Editing Harmony Society (section)

=== Religious views ===
In 1791 George Rapp said, "I am a [[prophet]], and I am called to be one" in front of the civil affairs official in [[Maulbronn]], Germany, who promptly had him imprisoned for two days and threatened with [[exile]] if he did not cease preaching.<ref name="Arndt1">Arndt, ''George Rapp's Harmony Society, 1785–1847'', p. 30.</ref><ref name="Pitzer1">Donald E. Pitzer, ''America's Communal Utopias'' (Chapel Hill: [[University of North Carolina]], 1997) p. 57.</ref> To the great consternation of church and state authorities, this mere peasant from Iptingen had become the outspoken leader of several thousand [[Separatism|Separatists]] in the southern German duchy of [[Württemberg]].<ref name="Sutton1"/><ref name="Arndt1"/><ref name="Pitzer1"/> By 1802 the Separatists had grown in number to about 12,000 and the Württemberg government decided that they were a dangerous threat to social order.<ref name="Sutton1"/> Rapp was summoned to Maulbronn for an interrogation, and the government confiscated Separatist books.<ref name="Sutton1"/> When released in 1803, from a brief time in prison, Rapp told his followers to pool their assets and follow him on a journey for safety to the "land of Israel" in the United States, and soon over 800 people were living with him there.<ref name="Sutton1"/>

The Harmonites were Christian [[Pietism|pietist]] Separatists who split from the Lutheran Church in the late 18th century. Under the leadership of George Rapp, the group left Württemberg, Germany, and came to the United States in 1803. Due to the troubles they had in Europe, the group sought to establish a more perfect society in the American wilderness. They were [[nonviolence|nonviolent]] [[Pacifism|pacifists]] who refused to serve in the military and tried to live by George Rapp's philosophy and literal interpretations of the [[New Testament]]. They first settled and built the town of Harmony, Pennsylvania, in 1804, and established the Harmony Society in 1805 as a religious commune. In 1807, celibacy was advocated as the preferred custom of the community in an attempt to purify themselves for the coming [[Millennialism|Millennium]]. Rapp believed that the events and wars going on in the world at the time were a confirmation of his views regarding the imminent Second Coming of Christ, and he also viewed [[Napoleon I of France|Napoleon]] as the [[Antichrist]].<ref name="Baumgartner">Frederic J. Baumgartner, ''Longing for the End: A History of Millennialism in Western Civilization'' (1999) p. 166.</ref> In 1814, the Society sold their first town in Pennsylvania and moved to the Indiana Territory, where they built their second town. In 1824, they decided it was time to leave Indiana, sold their land and town in Indiana, and moved to their final settlement in Western Pennsylvania.

[[Image:Sophia design.jpg|thumb|250px|[[Sophia (wisdom)|Virgin Sophia]] design on doorway in [[Harmony, Pennsylvania]], carved by Frederick Reichert Rapp (1775–1834).]]

The Harmonites were Millennialists, in that they believed [[Jesus]] [[Christ]] was coming to earth in their lifetime to help usher in a thousand-year kingdom of peace on earth. This is perhaps why they believed that people should try to make themselves "pure" and "perfect", and share things with others while willingly living in communal "harmony" ([[Acts of the Apostles|Acts]] [[Christian communism#Biblical citations|4:32-35]]) and practicing celibacy. They believed that the old ways of life on earth were coming to an end, and that a new perfect kingdom on earth was about to be realized.

They also practiced forms of [[Esoteric Christianity]], [[Mysticism]] ([[Christian mysticism]]), and Rapp often spoke of the [[Virginity|virgin]] spirit or [[Goddess#Christianity|Goddess]] named [[Sophia (wisdom)|Sophia]] in his writings.<ref name="Versluis">Arthur Versluis, "Western Esotericism and The Harmony Society", ''Esoterica I'' (1999) p. 20–47. [http://www.esoteric.msu.edu/Versluis.html Michigan State University]</ref> Rapp was very influenced by the writings of Jakob Böhme,<ref name ="Versluis"/> Philipp Jakob Spener, and Emanuel Swedenborg, among others. Also, at Economy, there are glass bottles and literature that seem to indicate that the group was interested in (and practiced) [[alchemy]].<ref name ="Versluis"/> Other books found in the Harmony Society's library in Economy, include those by the following authors: [[Christoph Schütz]], [[Gottfried Arnold]], [[Justinus Kerner]], [[Thomas Bromley (1629–1691)|Thomas Bromley]],<ref>{{cite web | author = PasstheWORD | title = Thomas Bromley On-Line Manuscripts | publisher = PasstheWORD  | date = 2005-10-13 | url =http://www.passtheword.org/Thomas-Bromley/ | access-date = 2012-06-15}}</ref> [[Jane Leade]], [[Johann Scheible]] (''[[Sixth and Seventh Books of Moses]]''),<ref>{{cite web
 | author = Joseph H. Peterson | title = The Sixth and Seventh Books of Moses
 | publisher = Esotericarchives.com | year = 2005 | url = http://www.esotericarchives.com/moses/67moses.htm | access-date = 2012-06-15}}</ref> [[Paracelsus]], and [[Georg von Welling]],<ref>{{cite web |author=Georg von Welling |title=''Opus Mago-Cabalisticum''  |publisher=Frankfurt and Leipzig: The Fleischer Bookstore |date=1784|edition= edited and translated by Arthur Versluis, third  |url=http://www.esoteric.msu.edu/Archive/Welling.html |access-date=2012-06-15}}</ref> among others.<ref name ="Versluis"/>

The Harmonites tended to view [[Single person|unmarried]] celibate life as morally superior to [[marriage]], based on Rapp's belief that [[God]] had originally created [[Adam (Bible)|Adam]] as a dual being, having male and female sexual organs.<ref>Arndt, ''George Rapp's Successors and Material Heirs'', p. 147.</ref> According to this view, when the female portion of Adam separated to form [[Eve]], disharmony followed, but one could attempt to regain harmony through celibacy.

George Rapp predicted that on September 15, 1829, the three and one half years of the [[Woman of the Apocalypse|Sun Woman]] would end and Christ would begin his reign on earth.<ref name="Baumgartner"/> Dissension grew when Rapp's predictions did not come to pass. In March 1832, one third of the group left the Society and some began following Bernhard Müller, who claimed to be the [[Lion of Judah#Lion of Judah in Christianity|Lion of Judah]]. Nevertheless, most of the group stayed and Rapp continued to lead them until he died on August 7, 1847. His last words to his followers were, "If I did not so fully believe, that the Lord has designated me to place our society before His presence in the land of Canaan, I would consider this my last".<ref>Wilson, p. 11.</ref>

The Harmonites did not mark their [[Grave (burial)|graves]] with [[headstone]]s or grave markers, because they thought it was unnecessary to do so; however, one exception is George Rapp's son Johannes' stone marker in Harmony, Pennsylvania, which was installed by non-Harmonites many years after the Harmonites left that town.<ref>Arndt, ''George Rapp's Successors and Material Heirs'', p. 157.</ref> Today, Harmonist [[graveyard]]s are fenced in grassy areas with signs posted nearby explaining this practice.