Sleeping in the Arms of Christ: Sanctifying Sexuality in the Eighteenth-Century Moravian Church
Journal article by Craig D. Atwood; Journal of the History of Sexuality, Vol. 8, 1997.
27 pgs.

Sleeping in the Arms of Christ: Sanctifying Sexuality in the Eighteenth-Century Moravian Church
Journal article by Craig D. Atwood; Journal of the History of Sexuality, Vol. 8, 1997
Sleeping in the Arms of Christ: Sanctifying Sexuality in the Eighteenth-Century Moravian Church
Journal article by Craig D. Atwood; Journal of the History of Sexuality, Vol. 8, 1997
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| | Sleeping in the Arms of Christ: Sanctifying Sexuality in the Eighteenth-Century Moravian Church CRAIG D. ATWOOD Department of Religion Salem College INTRODUCTION THE MORAVIAN CHURCH (or Brüdergemeine), like many religious groups in the eighteenth century, strictly controlled sexuality. During this time, the Moravian Church was a Protestant church led by the German pietist Count Nikolaus Ludwig von Zinzendorf. Under his leadership, the Moravians built several religious communities, the most important of which were Herrnhut in Germany and Bethlehem in Pennsylvania. Life within these communities was very much influenced by Zinzendorf's personal theology of "heart religion," an approach to religion that stressed personal religious experience and the affective worship of the crucified Christ rather than theological orthodoxy. Zinzendorf, however, was afraid that the emotionality of the Brethren's worship would spill over into sexual expression unless that outlet was closed to the brothers and sisters; therefore, relations between the sexes were carefully regulated. In the Moravian taverns, for instance, women served only women, and men served only men. In worship, men sat on one side of the hall and women on the other. Such separation extended even into death. The corpses of men and women were prepared in separate chambers and buried in separate sections of the cemetery. 1 Moreover, mar- ____________________ | 1 | Graf Heinrich Casimir Gottlieb von Lynar, Nachricht von dem Ursprung und Fortgange, und hauptsächlich von der gegenwärtigen Verfassung der Brüder-Unität (Halle, 1781 ), pp. 124-26. Gillian Lindt Gollin ( Moravians in Two Worlds: A Study of Changing Communities [ New York, 1967 ], p. 69) attributes this to a fear of scandal, while Beverly Prior Smaby ( The Transformation of Moravian Bethlehem from Communal Mission to Family Economy [ Philadelphia, 1989 ], pp. 10-11) emphasizes the conscious sublimation of sexual | -25- | | |
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Publication Information: Article Title: Sleeping in the Arms of Christ: Sanctifying Sexuality in the Eighteenth-Century Moravian Church. Contributors: Craig D. Atwood - author. Journal Title: Journal of the History of Sexuality. Volume: 8. Issue: 1. Publication Year: 1997. Page Number: 25.
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