Hallesche Pastoren in Pennsylvania, 1743–1825. Eine kritische Quellenedition zu ihrer Amtstätigkeit in Nordamerika

• Applicant: Professor Dr. Thomas Müller-Bahlke
• Subject Area: Early Modern History
• Term: from 2020 to 2022
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 447118114

The volumes 5, 6 and 7 to be published contain letters and other official documents from a total of 22 different pastors: 93 letters from the years 17 44-1807 (volume 5), 105 letters also from the years 1744-1807 (volume 6) and 194 letters from the years 1743-1825 (volume 7). Excerpts from some of these documents appeared, edited, in contemporary missionary and edification literature. However, most of the source material has never been published. A completely annotated and annotated edition with detailed indexes and an almost diplomatically faithful reproduction does not yet exist. The three volumes are of great value for research in several respects:1. In the documents the difficult working conditions for the pastors, which resulted from the large settlement structure of the municipalities, become clear. These conditions occasionally led to serious differences of opinion between the pastors and their congregations. The letters between 1754 and the beginning of the American Revolution give a vivid impression of the interplay of macro-political events and inner-community developments. In addition to information on official acts, there are remarks on other denominations and world views as weil as reflections on events and developments in politics and society, in science and culture.2. Volume 7 marks a change of perspective because here are published all the letters of the directors of the Glauchaschen institutions to the pastors in Pennsylvania. They not only provide important information about the ideas of the Halle directors about Pennsylvania and the New World, but also concrete information about the financial ties between Halle and the Lutheran congregations, especially about the scope, organization and use of the donations collected in Europe for the construction of churches in the Pennsylvanian congregations. The correspondence also shows how quickly the lively relations between the pastors and Halle/London diminished after the death of Gotthilf August Francke and FriedrichMichael Ziegenhagen. After 1783 the lively exchange was essentially reduced to financial matters.3. The correspondence of the volumes gives a vivid impression of how the religious and theological views between the pastors in Pennsylvania and the theologians in Germany diverged; again and again the growing influence of neologistic tendencies in Germany was deplored. This increasing gap also explains the reluctance of the pastors in Pennsylvania to ask Halle for help in filling vacant parish posts. The increasing gap strengthened the tendencies of the Lutheran pastors in Pennsylvania to advance the development of an independent church and thus free the Pennsylvanian congregations from their dependence on Europe.

• DFG Programme: Publication Grants