Johann Georg Rapp | |
|---|---|
 Rapp as painted from memory by Phineas Staunton (1835) | |
| Born | November 1, 1757 |
| Died | August 7, 1847 (aged 89) |
| Occupation | Religious colonizer |
| Spouse | Christine Benzinger |
| Children | Johannes Rapp (1783–1812) and Rosine Rapp (1786–1849) |
John George Rapp (German: Johann Georg Rapp; November 1, 1757 – August 7, 1847) was the founder of the religious sect called the Harmony Society and a number of associated communes.
Born in Iptingen, Germany, Rapp became inspired by the philosophies of Jakob Böhme, Philipp Jakob Spener, and Emanuel Swedenborg, among others. In the 1780s, George Rapp began preaching and soon started to gather a group of his own followers. His group officially split with the Lutheran Church in 1785 and was promptly banned from meeting. The persecution that Rapp and his followers experienced caused them to leave Germany and come to the United States in 1803.[1] Rapp was a Pietist, and a number of his beliefs were shared by the Anabaptists, as well as groups such as the Shakers.
- ^ Robert Paul Sutton, Communal Utopias and the American Experience: Religious Communities (2003) p. 38