Christian David

This article is about the minister of the Brethren. For the artist and author of the same name, see Christian David (artist) .

Christian David (born February 17, 1692 in Senftleben ; † February 3, 1751 in Herrnhut ) was the founder of Herrnhut and missionary of the Moravian Brethren Church ("Brothers Unity") in Greenland, Holland, Livonia and Pennsylvania as well as the poet of several hymns in the Brethren hymnal.

Life

Raised in the Catholic religion, Christian David first showed himself to be a zealot for Catholicism. But he soon found no peace in the ceremonies and during his training as a carpenter got to know evangelical-minded people who explained their view of image service, pilgrimages and other practices as human commandments. This shook his belief in the way of life of his ancestors. Around this time the evangelicals were imprisoned for their meetings and books. Her singing, praying and calling to God day and night made a deep impression on him.

He preached Jesus in Moravia from 1717 . The brothers in Moravia decided to emigrate and asked him to find a place for them where they could live according to their faith. When he came to Görlitz because of this , he became acquainted with Count Nikolaus Ludwig von Zinzendorf , who promised them admission to his property. Here they built the first house on Hutberg in 1722. It was on June 17th when Christian David struck his ax into the first tree with the words: This is where the bird has found its house and the swallow its nest, namely your altars, Lord of hosts, my King and my God! (Psalm 84, 4)

David was so busy with the well-being of his Moravian co-religionists that once in 1723, when he was working in the house of Count zu Berthelsdorf, he left his tools behind and walked 40 Saxon miles without a hat to fetch brothers from Moravia. From 1733 he was a missionary, first in Greenland , then in Holland , Livonia and Pennsylvania . He built various mission houses, including 1738 the parish hall in Greenland, Nuuk , which today houses the University of Greenland .

The song The Sun of Justice , which contains two stanzas by him, is printed in German in Protestant ( EG) as well as Reformed ( RG ) and Catholic hymn books ( GL ), plus various translations into other languages.

literature

• Edita Sterik : Moravian exiles in the renewed brotherhood in the 18th century . Supplement to Unitas Fratrum No. 20, Herrnhuter Verlag, Herrnhut, 2012
• Martin Brecht : History of Pietism, Vol. 2 . Vandenhoeck and Ruprecht, Göttingen, 1995, ISBN 3-525-55347-1
• Meyer, Gerhard:  David, Christian. In: New German Biography (NDB). Volume 3, Duncker & Humblot, Berlin 1957, ISBN 3-428-00184-2 , p. 534 f. ( Digitized version ).

Web links

• Works by and about Christian David  in the German Digital Library
• Moravia from Kuhländchen and the renewed Brothers Unity (PDF; 69 kB)
• Moravia - a spiritual source of connection between Czechs and Germans (PDF; 62 kB)
• History of Pietism