Speaking to Body and Soul: Instructions for the Moravian Choir Helpers, 1785–1786

Abstract

In this volume of annotated and translated eighteenth-century German manuscripts, which are preserved at the Moravian Archives in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, as well as the Unity Archives in Herrnhut, Germany, Katherine Faull explores the healing conversations between spiritual counselors and congregants in the Moravian Church. This practice of “speaking,” as it was known, also played an important role in shaping notions of adolescence and childhood within the communal structure of the congregation and the “choir.” Faull uncovers notions of selfhood in the choir system of the Moravian Church, drawing on highly confidential instructions rooted in principles—or principia—that were established at religious conferences immediately following the death of Count Nikolaus Ludwig von Zinzendorf—the German social reformer and Moravian bishop—in 1760. Faull's translations amount to a groundbreaking contribution to the field of Moravian studies and to the emerging field of the history of emotions by demonstrating the relationship between the corporeality and materiality of emotions in the practice of “speaking” (Sprechen) as a fundamental part of the social structure of the choir system.Faull has organized her primary sources in chapters on gender, age, and marital status among single sisters, single brethren, married couples, and widows, thus reflecting the Moravian custom of living in such groups, or choirs. Her exhaustive introduction also serves as background to the Unity of the Brethren in North America in the eighteenth century. Faull pays close attention to the evolution of Moravian theology before and after Zinzendorf's time and also to the challenges that the choir system faced in North America and Europe. In her discussion of pastoral care, which found its ultimate expression in the monthly conversations or “speakings,” Faull provides a solid framework for the understanding of the primary sources. Choir helpers were instructed in Seelenarbeit—care of the soul—and acted as spiritual counselors in the choirs. The original instructions are accompanied by the author's introduction that places them in a broader context. An extensive glossary contributes to a better understanding of the dynamic role of choir helpers in the pastoral care of single women, married couples, widows, and single brethren in Moravian communities in North America.Faull devotes four chapters to the central practice of “speakings” in Moravian pastoral care. She outlines the instructions, which were formulated in a series of religious conferences (called synods) and subsequently defined the pastoral care as administered by choir helpers in ushering individuals through life's travails. Viewed through the lens of the history of emotions, Faull's translations reveal that pastoral counseling relied primarily on love and compassion for alleviating illnesses of body and soul. The position of choir helpers as physical and spiritual caregivers also empowered them in the process of accepting single sisters into the congregation and the Holy Communion of the Moravian Church. The emotional education in the choir system was crucial to the evolution of Moravian concepts of adolescence and childhood, particularly regarding die bedenklichen Jahre (the difficult years) of puberty. During this formative life stage, choir helpers used the institution of “speakings” to lead children and adolescents toward the Savior.This volume is a strong contribution to the bourgeoning field of the study of emotions in religion. The program of emotional education was shared equally with the choirs of single brethren and those of married couples; choir helpers promoted a view of the body as a gateway to the divine. While Paul Peucker has shown that the devotion to the blood and wounds of Christ was central to Zinzendorf's theology, the newly translated documents offer an extended understanding of the prescriptive literature linked to Zinzendorf's theology, which viewed sexual intercourse as a holy and sacramental act. Faull's documents highlight the emotional components in Zinzendorf's concept of bridal mysticism. His belief that the union with Christ could be experienced during sexual intercourse, both within and outside of marriage, as Faull suggests, led to the valorization of the body and its sexuality in preparation for marriage in the service of the Savior. Faull's volume adds to the growing scholarship on the construction and experience of gender roles in eighteenth-century Moravian communities by conceptualizing emotions as a category of analysis. As guardians of Moravian educational and communal practices, Faull observes, choir helpers were also concerned with the regulation of negative emotions in Moravian educational and communal practices. It was of great concern to the helpers, for example, if emotions such as curiosity (Vorwitz) and frivolity (Leichtsinn) arose in the choir of single brethren (92).In her last chapter, Faull introduces the reader to the principles from which instructions dedicated to the pastoral care of widows derived. This contribution to the emotional histories of Moravian widowhood is especially welcome since the subject has so far been ignored by scholars. According to the Moravian Church, Christ had elevated the status of widows to a “state of grace.” Choir helpers took great care to foster the physical and emotional health of these simultaneously bereft and enriched women through pastoral conversations.For students and scholars across multiple fields—especially Moravian studies, history of emotions, and childhood and adolescence research—this invaluable translation of the original German manuscript is a must read. With her deeply knowledgeable introductions and annotations, Faull provides an indispensable reference for understanding the materiality of emotions in the transition from childhood to adolescence through the institution of “speakings” within the choir system on a global scale. Surely these translations will become a reference for students and scholars who are interested in further research on the role of emotions in monthly “speakings” in the Moravian Church's missions, not only in North America but also in the Caribbean, Greenland, and South Africa in the mid-eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries.