Edition of the curriculum vitae of Friedrich Bernhard Blaufuß

Friedrich Bernhard Blaufuß (1697-1756) received his schooling at the Latin School of the Halle Orphanage and subsequently acted as secretary to August Hermann Francke, with whom he had a special personal connection. Thus socialized in Halle Pietism, Blaufuß then moved to an informative position in Gotha, where he became acquainted with the leading figures of the Pietist movement there. Through his placement as a court preacher in the service of the noble officer family von Hallart, Blaufuß then reached Livonia and thus the Baltic States, which became his field of activity for the rest of his life. Here Blaufuß also came into contact with the Herrnhut Pietism founded by Nikolaus Ludwig von Zinzendorf, whose convictions and teachings he came ever closer to.

Blaufuß, who can be seen as a border crosser or »tipping point« between the different pietistic currents, has left behind an extraordinary testimony of the search for meaning and truth with his curriculum vitae from 1754, which has been preserved in the Brüderarchiv in Herrnhut. At the same time it is an extraordinary source of social history. This self-testimony, which is especially important for Latvian history, allows a deep insight into the world of thought of a Pietist clergyman who, in retrospect, struggles with the justification of his life's path between the poles of Halle and Herrnhut. The curriculum vitae, edited by Dr. Beata Paškevica (National Library of Riga), makes the transformation of the Halle Pietist Blaufuß into a Herrnhuter impressively comprehensible and captivates above all through the meticulously researched references in Blaufuß' text to the Bible, theological writings and songs.

Pietism is a religious movement that emerged in the Protestant Church in the 17th century and which also played an important role in the development of Latvian culture. The conference will, for the first time, bring together scholars from the Baltic States with those from Germany and the Netherlands interested in the history of Pietism as a social and church reforming movement. Topics in the papers cover the period from the late 17th century to as late as the 19th century.

The conference featured presentations by experts in the field such as Dr. hist. Gvido Straube, Dr. habil. Darius Petkunas, Prof. Dr. Liina Lukas, Dr. Jürgen Beyer, PD Dr. Sebastian Rimestad, Dr. Kaspars Kļaviņš. The NLL will be represented by Research and Interpretation Centre lead researcher Dr. phil. Beata Paškevica, who presented her paper The Pietistic Period in Rīga’s Church of St. Jacob. The partners in Halle are Dr. habil. Christian Soboth and Prof. Dr. Holger Zaunstöck.

Further information:

Beata Paškevica
National Library of Latvia
E-mail: beata.paskevica@lnb.lv
Phone: +371 67716151