Moravian Church Research Articles

Selection and Destruction in Moravian Archives Between 1760 and 1810

ABSTRACT Although Moravians have traditionally been considered good record-keepers, substantial amounts of documents were destroyed during the decades between 1760 and 1810. When the Unity Archives was founded as the central archives for the worldwide Moravian Church in 1764, a group of specially appointed “revisers” sifted through the material and destroyed documents that did not fit the reinvented image of the Moravian Church of the post-Zinzendorf era. By controlling the content of their archives, Moravians tried to manipulate the historiography of their church. As this article will argue, the work of the Moravian archivist was not invisible; on the contrary, the archivist edited the surviving record.

Origins of Missionary Periodicals: Form and Function of Three Moravian Publications

The nineteenth century was a boom time for the genre of missionary periodicals. Missionary periodicals were established by religious organizations, societies, and churches for their members, for the general public, for theologians, for women, for children, and for converted non‐Europeans, and their growth reflected the expansion of missionary societies into the non‐European colonial world. Despite the abundance and wide range of these publications, research on the origins, form, and function of missionary periodicals remains limited. This article examines the rationale behind the establishment of three Moravian Church missionary periodicals: the British Periodical Accounts (1790–1970); the German Missions‐Blatt (1837–1941); and the North American The Little Missionary (1870–1920). The article elucidates both broader similarities and differences in missionary periodicals, as well as distinguishing how intentions behind the establishment of missionary periodicals differed from the practice of how religious organizations, societies, and churches utilized these periodicals in presenting themselves to the outside world.

“The Hallensians are Pietists; aren't you a Hallensian?”: Mühlenberg's Conflict with the Moravians in America

ABSTRACT The rivalry between two centers of German Pietism, Halle and Herrnhut, shaped the development of both the Lutheran Church and the Moravian Church in America. The conflict began in Germany, but Pennsylvania became a major battleground in the 1740s. After years of sometimes violent controversy, the Moravians and Lutherans eventually developed as separate denominations. The most famous episode was the encounter on December 30, 1742, between Zinzendorf and Henry Melchior Mühlenberg, but that was just the first skirmish. Mühlenberg continued to oppose the Moravians after Zinzendorf's departure for Europe. In Philadelphia, Lancaster, and Tulpehocken Mühlenberg fought publicly with the Moravians over who would supervise Lutheran ministry in America. Mühlenberg intervened in several Lutheran congregations that had pastors friendly to the Moravians and asserted his own authority over them. Both sides used law courts and the press to assert their claim to be considered true Lutherans and convince the public that the others were heterodox “Pietists.”

The 1775 Correspondence of John Wesley and Francis Okely

ABSTRACT On August 14, 1775, Francis Okely of Northampton, England, wrote a letter to the General Synod of the Moravian Church. Though a Moravian minister, his letter sought permission to preach for John Wesley in Towcester. Within his letter, Okely gave background to his request, including a paraphrase of a letter he had written to Wesley between July 24 and 31, 1775. His letter also reproduced a verbatim copy of the reply he later received from Wesley, dated July 31. This correspondence, apparently only preserved within Okely's August 14 letter, has never been published. It offers important insights into some of the interdenominational efforts to promote evangelical unity and to re-ignite evangelical revival in England.

Moravian Mission Education in the Nineteenth Century: Global Patterns and Local Manifestations at New Fairfield, Upper Canada

The renewed Moravian Church has placed great emphasis upon education, both for members of European background and members of the global Moravian mission. However, the research that has been undertaken on Moravian education has tended to focus upon eighteenth-century education at the expense of the nineteenth century, and European education at the expense of that in the mission field. This paper provides an overview of nineteenth-century missionary education and charts some similarities and differences both within the mission field and between these fields and European situations. It then examines the re-establishment of the New Fairfield mission school in Canada under the guidance of Adolf Hartmann in light of general patterns of Moravian schooling. Schooling on the New Fairfield reserve was a source of tension between missionaries, mission inhabitants, governmental agents, and other religious denominations. The Lenape amongst whom the Moravians worked were not passive recipients of missionary education, rather they took an active role in providing an alternative to the Moravian mission school, much to the chagrin of the missionaries involved. The re-establishment of a mission school was therefore a difficult task. This paper concludes that although education was a universally important aspect of the Moravian Church, the provision of education was not a simple process, rather it was contingent upon numerous factors that missionaries in the field were not always able to control.

Anetso, the Cherokee Ball Game: At the Center of Ceremony and Identity

Michael J. Zogry has written a fascinating exploration of the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians’ ball game, Anetso. Through documents, participant observation, and interviews, Zogry provides a historically descriptive account of the functions Anetso has played within the Eastern Band of the Cherokees. His command of the literature surrounding Anetso and his expertise in the theories of ritual, ceremony, and religion have allowed him to illustrate the ways Anetso has been perceived as a game, a unifying ritual, a ceremonial complex, and at times a public means of resistance. Throughout the book, Zogry juxtaposes Cherokee beliefs about the origin, role, and rules of the game with views from missionaries (mostly members of the Moravian Church or the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions), Indian agents, travelers’ records, anthropologists, traders, legislative records, and accounts from newspapers and tourists. His discussion of the theological implications of the game through the use of tales told by the Cherokee illustrates the myriad of meanings a society can give an aspect of their cultural practices. By using the perceptions of outsiders in the discussions Zogry had with the Cherokees about the game’s meaning, he adds to the complexity of interpreting a particular practice. This strategy would have been fascinating enough for an excellent book, but Zogry went further, discussing the difficulty of classifying Anetso into a particular typological theme.

Collecting cultures: Institutional motivations for nineteenth-century ethnographical collections formed by Moravian missionaries

As proto-ethnologists, missionaries represented an important source of ethnographical material, collecting for many museums and displays. It is contended here that European missions affected the collecting habits of their missionaries through actively encouraging or discouraging collecting on behalf of certain institutions. The motivation behind the endorsement of certain collecting habits and not others was linked to the missionary societies’ perceptions of themselves. This paper examines both religious and secular ethnographical collections, in Herrnhut, Paris, and Berlin, to which missionaries of the Moravian Church were asked to contribute from the mid-nineteenth century; it evinces the tensions between the Church's collecting habits and the religious goals established for missions. Moreover, the examination of this one group leads to broader conclusions about the motivation behind the ethnographical collections of missionaries and of museums in the nineteenth century.

The origin of Camphill and the social pedagogic impulse

In this paper the origin of the Camphill Movement will be outlined. Particular attention will be paid to the influence of the Moravian Brethren educational model in the development of the Camphill Schools. A key influence which helped to shape Camphill philosophy and practice was the writing of Jan Amos Comenius (1592–1670), a bishop in the Moravian Church, who is widely viewed as the founder of modern education. The paper briefly describes the development by Camphill School Aberdeen and the University of Aberdeen of the BA in Social Pedagogy which takes a holistic – Comenian – approach to the education and care of children and young people. The question is posed whether the social pedagogic impulse can be sustained in the present economic climate when deep cuts are being made in educational and social welfare expenditure.

Etnogénesis, hibridicación y consolidación de la identidad del pueblo miskitu

With stunning detail and attention to its significance, Claudia García presents the construction and reconstruction of citizenship of the Miskitu group, also known as Miskito or Misquito, of the Miskito Coast of Nicaragua and Costa Rica. The author’s principal theme is the social construction of Miskito ethnicity beginning with the group’s intensive contact with the Old World in the 1630s and continuing to the 1930s. The ethnic construct of citizenship is based on the concept of an “open” culture that is profoundly influenced by successive interaction with the Other, in this case, contact with the British and Spaniards in the Caribbean area, and especially with their ideas and lifestyles.The theoretical and methodological concept is based on the idea of ethnic citizenship. It is defined with precision and well laid out in eight chapters, each with a different focus on constructive aspects of ethnicity as well as the central points of Miskito history. The author understands ethnicity as a social and cultural construction in contrast to traditional concepts like “primordialism,” “instrumentalism,” or “essentialism.” In the constructive view, national and ethnic identities are products of historical forces. It is an anthropological and sociological approach to understanding ethnogenesis, the processes of hybridization of citizenship, and the changes of social-cultural collective identity of Miskito ethnicity. The analysis therefore includes economic, political, social, and cultural aspects, to which García adds the historical role of gender.The emergence of the Miskito group is a result of biological, social, and cultural miscegenation between Amerindians, Africans, and Europeans, starting with racial hybridism during the third decade of the sixteenth century. The social code of the Miskito permitted polygamy and promiscuity for reasons of biological and social reproduction. It was no surprise that many Miskito women had sexual and affective relations with the immigrants, who were mostly cimarróns (runaway African slaves) from the West Indies. From then on, Miskito society was formed by native Indians and peoples with African and Amerindian ancestry, or zambos.At the same time, the traditional social roles in the group began to change from activities clearly divided between men’s agricultural labor and women’s housekeeping to new forms of job sharing. This change was a consequence of the introduction of new consumer articles and firearms, mainly introduced by British pirates, adventurers, and merchants. This was possible by reason of the “free zone” status of the Miskito Coast, which for centuries was not controlled by colonial Spanish authorities but was under the political and economic dominion of the British Empire. With this zone and their regional partners, the Miskito, the British took possession of a significant geostrategic point in the backyard of Spanish Central America.The hybrid process concluded with the consolidation of the social, cultural, and political predominance of the Miskito along the Caribbean coast. Now, the local and regional Indian and zambo leaders installed their local kingdoms, adapted to the existing social and cultural conditions. From then on the leaders recognized and respected the greater responsibility of women for the socialization of new generations and for transmission of the indigenous culture, whereas politics and economics were incumbent on the men. Nevertheless, both women and men were flexible and adaptive in their economic, cultural, and social contacts with the others.The author emphasizes that this ability to assimilate the effects of permanent societal contact with incoming others was an important ethnic feature of the Miskito. This became evident once more when in 1849 the Protestant Moravian Church started its missionary work in the Miskito Coast area. García shows very clearly how religious conversion created an impulse toward a reformulation of the Miskito ethnic concept. The missionaries changed important elements of Miskito daily life by introducing their strict sense of morality. Traditional concepts like promiscuity and polygamy were abandoned; however, the men maintained their former conduct at a lower level.With her well-written and interesting book, Claudia García contributes to a series of new perspectives regarding the concepts of constructive ethnicity and ethnogenesis, and at the same time about the historical processes in the formation of hybrid societies and citizenship. Maps and a synchronoptic view of the regional history of the Caribbean and Central America would have been useful, but this minor comment does not detract from the high quality of the work. The book is a valuable, even indispensable resource for any scholar interested in ethnicity, in dynamic processes of contact between cultures and societies, and last but not least in a rewritten history of the Miskito.

Overview of Publications on the Moravian Church in English 2000-2010

Research Article| October 01 2010 Overview of Publications on the Moravian Church in English 2000-2010 Andrew Heil; Andrew Heil Search for other works by this author on: This Site Google Paul Peucker; Paul Peucker Search for other works by this author on: This Site Google Lanie Graf Lanie Graf Search for other works by this author on: This Site Google Journal of Moravian History (2010) 9 (1): 89–121. https://doi.org/10.2307/41179883 Cite Icon Cite Share Icon Share Twitter Permissions Search Site Citation Andrew Heil, Paul Peucker, Lanie Graf; Overview of Publications on the Moravian Church in English 2000-2010. Journal of Moravian History 1 October 2010; 9 (1): 89–121. doi: https://doi.org/10.2307/41179883 Download citation file: Zotero Reference Manager EasyBib Bookends Mendeley Papers EndNote RefWorks BibTex toolbar search Search Dropdown Menu toolbar search search input Search input auto suggest filter your search All Scholarly Publishing CollectivePenn State University PressJournal of Moravian History Search Advanced Search The text of this article is only available as a PDF. Copyright © 2010 The Moravian Archives,2010The Moravian Archives, Article PDF first page preview Close Modal You do not currently have access to this content.

Religious Migration and Political Upheaval: German Moravians at Bethel in South Australia, 1851–1907

During the evangelical awakening of eighteenth‐century Europe, numerous religious communities were founded in order to create a geographical space in which religious and social identities could be constructed, including several communities of the Moravian Church. This Protestant Episcopal Church was based in Germany, but expanded from the mid‐eighteenth century throughout the colonial world in response to political turmoil. This paper traces the establishment of the Moravian town of Bethel in South Australia and the role of religion and ethnic backgrounds in the identification processes of Europeans in the British colonial world. It further analyses the role of politics both locally and internationally in the formation of such a settlement, and the dynamic exchange between the European headquarters of the Brethren and the “colony” of Moravians in South Australia in order to demonstrate how interactions between migration and religion affected the European world.

“You are the Savior's Widow:” Religion/Sexuality and Bereavement in the Eighteenth-Century Moravian Church

Abstract Despite the fact that a widows' choir existed in almost every eighteenth-century Moravian congregation, frequently with its own choir house, there has to date been no examination of the Moravian widow in the eighteenth century. Tins essay examines how Zinzendorfs understanding of bridal mysticism in the 1740s was inflected to meet the spiritual needs of the recently bereaved woman. This essay also shows how, in the 1780s, the Principles of the Widows' Choir and its Instructions for Pastoral Care reflect that particular instantiation of the Ehereligion (bridal theology) and seek to provide the Moravian widow with both spiritual and physical support in her time of mourning and guide her to look to her eternal husband, Christ, for comfort.

Entangled by the World: William Henry of Lancaster and “Mixed” Living in Moravian Town and Country Congregations

Abstract Members of Moravian “town and country” congregations in eighteenth-century America confronted particular challenges: unable or unwilling to separate themselves from “the world,” such Moravians were often looked at with suspicion by church authorities in settlement congregations such as Bethlehem. These ongoing tensions were exacerbated during the Revolutionary War, when the decisions of many Brethren—most visibly, William Henry of Lancaster—to engage in political activity seemed to confirm the suspicions that town and country congregations had admitted individuals to their fellowship who were too entangled in the world to devote themselves to spiritual matters. Yet it was these Brethren who, thanks to the very entanglements that dismayed church authorities, possessed the political influence to aid and protect the Moravian Church when it was threatened.

Apologizing for the Moravians: Spangenberg's “Idea Fidei Fratrum

Abstract After Zinzendorf's death in 1760, August Gottlieb Spangenberg became the major leader of the Moravian Church. Spangenberg's historical and doctrinal publications helped define Moravian theology and practice in the second half of the eighteenth century. In this article, the author argues that the Idea Fidei Fratrum (1779), Spangenberg's most important theological work, was primarily written as an apology for the Moravians as they were struggling with their public image after the death of Zinzendorf. It also serves as a rare example of a systematic theology written by a Moravian leader. By marginalizing key aspects of Zinzendorf's theology and placing Moravian teaching on the foundation of the Augsburg Confession, the Idea Fidei Fratrum was a public demonstration of the theological orthodoxy of the Moravian Church.

The Music of the Moravian Church in America

The Music of the Moravian Church in America

Structural investigation of historic buildings: a case study guide to preservation technology for buildings, bridges, towers, and mills

Introduction. Acknowledgments. CHAPTER 1 Historic Structures: The Role of the Structural Engineer. CHAPTER 2 Preservation and Public Safety: Structural Safety of Historic Timber Structures. CHAPTER 3 Simplifi ed Engineering. CHAPTER 4 Conservation and the Specialty Contractor. CHAPTER 5 Historic Timber Structures. CHAPTER 6 Watauga Hall and the Montague Building. CHAPTER 7 The Restoration of St. Helena's Church. CHAPTER 8 Market Hall Rehabilitation. CHAPTER 9 Differential Settlement at St. Philip's Moravian Church at Old Salem. CHAPTER 10 James Madison's Montpelier. CHAPTER 11 Timber, Glulam, and Conservation. CHAPTER 12 Tabby: Engineering Characteristics of a Vernacular Construction Material. CHAPTER 13 Relocating the Cape Hatteras Lighthouse. CHAPTER 14 Crisis in American Covered Bridges. CHAPTER 15 The Timber Trusses of Burr, Town, and Haupt. CHAPTER 16 The Cornish-Windsor Covered Bridge. CHAPTER 17 A New Covered Bridge for Old Salem. CHAPTER 18 The Tohickon Aqueduct. CHAPTER 19 The Current State of Historic Preservation ngineering: One Engineer's Point of View. Index.

Encounters of Moravian Missionaries with Miskitu Autonomy and Land Claims in Nicaragua, 1894 to 1936

Abstract This article analyzes the responses of Moravian missionaries in Nicaragua when they encountered colonial and national competition over sovereignty and internal strife and challenging conditions in indigenous communities, from the 1890s to the 1930s. The focus is on Moravian missionaries who settled in the northern portion of Miskitu territory, which is located in the Mosquitia on Nicaragua's Caribbean coast. Diaries and notes, as well as official reports and accounts to the Moravian Church, provide a unique historical lens through which to examine how the missionaries navigated indigenous resistance, land claims, foreign competition, and economic booms and busts. Although not acting according to an explicit political agenda, missionaries systematically constructed religious, educational, and medical institutions that overcame Miskitu resistance to Christian conversion and became integral to Miskitu lives and welfare. Despite this, the Miskitu people preserved a tradition of self-government during the period under consideration. A change of religious beliefs did not constitute a fundamental transformation of Miskitu ideas and aspirations about political and cultural autonomy. The consolidation of Moravian influence contributed to the intensity of Miskitu nationalist sentiments and land claims when demands for indigenous autonomy resurged later in the twentieth century. This article examines Moravian perspectives on disunity and anxiety in coastal and savannah communities on the Tawira side of Miskitu geographic and ethnic divisions. Moravian accounts of the foundation of the Tawira community of Tuara elucidate ancestral roots and communal struggles during the ebb and flow of Miskitu autonomy and vulnerability.

The Music of the Moravian Church in America (review)

Reviewed by: The Music of the Moravian Church in America John E. Druesedow The Music of the Moravian Church in America. Edited by Nola Reed Knouse. (Eastman Studies in Music, v. 49.) Rochester: University of Rochester Press, 2008. [xxii, 346 p. ISBN: 9781580462600. $50.00.] Illustrations, music examples, bibliographic references, index. This volume, the latest in the Eastman Studies in Music series, provides the most up-to-date and comprehensive treatment of music in the Moravian Church (known also as the Unitas Fratrum, or simply “Unity”) in the United States. A foreword by Laurence Libin (research curator, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, emeritus), and a preface by the general editor, Nola Reed Knouse (director of the Moravian Music Foundation in Winston-Salem, NC since 1994), form the prologue to the ten chapters of the text: “The Moravians and Their Music,” by Knouse; “Moravian Worship: The Why of Moravian Music,” by C. Daniel Crews; “Hymnody of the Moravian Church,” by [End Page 774] Albert H. Frank and Knouse; “Moravian Sacred Vocal Music,” by Alice M. Caldwell; “The Organ in Moravian Church Music,” by Lou Carol Fix; “The Role and Development of Brass Music in the Moravian Church,” by Paul Peuker; “The Collegia Musica: Music of the Community,” by Knouse; “Music in the Moravian Boarding Schools through the Early Nineteenth Century,” by Pauline M. Fox; “The Piano among the Moravians in the Eighteenth and Nineteenth Centuries: Music, Instruction, and Construction,” by Jewel A. Smith; and “Moravian Music: Questions of Identity and Purpose,” by Knouse. Two appendices (the first containing eighty-one biographical sketches and the second, “A Moravian Musical Timeline,” tracing the important dates in a history spanning more than six and a quarter centuries), plus a bibliography of around 400 citations (considerably larger than the one on “Moravians, music of the” in Grove Music Online), and an index round out the publication. The bibliography should be particularly noted for its inclusion of approximately forty-three dissertations and theses, and it would be worthwhile issuing a separate, annotated compilation of those titles now available. A few typos have crept into the bibliography (e.g., “Dodge, Alfred,” instead of “Dolge, Alfred” on p. 311 and “Goldman, Richard Franks,” instead of “Goldman, Richard Franko” on p. 313). The text is well documented with chapter endnotes and amply illustrated with music examples, facsimiles from early sources, and photographs. This is an encyclopedic source book, providing historical, biographical, musicological, and theological overviews, along with bibliographical resources for further study, a veritable vade mecum for the subject. In the opening chapter, editor Knouse makes a convincing case that there is a genuine need for this book. She maintains that the treatment of Moravian music in most general music history texts and encyclopedias has been inadequate, stemming at least partly from the notion that Moravian music has had little impact on American musical culture in general. Furthermore, most of the studies in English specifically on Moravian music, with the exception of Donald M. McCorkle’s Moravian Music in Salem: A German-American Heritage (Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1958), have been fairly narrow in coverage. Her treatment of Moravian history and major figures since Jan Hus (ca. 1369–1415; note that the birth date is slightly different from that in the timeline mentioned above) provides a good framework for the following chapters. (The martyrdom of Hus a hundred years before Luther’s ninety-five theses stimulated the Protestant movement leading to the establishment of the Moravian Church.) In chapter 2, C. Daniel Crews explains the theological underpinnings of the major worship services (Gemeinstunde, Singstunde, Abendmahl, Liebesmahl) and the important practice of hymn singing. He illuminates the special applications of the terms liturgy, litany, and Losungen (literally, “watchwords,” more commonly known as Daily Texts, which are still in use), in the daily life of church members. Chapters 3 (by Frank and Knouse) and 4 (by Caldwell) cover the vocal repertoire. Moravian hymnody, which can be traced back as far as the early sixteenth century, constitutes an immense body of tunes and texts in hundreds of hymnals and could, in some sense, be considered the backbone of Moravian Church services. In the case of independent vocal compositions, many with sophisticated instrumental...

Girl Talk: The Role of the "Speakings" in the Pastoral Care of the Older Girls' Choir

Abstract In marked contrast to contemporary eighteenth-century cultural and political inscriptions of the body, the Moravians articulated a radical body dialectic in which the natural manifestations of manhood and womanhood were considered to be integral elements of manifested spiritual consciousness. However, the positive corporeality of eighteenth-century Moravian faith attracted fierce criticism to the group, as the hyper-realistic linguistic and artistic depictions of the significance of the crucified Christ gave rise to virulent attacks on the ethical practices of the Moravian Church. From Goethe's age until now, both the parties of reason and religion have been fundamentally threatened by the intertwining of faith and the body and the concomitant spiritual and religious enactment in the Moravian Church. Tire Principia and the Instructions that were compiled by the synods directly after Zinzendorf's death constitute unique examples of a codification of what had been a tradition and rite within the renewed church since its very inception in 1722. This article examines the implementation of the Instructions specifically within the older girls' choir, the content of the Instructions, and explores the memoirs of eighteenth-century Bethlehem sisters for evidence of their efficacy.

:Archibald Monteath: Igbo, Jamaican, Moravian

Archibald Monteath was an enslaved African brought to Jamaica at the beginning of the nineteenth century. While a slave, he became a member of the Moravian Church and subsequently worked as a native helper in the church. Some years before his death in 1864, two Moravian missionaries worked with him to produce his life story, part or possibly all of which was read at his funeral. The result, as Maureen Warner-Lewis suggests, is not the usual antislavery narrative but a spiritual testament and conversion narrative. Moreover, the narrative, which was first published in German and then in English, was taken from Monteath's own words in Jamaican creole. For Warner-Lewis, the narrative itself is significant, but her intention is to use Monteath's life history to examine Jamaican society under slavery and after emancipation. Her focus is not on the island as whole but on the area where Monteath lived and worked, southwestern Jamaica. Warner-Lewis also has a broader aim: she is seeking to understand “the possible impact of slavery on individuals through an examination of the role of ancestral mores and memory in shaping the goals and demeanour of slaves and their descendants” (p. 22).