John Cennick in Germany: His Marienborn Diary, 1745–1746

abstract:In December 1745 the English evangelist John Cennick (1718–55) set off to visit the Moravian continental centers Herrnhaag, Marienborn, and Lindheim—places that witnessed some of the most innovative liturgical practices and experiments in communal living, and that were the testing ground for Zinzendorf's probing theological reflections. Cennick wrote a first-hand, nonpolemical account of his lengthy stay there. While the original has been lost, a handwritten copy by A. C. Hassé exists that has never been published in full in a scholarly, annotated edition. This edition of Cennick's diary is based on Hassé's copy. We are given privileged access to the daily activities of a dynamic, cosmopolitan Philadelphian community seen through the admiring eyes of an introspective but observant onlooker. We are given detailed descriptions of the layout and use of buildings on the various sites. Even the recently completed paintings by Valentin Haidt are itemized. We also learn much more about John Cennick himself through this daily journal, especially his highly developed aesthetic sensibility that belies the image of him as the straightforward, activist preacher.