The Wendish Research Exchange - Malinkowa, Lubina: Sorbian Women – Active Participants in Religious Life in the 18th Century

Lětopis Abstract 2020 1: Malinkowa, Lubina: Sorbian Women – Active Participants in Religious Life in the 18th Century

Starting with the assertion that Sorbian historical writing is dominated by men, the study calls for its opening to gender history. This would provide access to new themes and the formulation of new questions. At the same time, it would offer an opportunity to widen the currently prevailing national discourse. The women and girls of Sorbian origin who joined the Moravian Brethren at Herrnhut are the central focus of this study. This Pietist community offered its female members countless new areas of activity in farming and handicrafts, in the social sector, in the educational system, as well as in art and culture. The religious life of the Moravian Brethren is the focus of this study. Sorbian women and girls are presented who helped to shape the religious life of the community as teachers and instructors, as pastoral workers, missionaries, and not least as preachers. They played a large part in the successful expansion of the Brethren in Lusatia and beyond. The religious revival among the Sorbs, which was given a structure by the Brethren, can therefore be regarded as the first emancipatory movement for women. It led not least to the fact that the relationship between the sexes had to be renegotiated.