This book brings together interdisciplinary scholars from history, theology, folklore,
ethnology and meteorology to examine how David Cranz's Historie von Grönland (1765)
resonated in various disciplines, periods and countries. Collectively the contributors
demonstrate the reach of the book beyond its initial purpose as a record of missionary work,
and into secular and political fields beyond Greenland and Germany. The chapters also
reveal how the book contributed to broader discussions and conceptualizations of …

The Moravian mission in Greenland began in 1733. Shortly before his death Count Nicholas
Ludwig von Zinzendorf commissioned his personal secretary, David Cranz, to travel there to
research a book on the mission. Cranz visited Greenland for a year (1761–62) and his
Historie von Grönland appeared, in two large volumes, in 1765. Two decades ago JCS
Mason noted that Cranz's book was “essential reading for men who thought deeply about
foreign missions”(The Moravian Church and the Missionary Awakening in England, 1760 …