LUTHERAN THEOLOGICAL REVIEW - Concordia Lutheran Seminary

76 LUTHERAN THEOLOGICAL REVIEW XII
secretary of the Copenhagen-based Mission College, strongly advocated for
the concept that missionaries should travel by foot as the Apostles did.
Buildings and businesses which the mission had accumulated should be sold.
God and mammon, heaven and earth, should not be united. 65 As the conflict
between the missionaries and the Mission College was taking place,
Ziegenbalg and Gruendler both died: Ziegenbalg in February 1719 and
Gruendler in March 1720. In the eyes of those close to them, the deaths of
both men were at least partially caused by the harsh criticism levelled
against them by the Mission College. 66
A scant five months after Gruendler’s death (much less if one factors in
the time it would have taken for the news to reach Halle), Francke wrote a
letter to Ziegenhagen telling him that the Danish Mission College had asked
him to find someone to succeed Gruendler in India. He asked whether
Ziegenhagen whether he could propose him for this position in the
Tranquebar mission. Ziegenhagen was asked not to tell anyone but to
respond as quickly as possible. Francke asked him to humbly reflect on the
matter and seek what Christ wanted but he hoped that he would accept. To
Francke, Ziegenhagen likely seemed to be tailor-made for the position.
Ziegenhagen was unmarried and in a situation where conflict between the
missionaries seemed endemic, the quiet and reserved but scholarly
Ziegenhagen would provide steady leadership and easily fit into the role of
arbitrator.
Francke’s letter of 20 August 1720 reached Ziegenhagen six days later.
The day after the letter arrived, Ziegenhagen responded in typical Pietist
fashion, “What could a person wish more than to preach to those who have
not heard. As often as I have read the reports of the East India mission, I
have had great longing to do this mission work.” But, it becomes a more
difficult matter when one considers personal realities. 1) A person who goes
to the mission field must have certain gifts of sanctification; 2) A person
must have great ability in learning languages: Malibarian, Portuguese, and
English, to start with. Even though Francke had written that there would be a
year for language-study, Ziegenhagen did not feel he had the necessary
aptitude to learn languages. He could understand English but was able
neither to speak nor write it; 3) A person must be able, not only to stand the
heat and endure the ocean voyage, but also to eat various foods; 4) On top of
this, Ziegenhagen said that he had malum hypocondriacum for which he was
taking medication. Thus, wrote Ziegenhagen, he did not feel he could go to
the mission field. 67
65 Norgaard 122-23.
66 Norgaard 123, 125.
67 Letter of Ziegenhagen to A. H. Francke, Linden, 27 August 1720. While this letter of
Ziegenhagen clearly shows that Ziegenhagen took himself out of consideration as a candidate