Cultures of Knowledge: An Intellectual Geography of the Seventeenth-Century Republic of Letters

Cracow 2009
Educational Reform, Philosophy, and Irenicism

Alexander SCHUNKA
Legacy or New Dawn? Reformed Irenicism and Protestant Connections between England and Central Europe in the Early Eighteenth Century

Eighteenth-century irenicism and the communication networks behind it have been considered by some historians simply as remnants of a previous confessional age without much lasting influence. The paper will address some of the irenicist connections around 1700. It will focus primarily on the correspondence network of Daniel Ernst Jablonski, grandson of John Amos Comenius, who figured prominently as Prussian court preacher, senior (i.e. bishop) of the Polish Unity of Brethren, and co-founder of the Prussian Academy of Sciences. Jablonski’s theological interests, as well as his personal correspondence network spanning from England to Poland, place him in the centre of early eighteenth-century Reformed irenicism. While rooted in the intellectual world of his grandfather in many respects, his ideas and contacts mark an important link between an ‘International Calvinism’ of the seventeenth century, and a newly evolving ‘Protestant Interest’ of the eighteenth. Based on Jablonski’s impressive correspondence, the paper highlights the influence of Reformed irenical networks in the fields of contemporary theology, politics, and the intellectual culture of the early enlightenment. I will argue that Jablonski’s contacts and the efforts to strengthen the coherence of European Protestantism make him a transitional figure of crucial importance.