Since the 18th century, Mucker has been a term of abuse or nickname for Pietists or sanctimonious hypocrites. Its connotations range from “sanctimonious” through “sneaking” to “hypocritical,” “malicious,” and “underhanded.”
In Königsberg (today Kaliningrad), in the age of rationalism, the followers of Johann Wilhelm Ebel ¶ (1784–1861), pastor of the Old Church since 1816, were referred to as Muckers. Ebel had been influenced by the theosophy of the private scholar Johann Heinrich Schönherr (1770–1862) and was a member of Schö…