Lifelong learning. The study of nature. Education in native languages. Equal educational opportunity for poor children and women. Picture books to encourage children to enjoy learning. These concepts seem self-evident to us today, but in the time of theologian and education reformer John Amos Comenius (in Czech, Jan Amos Komenský), 1592–1670, they were radical new ideas.

Comenius was born in Moravia, in what is now the Czech Republic. His parents were members of the Moravian Brethren, and their son would become a leader in the church. After studying at the Herborn Academy and the University of Heidelberg, he began work as pastor of a church in Silesia. His pastoral work would remain one of his central interests throughout his life. But he also cultivated a focus on philosophy and effective methods of imparting human knowledge. For example, he developed a theory that languages could not be taught without connection to objects, and his 1631 treatise on this subject, Janua Linguarum Reserata (“The Gate of Languages Unlocked”) brought him to prominence in educational circles. He traveled throughout Europe, consulting with various governments on the organization of their educational systems. He was even asked to become the president of Harvard University, an offer that he declined, instead moving to Sweden to help reorganize that country’s schools. His system of organization, which divided education into what we now know as kindergarten, elementary school, secondary school, college, and university, is the basis for most modern school systems.

Comenius’s philosophy of education, which he called Pansophism, was simple, yet complex: “To teach all things to all men and from all points of view.” It meant that education could not be restricted to one class, age, or gender but rather had to be universal for civilization to progress. He believed that students must learn from observing the world around them and be taught how to apply that knowledge in practical ways to support human development. Benigna Zinzendorf was surely influenced by Comenius when she began a school for girls in 1742, and the leaders of the school for boys at Nazareth Hall were following in that tradition when they added a college track to their curriculum in 1807 to help supply the need for qualified teachers. These two institutions form the foundation of Moravian University.

When Moravian College and Theological Seminary relocated from the old Nisky Hill Seminary building on Church Street to its new campus on Main Street in 1892, the Moravian community was in the midst of celebrating the 300th anniversary of Comenius’s birth, and it seemed fitting that the architectural centerpiece of the campus be named after him. That same year, when the student-run Comenian Literary Society (formed in 1874) launched a new literary publication, they christened it The Comenian. The publication’s editors described their namesake as “a character worthy of the admiration of…this whole world of culture and progress, for he stands out brightly from among the men of his day as the herald of better times, and not only their herald, but also a powerful instrument in bringing them about.” The publication lives on in the form of the university’s student newspaper. A more tangible tribute is the bronze statue of Comenius, presented in 1960 by Charles University in Prague and the Moravian Church in Czechoslovakia, erected in front of the building that bears his name.

This great scholar has also been honored on campus through awards presented in his name. In 1941, the 350th anniversary of Comenius’s birth, the Moravian College Alumni Association instituted the Comenius Day Alumni Award, which recognized outstanding achievement in various fields. From 1982 to 1992, in commemoration of Comenius’s 400th birthday, the Comenius Medallion was awarded to a series of educators whose work exemplified his principles. And today, two scholarship funds named after Comenius support freshmen with up to full tuition.

As we stroll past the iconic sculpture of the robed scholar standing in front of the institution we know and love, may we remember that he also stands behind so much of what the institution has done—and will do in the future.