Christian Renatus von Zinzendorf
Encyclopedia
Christian Renatus, Count von Zinzendorf was the charismatic leader of the Single Brethren and of Herrnhaag
(God’s Grove), a Christian religious community built near Büdingen by his father, Nicholas Ludwig
, head of the Brüdergemine or Moravian Unity. Christian Renatus, affectionately known as Christel, took his father’s marriage religion (Ehereligion) literally, proclaiming himself to be the living side wound of Christ in 1748, which meant he was the embodiment of Christ's sacrificial and compassionate love.
Zinzendorf and his co-elder of the Single Brothers, Joachim Rubusch, also proclaimed themselves to be married to the sidehole. This derived in part from the teaching of Zinzendorf’s father that all souls are female, regardless of gender, so that they may be married to Christ. (This image is derived from the fact that "soul" in German, die Seele, is always a feminine noun.) It was also in 1748 that Christian Renatus von Zinzendorf declared all single brothers to be sisters and therefore brides of Christ.
The compounding of sexuality and spirituality at Herrnhaag led to virulent attacks from outside and within the church, threatening to undo the goodwill with other denominations that Nicholas had sought for decades. He dismissed his son from his positions and brought him to England for the remaining three years of Christian's life.
After his death, Christian's followers in Pennsylvania believed his spirit remained in a sacred spring while church leaders systematically destroyed most of the documents referring to the events at Herrnhaag. Only within the past two decades has a new generation of scholars and historians begun to reexamine that period to determine what happened.
The strong mother/weak or distant father parenting style typically associated with early psychoanalytic attempts to explain homosexuality was also used to further discredit Zinzendorf. As a student, Zinzendorf was known for being frivolous, even bringing a cat to class. At the age of sixteen, he was named vice-elder of the Single Brothers Choir. Moravian communities were dedicated to serving Christ. The traditional family unit was abandoned in order to direct all residents' energies to that goal. Much like the Shakers, Moravian residents lived in groups or choirs according to gender, marital status and age.
The idea of Christ living in another was not uncommon in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. It is a fundamental belief shared with the Quakers and Shakers who also had roots in Pietism and the indwelling of Christ.
The combination of sexuality and spirituality shown at Herrnhaag was not unknown in Christian history but it caused increasing scandal both within and without the church, particularly embarrassing for Nicholas "who was trying to be recognized as a rightful theologian after joining the confession of Augsburg" in 1748. Even Christel’s mother was concerned, realizing the events taking place at Herrnhaag and its nearby sister community of Marienborn were at the edge where metaphor and reality meet. Referring to a plowshare that can be raised and lowered, she later wrote to her son that "I sometimes said we have already put the peg in the last hole. If we wanted to remain in the world, the Savior would have to make three or four holes further back and lower down."
In addition to increasingly embarrassing scandal and rumor, the cost of sustaining Herrnhaag and its numerous festivals put a severe financial strain on the church at a time when its missionary efforts were expanding around the world. Events reached such a point that Christel’s father denounced what was happening at Herrnhaag and ordered Christel to attend him in England. "When the twenty-two-year-old returned to Herrnhaag, he was physically and mentally broken. In August of 1750 he founded a Bund auf die Marter Gottes (Covenant on the ordeal of God). During this 'phase of consolation' ordered by his father, he also composed several 'purified' poems."
, located in Chelsea outside London, where his father lived at that time and directed the worldwide missionary effort of the church.
An apotheosis written after his death links Christel to Christ by quoting 1 Corinthians 15:4: “And that he was buried, and that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the scriptures” and declaring that Christel is sitting directly beside Christ. The apotheosis also states that "The face Moses saw at Thabor is the same face Christel brought to you."
Herrnhaag was closed and a number of Single Brothers came to Pennsylvania where they settled at a community already named Christiansbrunn
, the Spring of Christian. One of the brothers wrote a poem stating that Christel lived again in the spring and that the flowing waters restored him “more and more.”
Indeed, the entire period (approximately 1747-1749) became known disparagingly as the Sifting Time from Luke 22:31: “Simon, Simon, behold, Satan has desired to have you that he may sift you as wheat.” Nicholas Zinzendorf called the ensuing scandal an “unbridled freedom of the flesh.” His representative told the residents at Herrnhaag and its nearby sister community of Marienborn that it was impossible to be "truly unified with our Husband" while living on earth. He further added that the residents had mistaken metaphor for reality and wrongly believed that the brothers were actually sisters.
Historians for the next two-hundred years accepted this view of events and wrote off what happened as a time of embarrassing excess from which the church was saved only by the timely intervention of Nicholas.
Determining exactly what happened was made exceedingly difficult due to extensive destruction of documents amounting to official censorship that began in the eighteenth-century by church officials and even archivists. There was a general shunning of the period that lasted well into the twentieth-century and almost no pertinent documents remain in either in the major Moravian archives in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania
or Herrnhut
, Germany.
Fortunately a new generation of scholars and historians interested in determining exactly what happened have been able to locate documents in private collections and other sources. An indication of renewed interest in Christian Renatus and what he meant to his time was shown in September, 2008 when a birthday festival was held in his honor in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, based on eighteenth-century sources and sponsored by the Historic Bethlehem Partnership, the Moravian Music Foundation and the Moravian Archives.
Herrnhaag
Herrnhaag was a communal spiritual centre for the Moravian Unity, an early form of Protestantism. It and Marienborn, a nearby sister community, are located in the Wetterau, an area of Hesse, north of Frankfurt am Main in Germany....
(God’s Grove), a Christian religious community built near Büdingen by his father, Nicholas Ludwig
Nicolaus Ludwig Zinzendorf
Nikolaus Ludwig von Zinzendorf und Pottendorf, Imperial Count of Zinzendorf and Pottendorf, , German religious and social reformer and bishop of the Moravian Church, was born at Dresden....
, head of the Brüdergemine or Moravian Unity. Christian Renatus, affectionately known as Christel, took his father’s marriage religion (Ehereligion) literally, proclaiming himself to be the living side wound of Christ in 1748, which meant he was the embodiment of Christ's sacrificial and compassionate love.
Zinzendorf and his co-elder of the Single Brothers, Joachim Rubusch, also proclaimed themselves to be married to the sidehole. This derived in part from the teaching of Zinzendorf’s father that all souls are female, regardless of gender, so that they may be married to Christ. (This image is derived from the fact that "soul" in German, die Seele, is always a feminine noun.) It was also in 1748 that Christian Renatus von Zinzendorf declared all single brothers to be sisters and therefore brides of Christ.
The compounding of sexuality and spirituality at Herrnhaag led to virulent attacks from outside and within the church, threatening to undo the goodwill with other denominations that Nicholas had sought for decades. He dismissed his son from his positions and brought him to England for the remaining three years of Christian's life.
After his death, Christian's followers in Pennsylvania believed his spirit remained in a sacred spring while church leaders systematically destroyed most of the documents referring to the events at Herrnhaag. Only within the past two decades has a new generation of scholars and historians begun to reexamine that period to determine what happened.
Birth and Formative Years
Zinzendorf was born just a month after what has become known as The Great Awakening, in which Moravian exiles on the lands of his father committed themselves to a life in Christ. Both his parents were deeply committed to this ideal. His father and his mother, Countess Erdmuth Dorothea von Reuss, came from Pietist families that stressed the indwelling of the spirit. His parents considered their relationship to be a marriage of champions in which the goal was serving Christ. The young Zinzendorf was left in the care of his mother for most of his youth while his father pursued church activities elsewhere. His effeminacy was noted by nineteenth and early twentieth-century historians who typically blamed it on his being raised in the company of women: "Christian Renatus . . . had all the ardor without the virility characteristic of his father."The strong mother/weak or distant father parenting style typically associated with early psychoanalytic attempts to explain homosexuality was also used to further discredit Zinzendorf. As a student, Zinzendorf was known for being frivolous, even bringing a cat to class. At the age of sixteen, he was named vice-elder of the Single Brothers Choir. Moravian communities were dedicated to serving Christ. The traditional family unit was abandoned in order to direct all residents' energies to that goal. Much like the Shakers, Moravian residents lived in groups or choirs according to gender, marital status and age.
Christel as Christ's representative
The name Christian Renatus, Christ Returns, implied that Christ lived again in Christel. This, as with so many of Zinzendorf's beliefs and acts, was based upon his father's words: “I live no more; he lives in me. I speak no more; he speaks in me. When you speak with me, you speak with him. When you have love for me, so too you have love for him, and when you hate me, so too you hate him, and when you have a word from me, so too you have it from him.” Seeing Christ in Christian's eyes is a theme from the period in poetry, painting and engraving. An engraving complete with his portrait states that one can see the departed Christ by looking at Christel's forehead, meaning his eyes. A portrait of him now in the Moravian Archives in Herrnhut, Germany, includes the words Gebrochne Augen(broken eyes), again referring to seeing Christ at the moment of death in Christian's eyes, or at the moment of his completed sacrifice.The idea of Christ living in another was not uncommon in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. It is a fundamental belief shared with the Quakers and Shakers who also had roots in Pietism and the indwelling of Christ.
Leadership and loss of leadership
Herrnhaag was a community designed by Nicholas whose inhabitants were to live under the direct rule of Christ with Christian Renatus as his representative. At Herrnhaag, Christel was the link between the spiritual and the earthly as the spirit took human form. During the 1748 Single Brothers Festival at Herrnhaag, Christel and his assistants entered wearing white robes, implying it was Christ who was actually entering. Later that day, Christel and twelve assistants led Communion, further representing Christ and the apostles. During the service, those in attendance believed that the sidehole of Christ was literally standing before them in the bodily forms of Christel and Rubusch, his co-leader of the brothers. Christel sang a welcoming hymn for Christ entering the hall, and while kissing, the brothers believed they were literally kissing the sidehole.The combination of sexuality and spirituality shown at Herrnhaag was not unknown in Christian history but it caused increasing scandal both within and without the church, particularly embarrassing for Nicholas "who was trying to be recognized as a rightful theologian after joining the confession of Augsburg" in 1748. Even Christel’s mother was concerned, realizing the events taking place at Herrnhaag and its nearby sister community of Marienborn were at the edge where metaphor and reality meet. Referring to a plowshare that can be raised and lowered, she later wrote to her son that "I sometimes said we have already put the peg in the last hole. If we wanted to remain in the world, the Savior would have to make three or four holes further back and lower down."
In addition to increasingly embarrassing scandal and rumor, the cost of sustaining Herrnhaag and its numerous festivals put a severe financial strain on the church at a time when its missionary efforts were expanding around the world. Events reached such a point that Christel’s father denounced what was happening at Herrnhaag and ordered Christel to attend him in England. "When the twenty-two-year-old returned to Herrnhaag, he was physically and mentally broken. In August of 1750 he founded a Bund auf die Marter Gottes (Covenant on the ordeal of God). During this 'phase of consolation' ordered by his father, he also composed several 'purified' poems."
Death and Apotheosis
Zinzendorf died on May 28, 1752 from a hemorrhage, with John Nitschmann, his former tutor, beside him. He was buried on the grounds of Lindsey HouseLindsey House
Lindsey House is a Grade II* listed villa in Cheyne Walk, Chelsea, in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea. It is owned by the National Trust but tenanted and only open by special arrangement.-History:...
, located in Chelsea outside London, where his father lived at that time and directed the worldwide missionary effort of the church.
An apotheosis written after his death links Christel to Christ by quoting 1 Corinthians 15:4: “And that he was buried, and that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the scriptures” and declaring that Christel is sitting directly beside Christ. The apotheosis also states that "The face Moses saw at Thabor is the same face Christel brought to you."
Herrnhaag was closed and a number of Single Brothers came to Pennsylvania where they settled at a community already named Christiansbrunn
Christiansbrunn
Christiansbrunn is the name of two communities established in Pennsylvania.- Community beginnings :A community of Single Brothers was established by the Moravian Unity in the Lehigh Valley of Pennsylvania in 1747. It was based on communal ideals developed by church leader Nicholas Ludwig Zinzendorf...
, the Spring of Christian. One of the brothers wrote a poem stating that Christel lived again in the spring and that the flowing waters restored him “more and more.”
Historical Perspective
For more than 200 years after his death, Christel was looked upon as a failure by Moravian historians and scholars, who saw him as weak, effeminate, ineffectual and a grave disappointment to his father whose trust he had betrayed. The only way most Moravians of the nineteenth and twentieth-centuries knew him was by the inclusion of several of his hymns in various Moravian hymnals, the most famous being “My Redeemer, overwhelmed with anguish, went to Olivet for me.”Indeed, the entire period (approximately 1747-1749) became known disparagingly as the Sifting Time from Luke 22:31: “Simon, Simon, behold, Satan has desired to have you that he may sift you as wheat.” Nicholas Zinzendorf called the ensuing scandal an “unbridled freedom of the flesh.” His representative told the residents at Herrnhaag and its nearby sister community of Marienborn that it was impossible to be "truly unified with our Husband" while living on earth. He further added that the residents had mistaken metaphor for reality and wrongly believed that the brothers were actually sisters.
Historians for the next two-hundred years accepted this view of events and wrote off what happened as a time of embarrassing excess from which the church was saved only by the timely intervention of Nicholas.
Determining exactly what happened was made exceedingly difficult due to extensive destruction of documents amounting to official censorship that began in the eighteenth-century by church officials and even archivists. There was a general shunning of the period that lasted well into the twentieth-century and almost no pertinent documents remain in either in the major Moravian archives in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania
Bethlehem, Pennsylvania
Bethlehem is a city in Lehigh and Northampton Counties in the Lehigh Valley region of eastern Pennsylvania, in the United States. As of the 2010 census, the city had a total population of 74,982, making it the seventh largest city in Pennsylvania, after Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Allentown, Erie,...
or Herrnhut
Herrnhut
Herrnhut is a municipality in the district of Görlitz, in the Free State of Saxony, Germany.It has access to Bundesstraße 178 between Löbau and Zittau...
, Germany.
Fortunately a new generation of scholars and historians interested in determining exactly what happened have been able to locate documents in private collections and other sources. An indication of renewed interest in Christian Renatus and what he meant to his time was shown in September, 2008 when a birthday festival was held in his honor in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, based on eighteenth-century sources and sponsored by the Historic Bethlehem Partnership, the Moravian Music Foundation and the Moravian Archives.
External links
- List articles in German and English regarding the issue of sexuality within the historical Moravian Church.
- Photographs of Herrnhaag from a 1997 visit.
- http://www.herrnhaag.de/ Herrnhaag website in German.
- http://www.zinzendorfschloss.de/ Website of Berthelsdorf and the Zinzendorf manor house where Christian Renatus was born.
- Photographs and map of Herrnhaag.
- Website of new Christiansbrunn community.
Further reading
- Schuchard, Marsha Keith (2006) Why Mrs Blake Cried: William Blake and the Erotic Imagination. Century. ISBN 978-0712620161
- Fogleman, Aaron Spencer. (2008) Jesus Is Female: Moravians and Radical Religion in Early America. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press. ISBN 978-0812220261