In lieu of an abstract, here is a brief excerpt of the content:

Reviewed by:
  • A Harmony of the Spirits: Translation and the Language of Community in Early Pennsylvania by Patrick M. Erben
  • Karen Guenther
Patrick M. Erben. A Harmony of the Spirits: Translation and the Language of Community in Early Pennsylvania (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 2012). Pp. xvi, 335. Illustrations, notes, and index. Cloth, $45.00.

Tradition holds that colonists such as George Thomas and Benjamin Franklin considered Pennsylvania to be a colony challenged by its multiplicity of faiths, ethnicities, and languages. In A Harmony of the Spirits: Translation and the Language of Community in Early Pennsylvania, Patrick M. Erben disputes this myth, using contemporary writings that range from promotional literature to calligraphies, hymns, and religious tracts to demonstrate that the people of Pennsylvania appreciated the multilingual diversity of the province and used it as a means to encourage inclusiveness, not division.

Erben traces the origins of Pennsylvania’s linguistic diversity and its significance back to Jan Amos Comenius and Jacob Boehme and forward to [End Page 310] William Penn, Francis Daniel Pastorius, Johannes Kelpius, Count Nicholas Ludwig von Zinzendorf, Peter Miller (“Brother Jabez” from Ephrata), and Anthony Benezet. Linguistic diversity was the norm and not an issue among Protestant mystics in Europe who, although they occasionally relied upon translations, did not feel uncomfortable working with texts in other languages.

The Hermits at Johannes Kelpius’s Society of the Woman in the Wilderness along the Wissahickon Creek used hymns as a means for his followers to pursue perfection—“a mystic union with Christ” (207). Hymnody was multilingual in Kelpius’s community, and, according to Erben, they sought to unite the English and German languages. Kelpius himself translated the hymns to expand the potential impact of his community, and his efforts laid the groundwork for Schwenkfelders, Ephrata Brothers and Sisters, and other descendants of German radical Pietists. At Ephrata, for example, printers published tracts and hymns written by members of the cloister and neighboring sectarians.

Moravians at Bethlehem led by Zinzendorf also articulated the relationship between language and spirituality through hymns. In the case of the Moravians, multilingualism encompassed not just European languages but also the dialects of the Delawares, Shawnees, Mahicans, and Iroquois, whom the Moravians tried to convert. Zinzendorf encouraged the development of a parallel multilingualism, with hymns sung in both German and Native American languages. He also envisioned that the Moravians, through this linguistic diversity, would develop a language that included all of the languages spoken in the community (including German, Dutch, Latin, French, and Greek) into a single tongue. As Zinzendorf also hoped to unite all German-speaking congregations into one ecumenical group that would share a common religious vision, it certainly fits that he would promote a linguistic solidarity in which the spiritual text encompassed multilingualism.

William Penn’s promotional literature further emphasized the importance of multilingualism in colonial Pennsylvania. Erben raises the question about how people on the continent who did not speak English were able to understand Penn’s message, focusing on the importance of translators. In explaining the process, Erben makes a distinction between inner and outer languages and how the translation process could affect listeners’ understanding of Penn’s words. Were the translations simultaneous (in other words, Penn spoke, then the translator), or did the translators wait until Penn finished speaking and then summarized what Penn said? To Erben, the latter [End Page 311] could lead to misinterpretation, thus explaining Penn’s desire to focus on the written word when promoting his colony. Consequently, Penn’s spiritual goal was to encourage a common understanding of human language in order to ensure the goal of salvation, but his practical goal was to focus on the “real” world in the promotional literature, explaining his vision for the colony in terms Europeans would understand.

Additional promotional tracts for the province followed Penn’s pattern. Francis Daniel Pastorius’s Sichere Nachrict expressed support for the spiritual and social development of the colony. Penn appreciated Pastorius’s linguistic diversity, which, according to Erben, Pastorius might have interpreted as favoritism toward German settlers. Daniel Falckner’s Curieuse Nachrict focused on Pennsylvania as a religious experiment, as it answered a series of questions posed by August Herman Francke...

pdf