Alexander Mack | |
|---|---|
 Mack's personal crest | |
| Church | Schwarzenau Brethren (German Baptist) |
| Orders | |
| Ordination | Minister, elder |
| Personal details | |
| Born | 27 July 1679 |
| Died | 19 January 1735(1735-01-19) (aged 55) Germantown, Philadelphia,Province of Pennsylvania,British America |
| Buried | Upper Burying Ground,Germantown,Philadelphia,Pennsylvania,United States[1] |
| Nationality | GermanPalatine |
| Denomination | Anabaptist |
| Residence | Schriesheim,Palatinate;Friesland,Netherlands; and Schwarzenau,Bad Berleburg,Germany andGermantown,Philadelphia,Pennsylvania,United States |
| Parents | Johann Phillip Mack (father) and Christina Fillbrun Mack (mother) |
| Spouse | Anna Margarethe Kling |
| Children | Johann Valentine, Johannes, and Alexander Mack, Jr. (sons) and Christina and unnamed infant (daughters) |
| Occupation | Composer,elder andminister,philanthropist,theologian |
| Profession | Miller |
| Signature |  |
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 A 1685 illustration byJan Luyken, published inMartyrs Mirror, ofDirk Willems saving his pursuer, an act of mercy that led to his recapture, after which he was burned at the stake nearAsperen in the present-dayNetherlands |
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Alexander Mack (c. 27 July 1679[a] – 19 January 1735) was a German clergyman and the leader and firstminister of theSchwarzenau Brethren (orGerman Baptists) in the Schwarzenau,Wittgenstein, community of modern-dayBad Berleburg,North Rhine-Westphalia,Germany. Mack founded the Brethren along with seven otherRadical Pietists in Schwarzenau in 1708. Mack and the rest of the early Brethren emigrated to the United States in the mid-18th century, where he continued to minister to the Brethren community until his death.
Mack was born inSchriesheim,Palatinate, in contemporaryBaden-Württemberg, Germany, where he worked as amiller. He was born the third son to miller Johann Phillip Mack and his wife Christina Fillbrun Mack and was baptized into the localReformed church on 27 July 1679.[2] The Macks remained in Schriesheim throughout theNine Years' War, intermittently seeking refuge in the hill country because of violence.[2] Upon finishing his studies, Mack took over the family mill and married Anna Margarethe Kling on 18 January 1701.[2] By 1705, the Macks became moved by thePietist movement locally led by Ernst Christoph Hochmann von Hochnau and started to host an illegalBible study and prayer group at their home.[2]
In the early 1700s, Graf (Count)Henrich AlbrechtSayn-Wittgenstein provided refuge to religious dissenters from other German states and elsewhere. Many were settled around the small village of Schwarzenau, including Mack and his followers. The era of toleration forradical Pietism lasted only until about 1740, but had few precedents at the time and was denounced by the rulers of most other German states.[3] Schwarzenau is now part of the town ofBad Berleburg in the district ofSiegen-Wittgenstein in the state ofNorth Rhine-Westphalia. The school (now closed) in Schwarzenau was named in honor of Alexander Mack.[4]
The initial group that became known as the Schwarzenau Brethren were inaugurated by Mack as a Bible study with four other men and three women. In 1708—having become convinced of the necessity ofBeliever's baptism—the group decided to baptize themselves, using alottery system to choose who would baptize one another in theEder.[5]
In 1719, a branch of the Schwarzenau Brethren—led by Peter Becker—emigrated toGermantown, Philadelphia,Pennsylvania Province (now in the United States) for religious freedom. Mack and several other Brethren emigrated toFriesland in the Netherlands because of pressure within the interfaith community in Schwarzenau in 1720.[6] However, the Brethren in Friesland were impoverished, and the community was unable to sustain itself.[6] In 1729, Mack and about 30 Brethren families sailed from Rotterdam for Philadelphia.[7] The arrival of the 1729 emigrants immediately brought renewed vitality and new members to the American Brethren, who had become less active since their migration. Mack's leadership was pivotal in sustaining this vitality, and it noticeably slackened upon his death in 1735.[7]
Prior to the formation of any strictdoctrine, the Schwarzenau Brethren espoused several fundamental tenets that would define the Brethren movement, including a rejection of any coercion in religion (such asinfant baptism), viewing Christianrites andordinances as ameans of grace, and theNew Testament as the onlycreed andRule of Faith.[6] Mack was aUniversalist[8][9][10] and strictpacifist.
Some sources (e.g.Schulz 1954) cite this as Mack's birthday, others (e.g. Eberly;Willoughby 1991, p. 1) refer to this as his date of baptism.
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