ABSTRACT
Mettele explores how the Moravian Brethren organized the worldwide transmission of information in a time in which global communication was anything but easy. She writes about not only the content of the messages but also the technologies and procedures employed to disseminate news among the worldwide Moravian settlements, diaspora conventicles, and missionary stations. She raises questions of editing and reading practices, geographical scope and logistics, time and speed, and of how a dilemma concerning the question of secrecy versus publicity affected the methods of evangelical publication. Mettele demonstrates how the Moravians were pioneers in creating international networks to circulate information, promote a collective sense of worldwide Moravian identity, and promote the expansion of their global missions. By focusing on the creation, distribution, and circulation of texts, the author clearly conveys the global scope of these communication networks, which became a model for the later missions of other Protestant denominations.
