Muhlenberg’s Heir: The Correspondence Network of John Christopher Kunze

This paper examines the increasingly diversified transatlantic correspondence network of German Lutheran minister John Christopher Kunze (1744–1807) to demonstrate that the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries were a time of transformation in relations between new American Lutheran clergy and their European counterparts. While historians traditionally characterize the American Revolution and its aftermath as a moment of rupture in the institutional and communication networks of European churches and their American coreligionists, Kunze’s career and correspondence show that American Lutheran clergy broadened their contacts in Europe, becoming less reliant on former benefactors.

The Lutheran Glauchaesche Anstalten in Halle, Germany shaped much of Kunze’s career and remained central to his correspondence network throughout his life. The institution sent him to Philadelphia in 1770 to support the pastoral work of his future father-in-law, Henry Melchior Muhlenberg. Like Muhlenberg, Kunze stayed in contact with his patrons in Halle and reported on his religious services and other interactions with Lutherans in Philadelphia and New York City. The Glauchasche Anstalten supported Kunze and his associates with medicine, bibles, pious books, and spiritual succor.

Despite this support, Kunze was convinced that the Glauchaesche Anstalten could not provide enough pastors for the growing German congregations within the newly-formed United States, and he began searching for solutions. Through this work, Kunze extended his connections far beyond those of his predecessors on both sides of the Atlantic. He linked himself with new charitable societies, like the New York Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge and Piety and the Deutsche Christentumsgesellschaft in Basel (German Christian Society) as well as with European clergy unaffiliated with Glauchaesche Anstalten. Therefore, the maintenance of existing ties and the formation of new transatlantic connections shaped Kunze’s career and early American Lutheranism.