The Moravian Church and the Society of Jesus: American Mission and American Utopia in the Age of Confessionalization

Abstract

In this article, missions of the Moravian Church in North America in the eighteenth and the beginning of the nineteenth century will be compared with missions of the Society of Jesus that took place in New Spain (Mexico) in the period preceding and parallel with the Moravian ones. Through a detailed study of the goals, methods, and results of the mission projects we can better understand the ideological roots and aims of the two specific religious groups and the general intellectual and political atmosphere in Europe of the early modern period.