“Mēs šeitan esam viesi” Ieskats Georga Heinriha Loskīla dzīvē un darbos

The name Georg Heinrich Loskiel (1740-1814), a member of the Moravian Church and hymn writer, is rarely heard today. He is relatively little-known even to Baltic cultural-history researchers, although Latvian Christians still sing his hymns and his name does appear in rare scholarly papers. A publication exploring the life and contributions of Loskiel, serious in-depth research on his personality, as well as translation of his works published in other languages, is still lacking. The paper provides an insight into Loskiel’s life, literary heritage, and reception, looking as at all his activities as comprehensively as possible and how he is rated in the history of the formation of the Moravian Church or the Christian Brethren. It focuses on Loskiel’s contribution to the history of German religious literature and outlines how his works were received in the Baltic-German cultural space, as well as providing an insight into the contexts, content, and reception of his monograph on North American Indians. The article evaluates Loskiel’s missionary activities in the United States of America and emphasises his contribution to the creation of the American nation. Special attention was paid to hymns, indicating the role of singing for the Moravians as a whole and the uniqueness of Moravian songs among other hymns. Loskiel’s contribution to the history of Latvian religious texts is viewed in the broader context of the Moravian Church, emphasising its role in the creation of the Latvian public space in Vidzeme.