ABSTRACT
This chapter shows how men and women from all walks of life worked with Pietist leaders to build a vital network that provided both material and spiritual support for its members. It discusses the Pietists' epistolary models: contemporary letter-writing conventions, and the Epistles of the New Testament. The chapter examines the workings of the Leipzig network. It also shows how a network of dedicated Pietists helped drive the dramatic expansion of the German print trade. The Pietists had much to rail against in Leipzig, a city which in many ways embodied 'the world' that they wanted to fee. Historians have long noted an association between Protestant religious movements and printing. The connection between Pietism and printing has been well documented for Francke's enterprises in Halle, with an emphasis on the role of the absolutist state in promoting literacy.
