VU Research Portal Creating Convictional Community: Missional Spirituality in the Moravian Community of Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, 1741-1762 Hardin, J.E. 2014 document version Publisher's PDF, also known as Version of record Link to publication in VU Research Portal citation for published version (APA) Hardin, J. E. (2014). Creating Convictional Community: Missional Spirituality in the Moravian Community of Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, 1741-1762. 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Oct. 2021 VRIJE UNIVERSITEIT Creating Convictional Community: Missional Spirituality in the Moravian Community of Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, 1741-1762 ACADEMISCH PROEFSCHRIFT ter verkrijging van de graad Doctor aan de Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, op gezag van de rector magnificus prof.dr. F.A. van der Duyn Schouten, in het openbaar te verdedigen ten overstaan van de promotiecommissie van de Faculteit der Godgeleerdheid op dinsdag 9 september 2014 om 11.45 uur in de aula van de universiteit, De Boelelaan 1105 door Jon Edwin Hardin geboren te Illinois, Verenigde Staten promotoren: prof.dr. P. Visser dr. T.F.T. Noble copromotor: dr. C.D. Atwood CONTENTS ILLUSTRATIONS v TABLES vii ACKNOWLEDGMENTS ix ABSTRACT xi CHAPTERS Introduction 1 1. Seeds of a Missional Community 33 2. Establishing the Missional Congregation of Bethlehem 83 3. Worship, Hymnody, and Communal Singing 133 4. An Analysis of Missional Hymns 183 5. Practices of Communal Prayer 239 6. Communicating the Message in Word and Deed 301 7. A Central Motif of Bethlehem’s Vision 361 Conclusion 401 APPENDICES 411 BIBLIOGRAPHY 421 SUMMARY 443 SAMENVATTING 449 ILLUSTRATIONS Figure Page 1. Taxonomy of the Term “Gemeine” and Types of Settlements 99 2. Titlepage Artwork, Das Gesang-Buch der Gemeine in Herrn-Huth, 1737 147 3. Swedish and English Translations of Three Short Hymns 179 4. Second Single Brothers' House, erected 1748 335 5. Haidt, The First Fruits, circa 1754-60 380 v vi TABLES Table Page 1. English Hymnals - Hymns Translated From German 193 2. Semantic Domain of Mission-related Terms 194 3. Frequency of Emphases in Missional Hymn Set 233 4. Orientation of Emphases in Missional Hymn Set 235 vii viii ACKNOWLEDGMENTS I am indebted to a number of people for their invaluable assistance and support throughout this research project. I wish to express my sincere gratitude to my supervisors: Craig Atwood, Tim Noble, Ian Randall, and Piet Visser. Their guidance, scholarly expertise, and personal concern were a source of wisdom and encouragement to me. I am similarly grateful for the leadership and support received from the International Baptist Theological Seminary. Being a part of this scholarly and spiritual community, led by Keith Jones and Parush Parushev, enriched by a team of other scholars from around the world, as well as my fellow doctoral colleagues, was an unexpected source of blessing throughout this long endeavor. I will always treasure these friendships. My mission organization, Frontiers, enabled the pursuit of my doctoral studies. I give special thanks to Bob Blincoe and Dave Keane for their belief that this research topic had relevance for mission in the twenty-first century. I also want to express my gratitude for new friends at the Moravian Seminary and Archives in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania. Among others, Arthur Freeman and Paul Peucker invested hours of their valuable time in the academic pursuits of a “stranger.” Like their spiritual forbearers, they welcomed me with kindness, patience, and hospitality, and in doing so they have been a living expression of Moravian culture and spirituality. ix Lastly, I wish to thank those who have accompanied me with prayers, encouragement, and companionship in slogging through the details of this research and writing. I thank Nancy Lively and my sister, Kelly, for proofreading the manuscript, and above all I am grateful for my partner in life, parenting, and ministry, Lynda. I thank God for providing me with such a strong community of support. Jon E. Hardin Denver, Colorado June 2014 x ABSTRACT This study centers upon the connection between the early religious life of colonial-era Moravian Bethlehem (1741-1762) and its existence as a missional center in British North America. Moravian religious life in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania was organized to exalt Christ and nurture hour-by-hour fellowship with him. Within a system carefully designed to nourish the soul, however, were ever-present reminders of the outward calling of the church. In this study I demonstrate that Bethlehem’s missional identity, communal fellowship, and extensive outward ministry were consciously emphasized and sustained by means of varied and deeply meaningful spiritual practices. Through daily participation in the community’s religious rituals, congregation members came to share certain convictions regarding their involvement in Christ’s mission to the world. These convictions and related spiritual practices ultimately gave shape to Bethlehem’s unique missional spirituality. By operating through foundational elements such as spiritual practices, theological convictions, and the nature/form of Christian community, Bethlehem’s leaders shaped congregation members’ basic conception of the Christian life and its purpose. The living expression of missional spirituality cultivated in Bethlehem infused missionary purpose into the lifestyle of every church member. Each member of the congregation was expected to assume a meaningful role which would contribute toward Bethlehem’s outward purpose. By investigating the ways varied xi spiritual practices of the community expressed and reinforced its missional outreach, I have sought to contribute to a process of bridging a gap in the literature between studies which have examined Bethlehem’s mission theory and praxis and those which have probed Bethlehem’s inward dynamics. xii INTRODUCTION The Moravians of Colonial Bethlehem The title to a condensed copy of the congregational diary for 1744 which was kept by the community of Moravians who lived in a settlement in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania reads: “Extract of the Diary of the Church of Jesus in the Little Crib at Bethlehem, in the Year 1744.”1 In a few words the diarist communicated much about his community’s sense of identity. The Moravians saw themselves as a people among whom the Savior2 dwelt—“the Church of Jesus.” The humble beginnings of Jesus in a manger in Bethlehem of Judea were not unlike the present circumstance of their own community—dwelling in a cramped, communal domicile with domesticated animals nearby. They lived in an insignificant location settled by Europeans only a few years prior, geographically positioned at the frontier between a wilderness populated by Native American tribes and an expanding mid-Atlantic colonial civilization.3 Bethlehem, Pennsylvania was a humble abode in every sense, and yet for this small community of Moravians it was a place of significant beginnings. As 1 Kenneth G. Hamilton, ed., Bethlehem Diary, Vol. 1: 1742-1744 (Bethlehem, Pa.: Archives of the Moravian Church, 1971), 183. 2 The central importance of the vicarious, atoning sacrifice of Christ was a dominant feature of Moravian theology during the timeframe of this study. As a result, the Moravians seem to have preferred this term for Christ—"the Savior" (die Heiland), or other biblical images which carried the same meaning, such as "the dear Lamb" (Laemmiein). I will sometimes make use of the same terminology when referencing Christ within the context of a Moravian discussion. See Beverly Prior Smaby, “From Communal Pilgrims to Family Householders: The Moravians in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, 1742-1844” (Ph.D. diss., University of Pennsylvania, 1986), 8-9. 3 Quite a number of works describe the beginnings of the Bethlehem community but the standard remains Levering's work of more than a century ago. See Joseph Mortimer Levering, A History of Bethlehem, Pennsylvania 1741-1892, with Some Account of Its Founders and Their Early Activity in America (Bethlehem, Pa.: Times Pub. Co., 1903; reprint, New York: AMS Press, 1971), 1-229. 1 2 Bethlehem of Judea was the place on earth where Jesus began his incarnational ministry in the first century, so the Moravians believed that from their “little crib at Bethlehem” Christ would, by his Spirit, make a beginning for himself in Pennsylvania and its environs. When the Moravians considered the child of the crib in Bethlehem, they could see with spiritual eyes a promised savior for sinful humankind. Having personally experienced the redeeming work of this savior come into the world, one of their leaders composed these lines in an extended hymn: Who are you? And from what place? Lost He found me, To Him bound me; Bethl’hem’s Crib gave me this grace.4 The Moravian community was convinced that the Savior’s plan was to extend this same grace from a new Bethlehem crib. From here the Moravians intended to execute an elaborate plan by which they would represent the Savior’s cause and share this grace with those far and near—the Native American tribes, their irreligious colonial-settler neighbors, the variety of religious separatists who responded to the plan of William Penn,5 and those who had once been a part of established churches in Europe, but for whom in 1744 there was little Christian fellowship or church ministry to be offered.