Alexander Mack
| Alexander Mack | |
|---|---|
| Church | Schwarzenau Brethren (German Baptist) |
| Orders | |
| Ordination | Minister, elder |
| Personal details | |
| Born | 27 July 1679 Schriesheim, Palatinate, Germany |
| Died | 19 January 1735 (aged 55) Germantown, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States |
| Buried | Upper Burying Ground, Germantown, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States |
| Nationality | German Palatine |
| Denomination | Protestant Christian, Pietist Anabaptist |
| Residence | Schriesheim, Palatinate; East Friesland; and Schwarzenau, Bad Berleburg, Germany and Germantown, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States |
| Parents | Johann Phillip Mack (father) and Christina Fillbrun Mack (mother) |
| Spouse | Anna Margarethe Kling |
| Children | Johann Valentine, Johannes, and Alexander Mack, Jr. (sons) and Christina and unnamed infant (daughters) |
| Occupation | Composer, elder and minister, philanthropist, theologian |
| Profession | Miller |
| Signature |  |
Alexander Mack (c. 27 July 1679 – 19 January 1735) was the leader and first minister of the Schwarzenau Brethren (or German Baptists) in the Schwarzenau, Wittgenstein community of modern-day Bad Berleburg, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. Mack founded the Brethren along with seven other Radical Pietists in Schwarzenau in 1708. Mack and the rest of the early Brethren emigrated to the United States in the mid-18th century, where he continued to minister to the Brethren community until his death.
Mack was born in Schriesheim, Palatinate in contemporary Baden-Württemberg, Germany, where he worked as a miller. He was born the third son to miller Johann Phillip Mack and his wife Christina Fillbrun Mack and baptized into the local Reformed church on 27 July 1679. The Macks remained in Schriesheim throughout the Nine Years' War, intermittently seeking refuge in the hill country because of violence. Upon finishing his studies, Mack took over the family mill and married Anna Margarethe Kling on 18 January 1701. By 1705, the Macks became moved by the Pietist movement locally led by Ernst Christoph Hochmann von Hochnau and started to host an illegal Bible study and prayer group at their home.
In the early 1700s, Graf (Count) Henrich Albrecht Sayn-Wittgenstein provided refuge to religious dissenters from other German states and elsewhere. Many were settled around the small village of Schwarzenau, including Mack and his followers. The era of toleration for radical Pietism lasted only until ~1740, but had few precedents at the time and was denounced by the rulers of most other German states. Schwarzenau is now part of the town of Bad Berleburg in the district of Siegen-Wittgenstein in the state of Nord Rhein Westfalen. The school (now closed) in Schwarzenau was named in honor of Alexander Mack.
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