Moravians?

[lipstickgoalie]

So this is a bit of a Hail Mary pass but does anyone have any info about early American Moravian religious history? I had a paper for my capstone course fall apart completely and I am looking down the barrel of a very close topic turnaround. I am hoping that maybe someone has some academic information that can give me at least a jumping off point because I am at a loss and this is the topic my Prof assigned to me.

 

Feel free to PM me.

 

And Mods, feel free to move or delete. I used this forum because it was the most trafficked.

[lipstickgoalie]

Just to be clear I am talking about the religious denomination, not the ethnic group as a whole. I don't really know jack about the denomination and am having trouble filtering down.

[PennySycamore]

I do know that a group of Moravians settled near Winston-Salem, North Carolina. It's very common to see Moravian stars on homes in that area at Christmas time. Moravians also settled around Emmaus and Bethlem, Pennsylvania.

You might find some information here: http://www.moravian.org (the North American church's website) and the wikipedia article has lots of references.

The Moravians do have a neat motto: In Essentials, unity; in Non-essentials, liberty; in All Things, love.

[paganhomeschooler]

Here's a place local-ish to me. Their website has some decent info.

ohiosfirstvillage.com

ETA: Breaking link. oops! lol

[Othello]

The Moravians do have a neat motto: In Essentials, unity; in Non-essentials, liberty; in All Things, love.

This phrase is often misattributed to St. Augustine, or (even more incorrectly!) John Wesley; its first instance in writing was in an early 17th-century anti-papal essay by a highly controversial Croatian archbishop. A very good line to live by, ironically from the pen of an irascible and greedy man! I'm not sure where the Moravians may have picked it up, perhaps from relative geographic proximity to its writer?

[lipstickgoalie]

Thanks folks! I am having a bit of a meltdown. I have never had a topic fold so spectacularly before. I am also used to writing about things that I am very familiar with and this is not one of those topics.

Argh! I think I need cookies. There should be cookies. I am off to find cookies. (The Senior 50lbs is a thing right? Right?)

[Boogalou]

I don't know if you have these or not but I just thought I would share:

The History of the Moravian Church is on google books with a number of pages missing in the sections you would want. It looks like you would want to look at the sections beginning on page 453 and 488

http://books.google.ca/books?id=Yz9mtvq ... &q&f=false

I also PMed you about this one.

Memorials of the Moravian Church is also on Google books in full. That might be interesting too. It seems to be focused on America: http://books.google.ca/books?id=iU5CAAA ... ca&f=false

There is also A History of the Moravian Church in Philadelphia that's pretty complete: http://books.google.ca/books?id=MZQtUtR ... &q&f=false

There's another book "The Moravian Springplace Mission to the Cherokees" that has its introduction only in PDF form through a university's website: http://digitalcommons.unl.edu/cgi/viewc ... esssamples

This site (The Labrador Inuit Through Moravian Eyes) seems to have some good links and it was produced by the University of Toronto: http://link.library.utoronto.ca/inuitmo ... dlinks.cfm

Moravian Women's Memoirs: Their Related Lives, 1750-1820 has a decent-ish preview on Google Books. It should be American it is apparently part of the Women and gender in North American religions series. http://books.google.ca/books?id=lEKTl8P ... ca&f=false

Pious Pursuits: German Moravians in the Atlantic World is also fairly complete: http://books.google.ca/books?id=FloOK24 ... &q&f=false

If you have time for and access to Inter Library Loan it might be worth looking at these books (I didn't look for PDFs of these online. You might want to try that too):

Moravian Worship by Fred Linyard

The Moravian community in colonial North Carolina : pluralism on the Southern frontier by Daniel B Thorp

The transformation of Moravian Bethlehem : from communal mission to family economy by Beverly Prior Smaby.

Sorry those are all books. I was looking at some articles but I don't really know what you have access to and they are all behind a pay wall. If your university has any sort of research you could go to them and see what they can help you find.

Good luck!

[lipstickgoalie]

I don't know if you have these or not but I just thought I would share:

The History of the Moravian Church is on google books with a number of pages missing in the sections you would want. It looks like you would want to look at the sections beginning on page 453 and 488

http://books.google.ca/books?id=Yz9mtvq ... &q&f=false

I also PMed you about this one.

Memorials of the Moravian Church is also on Google books in full. That might be interesting too. It seems to be focused on America: http://books.google.ca/books?id=iU5CAAA ... ca&f=false

There is also A History of the Moravian Church in Philadelphia that's pretty complete: http://books.google.ca/books?id=MZQtUtR ... &q&f=false

There's another book "The Moravian Springplace Mission to the Cherokees" that has its introduction only in PDF form through a university's website: http://digitalcommons.unl.edu/cgi/viewc ... esssamples

This site (The Labrador Inuit Through Moravian Eyes) seems to have some good links and it was produced by the University of Toronto: http://link.library.utoronto.ca/inuitmo ... dlinks.cfm

Moravian Women's Memoirs: Their Related Lives, 1750-1820 has a decent-ish preview on Google Books. It should be American it is apparently part of the Women and gender in North American religions series. http://books.google.ca/books?id=lEKTl8P ... ca&f=false

Pious Pursuits: German Moravians in the Atlantic World is also fairly complete: http://books.google.ca/books?id=FloOK24 ... &q&f=false

If you have time for and access to Inter Library Loan it might be worth looking at these books (I didn't look for PDFs of these online. You might want to try that too):

Moravian Worship by Fred Linyard

The Moravian community in colonial North Carolina : pluralism on the Southern frontier by Daniel B Thorp

The transformation of Moravian Bethlehem : from communal mission to family economy by Beverly Prior Smaby.

Sorry those are all books. I was looking at some articles but I don't really know what you have access to and they are all behind a pay wall. If your university has any sort of research you could go to them and see what they can help you find.

Good luck!

These are awesome resources! Thank you so much! I do have access to inter library and most, if not all, journals online. (Jstore etc.) I will PM you back later tonight but know that you are awesome and thank you!

[gustava]

Retired college professor here: You said it was a 'capstone' project, so I think it's good that you are having to stretch a bit, even though I absolutely sympathize with the meltdown aspect. Been there...done that.

Looking back though, you'll be proud that you pushed your limits.....I hope :wink-kitty:

[Kellbells]

Winston-Salem native here! Google Old Salem and Bethabara. Both are early Moravian settlements in the area with existing museums. They should be able to direct you. Both are in Winston-Salem, NC. If you need to talk to an actual church, try Friedburg Moravian in Winston. If all those fail, PM me. I'm not Moravian but have a ton of connections from growing up in the area. Moravians are close to my heart- I love the joyful ness of the denomination and the emphasis on educating women!

[Kellbells]

Also, if you are dying for sweets in your meltdown, I can fedex you some Moravian cookies or sugarcake!

[PennySycamore]

Also, if you are dying for sweets in your meltdown, I can fedex you some Moravian cookies or sugarcake!

Mmmmm..... Moravian cookes! I wish I weren't on a diet right now.

[fun2beme]

Definitely do some Googling around Bethlehem, PA, and Moravians. My sister teachers there and it's one of the early, major settlements in the U.S. Moravian College is located there and Moravian star decorations abound! If anyone ever gets a chance to visit (about 1.5 hours north of Philly), don't miss it. The historic downtown Bethlehem area is beautiful.