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Moravians in Greenland: Barren Shores and Fruitful Missions

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Legacies of David Cranz's 'Historie von Grönland' (1765)

Part of the book series: Christianities in the Trans-Atlantic World ((CTAW))

Abstract

In this chapter Christina Petterson examines Cranz’s presentation of the missionary history and his redactions of the archival material with which he was working. These revisions testify to the 30 years between the early mission and the later political and religious sensibilities of the Unity Direction. Petterson demonstrates how the Historie von Grönland is part of the revisionary movement of the post-Zinzendorf Moravian Church and provides examples of how the history of the mission in Greenland was rewritten to correspond to contemporaneous politics of the future Church, accommodating religious identity to an increasingly secularised world.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    Cranz (1767), vol. 1, p. xix. Original italics and spelling.

  2. 2.

    Dalager’s Danish version reads “among which one takes a blowing instrument, another a violin, the third a zither and so on, whereto the entire choir join in a song of praise and thanks”. Dalager (1752).

  3. 3.

    Both Dalager’s Danish version and the German version of Cranz have “see here is more than a human finger”. Dalager (1752), p. 91; Cranz’s introduction has no page numbers in the German edition.

  4. 4.

    Noller (2016).

  5. 5.

    See, for example, Gleixner (2010); Rajan (2010). For the Neuen Welt-Bott as mediator of knowledge, see Dürr (2007).

  6. 6.

    The Inuit population of Greenland is made up of three groups: the West coast Inuit, the East coast Inuit, and the North-West coast Inuit (referred to in anthropological literature of the time as Thule or polar Eskimos). The East and North-West coast were the latest to be Christianised.

  7. 7.

    Whether they left on their own accord or were asked to leave is not entirely resolved. See Wilhjelm (2000).

  8. 8.

    Mettele (2009), pp. 147–48.

  9. 9.

    For example, Christian Stach’s secret diary kept from 10 October 1734 to 7 August 1735 reveals the extreme animosity between Christian David and the two cousins, Matthias and Christian Stach (UA.R.15.J.a.2.b). This is not present in the general diary.

  10. 10.

    The blood and wounds theology which was a feature of Moravian theology in the time of Zinzendorf did not enthuse all members of the Herrnhut congregation in equal measure. Especially older ethnic Moravians were reluctant to embrace this trend, which resulted in the sidelining of some of the founding members of the community. Andreas Grassmann and Johannes von Watteville (then Langgut) even preached different theologies on the same day. Grassmann eventually succumbed to the theology of wounds. See Peucker (2015), pp. 26–28.

  11. 11.

    In 1741, the original constitution of Herrnhut with its representatives from various Moravian fractions was replaced with the office of the Chief Elder taken over by the Heiland through decision by lot, and Zinzendorf taking the place as his deputy. The older Moravians, many of whom had been part of founding Herrnhut, and thus signatories of the statutes of 1727, were asked whether they wanted to belong to the congregation or retain their outside status. This greatly surprised and distressed many of the Moravian members, and most of them confirmed their commitment, but six refused and eventually left Herrnhut. See UA.R.6.A.b.14.1, 13 November 1741.

  12. 12.

    Peucker (1999); Smaby (2007).

  13. 13.

    Peucker (2015), p. 148.

  14. 14.

    Peucker (2012). Thank you to Felicity Jensz for pushing this point.

  15. 15.

    Another example turns up in Henrik Wilhjelm’s article on the turning point in the Moravian mission in Greenland, where he mentions that Cranz does not dare mention the fact that it was Matthias Stach who baptised the first converts in 1739 because Stach was not ordained until 1742. Wilhjelm (2015), p. 37.

  16. 16.

    Noller (2016).

  17. 17.

    Finn Gad, author of the formidable three-volume History of Greenland, used an unfathomable amount of archival matter from the Danish National Archives in his study. However, when it came to the Moravian sections, he relied mainly on Cranz and Heinz Israel’s Kulturwandel. To some extent this is understandable, given that access to the Moravian archives in the then German Democratic Republic would have been less than convenient. However, it seemed that there were copies of the diaries held in the Danish National Archives, which he consulted at least once. See Gad (1969), vol. 2, p. 670, note 845.

  18. 18.

    Cranz (1767), 1, 338.

  19. 19.

    Cranz (1767), 1, 338–39.

  20. 20.

    UA. R.15.J.b.D.01, 7 November 1733. My translation.

  21. 21.

    McLisky (2015).

  22. 22.

    Cranz (1767), vol. 1, p. 328.

  23. 23.

    Thea Olsthoorn cites Christian David’s complaints about Egede’s inhospitality in a letter to Zinzendorf, Thea Olsthoorn, “Das Herz auf der Zunge: Der Streit der Herrnhuter mit Hans Egede wegen der Lehre” (forthcoming): 1, note 2. I would like to thank Olsthoorn for sharing an unpublished version of the manuscript with me. The page numbers refer to the manuscript.

    See also Steríková (2012), p. 172.

  24. 24.

    For example, see Petterson (2018), pp. 4–5.

  25. 25.

    UA. R.15.J.b.D.01, 29, 30 July, 4, 6–7, 29, 31 August, 25 and 26 September, 6, 16, 22 October 1733.

  26. 26.

    Matthias Stach gave a spirited speech at the synod in Marienborn in December 1740 on the importance of preaching the blood of Jesus as not only a moral issue but a physical one: Es ist nicht nur moralisch, sondern so zu sagen physicalisch. UA. R.2.A.4, 1, part 2. Thank you to Anne Kathrine Giversen for this reference. The effects of the blood-sweat of Jesus in Gethsemane on the first convert Qajarnaq also played a part in this. Henrik Wilhjelm argues that the reason should rather be sought in Qajarnaq’s identification with Jesus’ agony rather than the blood as such. See Wilhjelm (2015).

  27. 27.

    Cranz (1767), vol. 2, p. 75.

    There is no accounting for the curious fact that all three women are named Rosina. It was a tremendously popular name in the eighteenth century, especially among the Moravian and Bohemian peasantry.

  28. 28.

    This is also implied in the English version of her Lebenslauf from the archives in Bethlehem (MemBeth 0027). Her Lebenslauf from the archives in Herrnhut (UA. NB.I.R.4.291.c.2.30) is a summary of Zinzendorf’s words about her, where he says that he does not want to mention her travels to Greenland, Denmark, Sweden, Lithuania, and twice to Pennsylvania, and thus does not mention the capacity in which she travelled.

  29. 29.

    UA. R.15.J.b.D.01, July–August. The term “Mutter” indicates a position of female leadership, the office of an Eldress. According to Paul Peucker, Anna Maria Lawatsch held the office from mid-1744 until January 1746, when Anna Nitschmann took it over. Peucker (2000), 41. According to the diary, then, Rosina Nitschmann’s office would be within the period of Lawatsch’s, unless it is a different office, such as the leader of the Married Choir.

  30. 30.

    “Speakings” were one on one conversations with each and every member, where the choir helper examined whether there was any reason for this or that member to not take part in the Eucharist. See Faull (2017).

  31. 31.

    This is the first mention of the choir system in Greenland. The document mentioned in the following footnote also has a question on this, namely whether choir-Eucharists should be celebrated in the congregation or merely the congregational Eucharist. The answer is only in the married choir. At this stage, the married choir consisted of Moravian missionaries.

  32. 32.

    UA.R.15.J.a.11.2. The document is a series of questions and answers about a number of things connected to the Greenlandic congregation. The first question is, should another new marriage-initiation be carried out among our already long married Brothers, and Sisters and who should carry it out? The answer is Rosina.

  33. 33.

    Petterson and Faull (2017).

  34. 34.

    The Moravian Archives in Herrnhut contains correspondence from Drachardt’s years in Greenland. After his time in Herrnhut, Drachardt then went on to work as a missionary in Labrador with Jens Haven. See Olsthoorn (2010).

  35. 35.

    Cranz (1767), vol. 2, p. 150.

  36. 36.

    Cranz (1767), vol. 2, p. 151.

  37. 37.

    Ostermann (1945), p. 87.

  38. 38.

    Gad (1969) vol. 2, pp. 349–50.

  39. 39.

    Cranz (1767), vol. 2, p. 126.

  40. 40.

    UA.R.15. J.a.07.06.10

  41. 41.

    Cranz (1767), vol. 2, pp. 99–101.

  42. 42.

    The overall watchword was from 1 Kings 2,4: “That the Lord may continue his word, which he spake concerning me” with the collect “nun will ich mit freuden, sehen was du thust” (now I will with joy see what you do) and the word of the Heiland was from John 14,13: whatever ye shall ask the father in my name, that I will do.

  43. 43.

    Cranz (1767), vol. 2, pp. 100–01.

  44. 44.

    Cranz (1767), vol. 2, p. 99.

  45. 45.

    UA. R.15.J.b.D.07, 24 July 1758.

  46. 46.

    See Gollin (1967), chapter 3, and Sommer (1998), chapter 4.

  47. 47.

    For another example from the diary, see the diary from Neuherrnhut, UA. R.15.J.b.D.01, 27 July 1733.

  48. 48.

    Sommer (1998), pp. 274–76.

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  1. Australian National University, Canberra, ACT, Australia

    Christina Petterson

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  1. University of Münster, Münster, Germany

    Felicity Jensz

  2. Australian National University, Canberra, ACT, Australia

    Christina Petterson

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Petterson, C. (2021). Moravians in Greenland: Barren Shores and Fruitful Missions. In: Jensz, F., Petterson, C. (eds) Legacies of David Cranz's 'Historie von Grönland' (1765). Christianities in the Trans-Atlantic World. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-63998-3_2

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