Goethe und der Pietismus (review)

Abstract

Hans-Georg Kemper and Hans Schneider, eds., und der Pietismus. Tubingen: Verlag der Franckeschen Stiftungen Halle im Max Niemeyer Verlag, 2001.viii + 278pp. This carefully edited volume grew out of a symposium held 25-27 March 1999, on the occasion of an exhibit at the Franckesche Stiftungen in Halle from 9 May to 3 October, 1999, entitled Separatisten, Pietisten, Hermhuter: und die Stillen im Lande; the catalogue has also been published (Halle, 1999). It is another in the series of solid research contributions emerging from the nexus of the Franckesche Stiftungen and the Interdisziplinares Zentrum fur Pietismusforschung at the University of Halle-Wittenberg. Long relegated to the sidelines, the investigation of as a powerful intellectual movement is transforming our view of the German Enlightenment and eighteenth-century literature. A few years ago I might have begun this review by observing that it is difficult for us sceptical post-moderns to imagine how seriously people once took their religious beliefs. Many observers would have agreed with sociologist Peter Berger's observation that secularization was the order of the day: Probably for the first time in history, the religious legitimations of the world have lost their plausibility not only for a few intellectuals and other marginal individuals but for broad masses of entire societies (The Sacred Canopy [1969]: 125). But these days it is all too evident that material progress and the spread of toleration have increased rather than diminished the appeal of religious faith, especially in the intense version known in the eighteenth century as enthusiasm. Now the topic Goethe and Pietism no longer appears quirky or irrelevant to mainstream concerns; once again we appreciate how complex and insistent the pressure from devout faith can be upon the advocates of the reign of reason. Paul Raabe's pronouncement, quoted in the preface, that had been wohl zu keiner Stunde rings true. But the editors immediately and rightly observe that and Pietists were never far away from throughout his life. Not least of the valuable services rendered by the contributors is to show how varied and pervasive Pietist influences were upon him. Some of the information is familiar, such as the connection via Goethe's mother to Susanna Katharina von Klettenberg. Yet even here Burkhard Dohm provides new perspectives on the Radikalpietistin und 'schone seele.' Paul Peucker on the Diaspora of the Herrnhuter in Frankfurt/Main and Thilo Daniel on Johann Michael von Loen's turbulent relationship to Zinzendorf show how closely connected the family was to Pietist communities and networks. Inevitably, there are some redundancies among the essays, especially where Goethe's depiction in Dichtung und Wahrheit of his relationship to is concerned. …