Page - 69 - in JRFM - Journal Religion Film Media, Volume 04/02

68 | Benedikt Bauer www.jrfm.eu 2018, 4/2, 67–79 In this article I focus on specific motifs of the mystical piety from the period of the Moravian community called the “Sichtungszeit” – the time of sifting, in reference to Luke 22:31 – which are directly connected to a theology of mar- riage.1 While exploring these motifs from the Moravian hymnbook, which pro- vides vital evidence for the piety of the community, I will discuss the implicit constructions of masculinity within the lyrical expressions of bridal mysticism by linking them to Stephanie Knauss’s ideas of virtual interaction. SETTING THE SCENE: MORAVIAN PIETY IN THE TIME OF SIFTING AND THE IMPORTANCE OF HYMNBOOKS The origins of the Moravian community lie within the emigration of the Unitas fratrum for religious reasons from Bohemia and Moravia to the estate of Count Zinzendorf on the Hutberg, in Upper Lusatia. The statutes of 1727 indicate that the founding of the Moravian community stemmed from the need for a place where the brothers could dedicate their lives entirely to God – i.e. where they could live as a theocratic community – but without separatist intentions or a wish to start a new denomination, significant in particular in light of the trou- bles that arose with Lutheran orthodoxy.2 The Moravians can be assigned to the broader movement known as pietism, in particular as Zinzendorf – whose importance in molding the community cannot be underestimated – had been educated at the Pädagogium Regium in Halle. Although Zinzendorf himself was critical of Pietism, from which he attempted to dissociate both himself and the Moravians, German church historians can correctly speak of Herrnhuter Pietis­ mus (Moravian pietism) as a category in its own right. Interestingly, Zinzendorf developed an ecumenical line of thought which admitted every religion its own truth – although Moravian missionary activities clearly show that ultimate truth seemed to be found in the Christian message of the redemptive work of Jesus Christ through his incarnation, crucifixion, and resurrection. Hymnbooks played a prominent part within the community of the Moravians. In establishing the Singstunden – a time dedicated to singing – Zinzendorf and the Moravians inserted singing as an essential praxis pietatis into their communal piety. Singing could act like a sermon and serve as a pedagogical tool.3 Its function was to produce the indispensable connection between the transcendent and the imma- nent. According to musicologist Anja Wehrend, who has studied the conception of music and harmony in the Moravian community in the baroque context, singing was considered evidence of the analogia entis, the analogy between God and creation: 1 For the conception of marriage see for example Seibert 2003, 103–104; Beyreuther/Meyer 2000. 2 See Hahn/Reichel 1977, 70–80. 3 See Rössler 2000, 181; Meyer 1979, 102.