9 - Globalizing the Protestant Reformation through Millenarian Practices

Summary

In the early eighteenth century, Pietist networks in Germany initiated missionary projects in South India and over the years in different parts of the world. Millenarian expectations and their distinctive concept of the future, shaped the Protestant mission to South India in every respect from planning and communication, medialization and fundraising, right down to the local missionary work. Four dynamics of the globalization of Protestantism are central to the contribution: (1) transregional and transnational network building with the participation of women and men in Protestant Europe; (2) the transfer of knowledge and objects from Europe to India and vice versa; (3) transcultural interactions and the importance of converted Indians for the local missionary work; (4) the consolidation of the European religious Identity through the medialization of the mission with the narrative of progress. The article examines letters between the organizers of the mission to South India in Halle, London, and at the Danish court; the correspondence between Halle and male and female donators for the mission in Europe; and the published mission journal.