Harmony Society

The Harmony Society (originally known as Rappites) formed in the German province of Würrttemberg under the charismatic leadership of George Rapp (1757–1847) in the late eighteenth century. It developed out of the religious ferment caused by Pietism, a movement that swept through a wide swath of the Protestant Christian world in the late seventeenth century and throughout the eighteenth century. Pietists sought to inject passion and feeling into religion, which at that time was dominated by state-approved churches they regarded as formal and cold. The followers of George Rapp were a particularly radical group. Tension between Rapp and the civil authorities grew strong, and Rapp eventually decided to emigrate.

In Germany, the Rappites lived as private families, but by the late 1790s, imitating the community of goods of the early Christians described in Acts 2 and 4, they began pooling some financial resources (although adoption of a fully communal economy came only with the later move to the United States). Some members began practicing celibacy as early as the mid-1780s; it would become mandatory for all in 1807. Citing biblical passages and the writings of the mystic Jacob Boehme, Rapp declared sexual relations mortally sinful and a departure from the pristine order of creation. Married couples continued to live together, but chastely. New members joined steadily in Germany, although after the move to the United States the influx slowed, in major part because the community remained thoroughly German in culture and language. In its early years the community's economy was tenuous, but prosperity was gradually achieved due to members' hard work and astute business management.

In 1804, the Rappites (officially by now the Harmony Society) purchased a large acreage north of Pittsburgh, [Page 579]Pennsylvania, and there developed a communal village they called Harmony. They were to stay there only a decade, however; in 1814, Rapp decreed that the group should move west, and they settled in southwestern Indiana on the Wabash River, which gave them easy access to Ohio River commerce. Although they poured great labor and money into creating their second New World home, New Harmony, after a decade Rapp again declared that the band had to move, this time back to Pennsylvania not far from the original Harmony.

It is thought that Rapp had always wanted to move west, that the original Harmony was to be temporary. In the case of the move back to Pennsylvania from Indiana, Rapp claimed biblical imperative, saying that the sunwoman in the Book of Revelation (12:1–2) had to flee again into the wilderness. Actually, however, practical considerations seem to have been at work: Indiana was far from Eastern markets; there were ongoing problems with their frontier neighbors; the community felt culturally isolated; and malaria had been a persistent problem in their river location. Also, Rapp apparently thought that the tremendous amount of work required for a move would help keep members busy and spiritually centered. New Harmony was sold to the Scottish social reformer Robert Owen (1771–1858), who opened a secular communal settlement there, and the Harmonists built a third village, Economy.

...