marginally and incompletely. The aim of the research is to contribute to a deeper understanding of Metzger’s person, his work and his legacy, which is necessarily prompted by his beatification in November 2024.
• The research focuses on Metzger’s community, Societas Christi Regis, which was active in Moravia (in Brno, Ostrava, Dolní Dunajovice and elsewhere) until it was banned during the Second World War. The topic of this research project is closely related to the topic of Czech-German and Czech-Austrian coexistence in the first half of the 20th century; its deepening in the light of the study of the Metzger community in Moravia has the potential to positively influence the current understanding and development of Czech-German and Czech-Austrian relations.
• Scholarly research on the work and theological legacy of Johannes Oesterreicher (1904–1993), co-author of the conciliar declaration Nostra aetate, who came from the town of Libavá and studied at the German high school in Olomouc. This research is closely linked to the theme of Jewish-Christian dialogue and also to the theme of the renewal of Christianity’s view of Judaism and the Jewish faith.
• Research activities within the following themes: the beginnings of ecumenism, pacifism and liturgical renewal in the first half of the 20th century; the development of ecumenism after the Second Vatican Council; Europe and Germany in the period before the First World War and in the interwar period; Christianity and the Church in the period of the First and Second World War; European thought in the first decades of the last century.
• Research focusing on dialogue and reconciliation as key themes concerning the life of individuals, society, and relations between nations and states. The starting point is Mezer’s pacifist and ecumenical thought, complemented by the work of scholars in philosophy, theology, sociology and psychology, aimed at exploring the dynamics of interpersonal and social conflicts and at developing solutions that might set the parties in conflict on a path of understanding. The aim is then to develop a “theory of dialogue and reconciliation” understood as an indispensable prerequisite for mutual coexistence. Research of this kind has a significant theoretical-applicational potential.

Prof. ThDr. Ľubomír J. Žák

Institut M.J. Metzgera pro dialog a smíření

Cyrilometodějská teologická fakulta

Univerzity Palackého v Olomouci

Univerzitní 244/22

CZ - 779 00 Olomouc