Dialogue under duress: Schwenckfelder-Mennonite contact in the eighteenth century

Following the initiation of persecution against them by the Jesuits, the Schwenkfelders in Silesia opened a correspondence with the Mennonites in Holland requesting financial and political aid, calling the Dutch Mennonites "fellow-believers". The Mennonites eventually sent financial aid, but only after careful discussions regarding the theological position of the Schwenkfelders. Despite a growing spiritualism among Dutch Mennonites at the time, they were not able to support the Silesian Schwenkfelder Spiritualists as "brethren", but, were willing to support them in their flight to Saxony in 1726, and to America in 1734. An edition of the correspondence in English translations is included.