Table Of Contentcontinued from front flap Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, was a
Community of the Cross
unique colonial town.It was the
first permanent outpost of the
Atwood reveals the deep connection
is published as part of the
Moravians in North America and
between life in Bethlehem and the reli-
served as the headquarters for their
gious symbolism of controversial Max Kade German-American C
extensive missionary efforts.It was also
German theologian Nicholas von
o
one of the most successful communal
Zinzendorf, whose provocative and Research Institute Series.
m
societies in American history.
erotic adoration of the wounds of Jesus (cid:1)
m Bethlehem was founded as a “congrega-
was an essential part of private and
tion of the cross” where all aspects of
communal life. Using the theories of M u
René Girard,Mary Douglas,and Victor o n personal and social life were subordi-
r
a nated to the religious ideal of the com-
Turner, Atwood shows that it was the v i
ia t Com mu n i t y munity. In Community of the Cross,
Moravians’ liturgy and devotion that
n
y Craig D. Atwood offers a convincing
united the community and inspired P
ie o of t h e C r o s s portrait ofBethlehem and its religion.
both its unique social structure and its t
y
missionary efforts. i f
n
Visitors to Bethlehem, such as
C t Moravian Piety in
Craig D. Atwood is Theologian in o h Benjamin Franklin, remarked on the
l
o Colonial Bethlehem orderly and peaceful nature oflife in the
Residence at Home Moravian Church n
e
i
a community,its impressive architecture,
in Winston-Salem,North Carolina,and
l
C
B and its “high” culture. However, many
is on the faculty ofWake Forest Divinity (cid:1)
e r
t non-Moravians were embarrassed or
School. h
l o
e even offended by the social and devo-
h .
e s tional life of the Moravians.The adora-
m
s
: tion ofthe crucified Jesus,especially his
Front:John Valentine Haidt (1700–1780), wounds,was the focus of intense devo-
Thomas Doubting,c.1758–1759.Moravian
tion for adults and children alike.
Historical Society,Nazareth.
Moravians worshiped the Holy Spirit as
Back:Moravian brothers and sisters adoring
the crucified Christ.Unity Archives,Herrnhut. “Mother,” and they made the mystical
marriage to Christ central to their mar-
ital intimacy. Everything, even family
life,was to be a form ofworship.
isbn 0-271-02367-8
The Pennsylvania State University Press
,!7IA2H1-acdgha!:t;K;k;K;k
University Park,Pennsylvania
continued on back flap
www.psupress.org
COMMUNITY OF THE CROSS
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Image not available
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Community of the
Cross
Moravian Piety in Colonial Bethlehem
(cid:1)
.
the pennsylvania state university press
university park, pennsylvania
..........................10483$ $$FM 01-09-0408:44:06 PS
Disclaimer:
Some images in the original version of this book are not
available for inclusion in the eBook.
CommunityoftheCrossispublishedaspartoftheMaxKadeGerman-AmericanResearchInstituteSeries.Thisseries
providesanoutletforbooksthatreflectthemissionofthePennStateKadeInstitute:tointegratethehistoryand
cultureofGerman-speakersintheAmericaswiththemajorthemesofearlymodernscholarshipfromthesixteenth
totheearlynineteenthcentury.
LibraryofCongressCataloging-in-PublicationData
Atwood,CraigD.
Communityofthecross:MoravianpietyincolonialBethlehem/
CraigD.Atwood.
p. cm.
Includesbibliographicalreferencesandindex.
ISBN---(cloth:alk.paper)
.MoravianChurch—History.
.Pietism—Germany—History.
I.Title.
BX.A
(cid:1).—dc
Copyright(cid:1)ThePennsylvaniaStateUniversity
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PrintedintheUnitedStatesofAmerica
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forInformationSciences—PermanenceofPaperforPrintedLibraryMaterial,ANSIZ.–.
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CONTENTS
Preface vii
Introduction
(cid:1)
TheMoraviansandTransatlanticGermanPietism
ZinzendorfandtheTheologyoftheHeart
TheBodyofChrist
Bethlehem
Ritual
UnionwithChrist
LivingintheSideWoundofChrist
(cid:1)
Conclusion
Appendixes
Bibliography
Index
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PREFACE
materialinthisbookisdisturbingtomodernsensibilities,and
I need to assure readers that this is not a description of Moravians today,
although they, too, can learn from this history. This is not an expose´ but a
serious attempt to make sense of an important religious community whose
attitudes and theology may still have relevance. We best show respect to those
whom we study when we take seriously what was most important to them,
whileexaminingitcritically.ThatiswhatItrytodointhisbook.
Thereisalonghistoryofthewritingofthisworkthatmayhelpclarifywhat
Itrytoaccomplishhereandatthesametimeacknowledgemydebtofgratitude
to dozens of people who participated in this project, sometimes unwittingly.
Having grown up in a family with a two-hundred-year Moravian heritage, I
was familiar with the Moravian story, but even as a child I sensed that some-
thingwas beingomittedinthe tellingofthehistory. Inthehymns andliturgy
ofthechurchIcaughtglimpsesofapoeticimaginationandprovocativetheol-
ogy that I later learned was the distant echo of one of the most fascinating
figures in Protestant history, Nikolaus Ludwig von Zinzendorf.1 I knew his
name, but no one could tell me about his theology, beyond generalities. As a
child,IalsowonderedwhythoseoldMoravianshadsacrificedsomuchtolive
together in strictly regulated communities. Could there be a connection be-
tweentheorderlycommunalbuildingsandthepoetictheologyofZinzendorf?
Bethlehem was a natural subject of research because it was the center of
MoravianactivityinNorthAmericainthecolonialperiod.AllotherMoravian
communitiesinAmericastemmedfromtheworkinBethlehem.Ialsostudied
attheMoravianTheologicalSeminary inBethlehem,where Ihadthepleasure
of studying Moravian history with David Schattschneider, now the retired
dean.Inclasswediscussedtheso-calledSiftingTime(–).Itispractically
a rite of initiation for future Moravian ministers to learn about the Litany of
the Wounds, the ‘‘blue cabinet’’ that newly married couples supposedly used,
.AsimilarechoprofoundlyinfluencedHildaDoolittle,thepoetH.D.SeeBarbaraEllenBurke,‘‘Paral-
lelsBetweenMoravianismandSelectedWorksbyH.D.(M.A.thesis,UniversityofLouisville,);Jane
Augustine,‘‘TheMystery:H.D.’sUnpublishedMoravianNovel,EditedandAnnotatedTowardsaStudyin
theSourcesinaPoet’sReligiousThinking’’(Ph.D.diss.,CityUniversityofNewYork,).
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viii
hymns about bees flying around the side wound of Christ, and the Society of
LittleFools.Therewasembarrassedlaughter,andintheprocesswhatwasonce
vitaltolivingpeoplewasdismissedandhiddenaway.
Ibeganreadingthelitaniesofthetimeandfoundthemremarkableintheir
visionofboththeearthlyandtheheavenlycommunity,aswellasrichintheol-
ogy and poetic imagery. I read studies of Bethlehem by scholars outside the
Moravian Church, who broke the Moravian story out of pious narrative and
hagiography; but I was still convinced that something was missing. Moravian
mission activity and social structure seemed somehow lifeless and strangely
divorcedfromZinzendorf.
Arthur Freeman, now retired from the seminary (and godfather of one of
my daughters), led me deeper into the study of Zinzendorf and his theology,
withaviewtowardhowthattheologycouldbeusefultoday.Althoughmywork
focusesonhowZinzendorf’stheologywasmanifestedinthelivedexperienceof
the Moravians rather than as a resource for modern theology, I am indebted
to Arthur in many ways. He introduced me to the vast field of Zinzendorfian
studies in German and helped me see that, despite claims to the contrary,
Zinzendorfdoesmakesense.Again,though,itwashardtoconnectZinzendorf
tothelifeoftheMoraviancommunitiesinAmerica.Therealso remainedthat
troublingquestionoftheLitanyoftheWounds.
Despitemyeffortstofocusonotherareasofresearchasagraduatestudent
at Princeton Theological Seminary in the early s, I was continually drawn
(or driven) back to this enigma. Anthony Grafton’s early modern seminar at
Princeton University showed me that social and cultural historical methods
could be usefully applied to the studyof religious communities. I also learned
howtoreadhistoriographywiththesamehermeneuticofsuspicionthatIhad
long applied to the study of Scripture. Every text needs exegesis because texts
reveal more than they intend and obscure much that we would like to know.
Moravianhistoriographyisnoexception.
Intrigued by the questions that the eminent sociologist of religion Richard
Fennaskedinhistorydepartmentcolloquia,ItackledtheproblemoftheLitany
oftheWoundsheadonwithhisguidance.Manyofourconversationswereheld
over breakfast as a small diner in Princeton, and I apologize to other patrons
who found their eggs seasoned with snatches of conversation about bleeding
wounds. Dick introduced me to classical sociological literature as I sought for
atheorytoexplainthephenomenaIwasexamining.Unfortunately,theMora-
vians seemed to run counter to the standard theories of Max Weber, Brian
Wilson, David Martin, and even E´mile Durkheim. What does one make of a
communitythatcreatesexceedinglyrationalplansforbuildingtownsandeffi-
cient economic system but leaves the decision of whether and where to build
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ix
to the lot? What do you do with a sect that welcomes the elaborate symbolic
drama of aristocratic society and high culture, yet forbids even the simplest
revels?
More helpful was the work of Mary Douglas, although the Moravians
seemed to defy the categories she has developed. They were a closed commu-
nity that welcomed visitors and sought converts. They had a strict structure
of authority and control yet encouraged reflection and intimate conversation.
Eventually I abandoned the effort to impose a theoretical construct on the
MoraviansinBethlehem,preferringtodevelopmyowndescription.However,
Douglas’s core insight that the social body and the individual body are intri-
cately connected was the key to the Bethlehem mystery. Statements about
Christ’s body are also statements about the community and the individuals in
it.The bodyof Christthatthe Moraviansworshipped,the bodyof Christthat
theyunderstoodthemselvestobeasacommunity,andtheirindividualbodies,
inwhichChristdwelled,weredistinguishableyetinseparable.
Rene´ Girard’s analysis of violence in religion also helped make sense of the
violence evident in Moravian liturgy. Girard’s thesis that the Christian identi-
fication with the sacrificial victim diminishes actual social violence put the
Litany of the Wounds in a new light. In short, the methods of ritual studies
illuminate my historical analysis. In addition to the work of earlier scholars,
most notably Wilhelm Bettermann and Erich Beyreuther, the studies of Leo
Steinberg and Caroline Walker Bynum on late medieval and Renaissance art
andspiritualityprovidedhelpfulbackgroundforunderstandingtheviolentand
eroticimageryineighteenth-centuryMoravianpiety.ThearticlesofKatherine
Faull of Bucknell University and conversation with her were instrumental in
refining my thesis. Recent works by Aaron Fogleman and Paul Peucker also
providedkeyinsights.
Manypeopleassistedmeinmyresearchandwriting.Iamextremelygrateful
to Vernon Nelson and Lothar Madeheim of the Moravian Archives in Bethle-
hem.Theytaughtmetoreadeighteenth-centuryGermanscriptandfrequently
pointedme toproductiveavenuesof exploration.Ihavealso benefitedgreatly
fromtheassistanceandencouragementofPaulPeucker,archivistoftheUnity
ArchiveinHerrnhut.TomMinor,retiredlibrarianofReevesLibraryatMora-
vian College, was invaluable in providing books for me even from a distance
offivehundredmiles.ThestaffofSpeerLibraryatPrincetonSeminary,Gram-
ley Library of Salem College, and the Moravian archives in Winston-Salem
werealsoveryaccommodating.
Ricarda Fro¨hlich, eine scho¨ne Seele, assisted me in translating the Litany of
the Wounds, and her husband Karlfried Fro¨hlich helped me to be more rigor-
ousinmyhistoricalresearch.ThoughJeanLoupSebanneverunderstoodwhy
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Description:Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, was a unique colonial town. It was the first permanent outpost of the Moravians in North America and served as the headquarters for their extensive missionary efforts. It was also one of the most successful communal societies in American history. Bethlehem was founded as a '
