Ephrata and Moravian Relations: The View from Ephrata

The main controversy between the Ephrata community and the Moravians arose over different conclusions drawn about marriage and sexual relations and concerning spiritual rebirth and justification (as Ephrata's own chronicle noted in 1786).Undoubtedly the personality conflicts of two strong, charismatic leaders like Conrad Beissel and Count Zinzendorf exacerbated the tensions.Both groups' quest for new members among the German speaking population of Pennsylvania further compounded the rivalry.This article addresses primarily the question of marriage and sex from the Ephrata perspective and secondarily Ephrata's different view of salvation and rebirth.The thesis of this article is that partly shared theological vocabulary concerning sexual desire and spiritual rebirth led to both mutual interest, and ultimately mutual rejection, as the two groups discovered they interpreted that vocabulary very differently.Ephrata's conflict with the Moravians came to a head during the seven religious conferences that Count Zinzendorf called in 1742 in effort to bring unity to the Christian groups among the Pennsylvania Germans.Already the second of the 1742 conferences noted that the question of marriage and sexuality seemed to be the most divisive between Ephrata and the Moravians.Ultimately this proved to be true.However, the minutes of this second conference recorded the Ephrata representatives' satisfaction during the discussion that the Moravians were indeed not making marriage mandatory ("a carnal necessity"-von einer fleischlichen Noth).The Moravians simply recorded that they found the Ephrata brethren free from "the suspicion of the doctrine of devils." 1 At the third conference, held at Oley February 10-12, 1742 (O.S.), the differences over marriage exploded.The minutes from this conference show some restraint.But the polemical anti-Moravian treatises written from Ephrata