Mädchenerziehung und Mission, Die Töchterpension der Herrnhuter Brüdergemeine in Montmirail im 18. Jahrhundert

Abstract

Sara Aebi's book, Mädchenerziehung und Mission, Die Töchterpension der Herrnhuter Brüdergemeine in Montmirail im 18. Jahrhundert (2016), is based on her doctoral dissertation in education. The four chapters of the study explore the girls’ boarding school in Montmirail in Switzerland by contextualizing the school and its educational practices from two perspectives: it traces the relationships of the school to the national and global Moravian church, and it compares the educational institution of Montmirail to a host of non-Moravian boarding schools for girls in Switzerland. Aebi asks, “What role did the Moravian boarding school for girls in Montmirail play to the Moravian church in Switzerland?” and “what was the importance of the school as an educational institution [Bildungsinstitution] in Switzerland?”Building on Reinhart Koselleck's argumentation and drawing on Charles Tilly's approach in historical comparison, Aebi's theoretical framework and methodology merge source analysis with a comparative approach (27). She does not provide any critical discussion of her chosen method. The sources, mainly from the Moravian Archives in Herrnhut, consist of printed and manuscript documents about the Moravian Church and its educational operations in relation to schools in Switzerland. Aebi's selection of documents shed light on the mission of the school, its implementation, and individual voices of the pupils, staff, and parents expressed in memoirs and letters. In addition, the study draws on a careful analysis of pupil and staff rosters. Aebi has also made use of published records and the minutes of several public schools.The result is a compelling contribution to the history of the Moravian girls’ education in Switzerland. The author gives a multifaceted description of the girls’ boarding school in Montmirail and shows that by establishing an informal network among girls the school strengthened the role of the Moravian Church in Switzerland. Pedagogically the school in Montmirail was hardly different from other schools of its kind in Switzerland. However, a considerable difference between non-Moravian schools and the boarding school in Montmirail was confessionalism, its missionary educational mission (254). This is also one of the main foci of Aebi's study. In more than 100 pages she investigates three themes of Montmirail's mission. First, Aebi explores the nurturing of the tradition (Bewahrung) by problematizing the continued efforts to nurture the distinction between sacred and secular. The second theme of the mission was religious education that focused on the cultivation of the Christian gospel and Moravian spirituality. In the third theme of her study, Aebi probes the daily lives and practices of the staff. She points out that all staff, not only teachers, were involved in the implementation of the pedagogic mission of the school to support the girls’ religious fostering and learning.Aebi's study draws on the ongoing historical research into the educational practices and schools of the Moravian Church. The study is important in both making possible comparisons between Moravian and non-Moravian school systems and mapping schooling within the Moravian Church. Specifically, to studies of Moravian schools in other countries where the Moravian Church existed under similar administrative conditions as in Switzerland—like in Sweden—the contribution of the present study is important. Finally, besides making comparison to other schools in historical context possible, Aebi's study can be regarded as a contribution to contemporary discussion about the relationship between confessions and schools.