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Letter From South Carolina, 23, 1737, Johann Ulrich Giezendanner

Swiss American Historical Society Review

Introductory Note:

Johann Ulrich Giezendanner ( 1686-173 7) of Lichtensteig, Canton St. Gallen, Switzerland, by profession a gold- and silversmith, had briefly studied at the University of Marburg in Germany and had become one of the 'awakened' in the spirit of Pietism which was then influencing the various Christian denominations. (The movement minimized the difference between clergy and laity and stressed religion as a matter of experience and deeply-felt piety rather than as doctrine and as a set of rules to be obeyed.) Between 1 715 and 1720 J. U. Giezendanner preached to large crowds, but was silenced by offical …