Aira Võsa`s presentation about noblewomen`s inclination toward pietism based on their written heritage
On 2 June 2023 a digital conference was organised by the Latvian National Library, the Francke Institutions in Halle and the Halle-Wittenberg Universities` international research centre on pietism. The title of the conference was “Pietism in Baltic History; Research and Perspectives”. Participating in the conference were historians, literary scholars and theologians from Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Germany and Holland. Aira Võsa, senior researcher at the Under and Tuglas Literature Centre also took part in the conference, on the topic “Pietistic habitus in the written legacy of noblewomen”. More specifically, the presentation examines three Baltic German noblewomen born in the 18th century, whose written legacy has been linked to pietism or the Herrnhuter movement: Elisa von der Recke, Helene Marie von Kügelgen and Barbara Juliane von Krüdener. In the presentation it is attempted to define the pietism resp. Herrnhuterianism in their creative works. By means of theological analysis of the authors` texts, an unusual view of the religiosity of Baltic noblewomen opens up, which not only reflects on pietism, but also the influences of Enlightenment theology and movements of spiritual awakening.