On the Role of Livland Pastors in Processes of Cultural Exchange During the Eighteenth Century’
On the Role of Livland Pastors in Processes of Cultural Exchange During the Eighteenth Century’

Summary/Abstract: This article sheds light on the patterns of filling pastoral positions in the Latvian-language area of Livland province, i.e. the Vidzeme rural parishes. Above all, attention is given to the education background of the pastors who imparted biographical information in the published church archives and how their path to become a pastor progressed. Secondly, the problem of pastors’ self-image is examined. Thirdly, an attempt is made to find out whether the church materials deposited in the general framework of the Swedish Church Law of 1686 may reflect the intellectual impulses received by pastors from German universities. The focus is on whether the increased interest in the state of the physical environment, above all weather, as one of the manifestations of the enlightened worldview, is reflected in church chronicles.

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