Note on the Translation
Vital to an understanding of Christian history in rural Germany is the Gemeinde (plural: Gemeinden). The Gemeinde was the local, corporate body of Christian residents, and it existed in two aspects or dimensions—a civil dimension and a sacred dimension. For this reason trying to translate the term into English with both precision and elegance sets one on the horns of a dilemma. One option, “commune,” connotes the political and state-like functions that enfranchised members carried out on behalf of the local civil body, but it lacks the religious sense of sacred association and communion of Christians. “Community,” in the historic sense of the term, connotes that sacred association and communion of Christians who had common interests, a shared society, and fellowship both inside and outside a church, but it lacks the state-like notion of enfranchised members deliberating and deciding on matters, especially political ones. Other options also have merits and shortcomings. “Congregation” connotes a flock herded or assembled, and it captures the notion of a subordinate group within a structure of ecclesiastical authority. But, etymologically, it implies points in time when they did (i.e., inside a church) and did not (i.e., outside a church) exist in that form. Intrinsically, as well, “congregation” fails to convey a Gemeinde’s decision-making capacity and processes in civil affairs, and perhaps even ecclesiastical ones. “Parishioners” fails to do this, too, and it lacks the connotation of a living and breathing corporation, although, when actors occasionally used the word parishioners (Pfarrkinder) in the documents, the text below translates it as such. Further options beyond these have similar strengths and weaknesses.
After much wrangling with the dilemma’s horns, I settled for what appealed to me as a Solomonic solution. I use the original German term Gemeinde for the local body so long as that body’s civil and sacred dimensions continued to be united or overlapping, and I cease to use the term when the two dimensions were uncoupled and became disunited. I translate Gemeinde as “commune” when its usage indicated only the local civil body as led by enfranchised members, and I translate Gemeinde as “community” when its usage indicated only the, or a, local sacred body. This approach also happens to have advantages that other options do not. It structures in a reader’s mind when the local civil and sacred dimensions were united, when they became disunited, and what significance this difference carried. Similarly, the approach sharpens the contrast between the history of rural Gemeinden in Part 1, which retained their civil-sacred unity, and those in Part 2, which lost that unity at some point after 1648. My hope is that the reader will find the selected approach helpful.
The German word Konfession is translated as “confession” when its usage related to a statement of belief or a creedal adherence to a religion and as “denomination” when its usage related to an ecclesiastical category, group, and organization. The German word Abendmahl, commonly worded as the Eucharist or Communion or Lord’s Supper, is translated here as the Eucharist. I have rendered certain place names, such as “Hesse,” “Thuringia,” “Westphalia,” “Prussia” and “Cologne” according to their English spelling and, otherwise, generally left names of territories, towns, and villages in their original German spelling. I write “City Fulda” and “City Hanau” when it concerned the specific towns that bore those names and “Fulda” and “Hanau” when it concerned the wider regions that went by the same names.