The Empty Lot: Spiritual Contact in Lenape and Moravian Religious Beliefs

Abstract

began in Pennsylvania during the 1740s and continued in Ohio until the early nineteenth century. The church established thirty-two North American mission towns populated exclusively by converts and missionary families. Unlike related Puritan efforts, the Moravian programs worked inside Indian territories, in full cooperative contact with tribal societies. Missionary leader David Zeisberger was the first European immigrant to cross the Forbidden Trail established by the Seneca to repel colonial expansion, and he later became an adopted member of the Lenape, serving on the chief council. As a result of such participation, the primary source of ethnographic data for Lenape culture is the Moravian records. As these two cultures interacted, their spiritual worlds inevitably collided. Though they certainly bore resemblances, Moravian and Lenape religious systems differed, particularly in their practices of spiritual communication. Much attention has been devoted to the significance of dreams and vision quests in Lenape and other Native American religions. Moravian practices, however, have received little analysis, especially their application of chance properties to ascertain divine will.