Page - 71 - in JRFM - Journal Religion Film Media, Volume 04/02

70 | Benedikt Bauer www.jrfm.eu 2018, 4/2, 67–79 Brüdergesangbuch: there is no stringent numbering of the individual songs, no clear structure or rubrication.10 When this evidence is combined with Zinzen- dorf’s remark that fundamentally there was no need for a hymnbook as songs that originated in the heart were preferable, we can recognize that the songs of the Kleines Brüdergesangbuch were an expression of a vivid piety solidified into guidance for the community and by incorporation of its themes they result into exactly the same vivid piety. The songs were generated by the community out of its piety, reflected that piety and also, through their use, reproduced that piety. VIRTUAL MARRIAGE? REFLECTING ON THE CONSTRUCTION OF MASCULINITY WITHIN MYSTICAL TEXTS Interaction [is] per se a corporeal issue – even within the virtual interaction in chatrooms, the bodies of the users sitting in front of the screen and receiving information are in- volved, even though they don’t meet directly – and in a large part my identity is formed by the imitation of others, by my access to them, by my being perceived by them.11 At first sight, talking about virtual interaction and “virtual marriage” in an 18th century context seems odd, even misplaced. But if we think this conception through and broaden our definition of virtuality, applying Stephanie Knauss’s explanations to bridal mysticism can be productive. Bridal mysticism in the Christian tradition is to be defined as personal spiritu- ality inspired by the Song of Songs and finding its affective expressions in sym- bolic sexual love and an ardent desire for the divine loved one, Jesus Christ.12 The mysticism of Zinzendorf and the Moravians has direct connotations in the Passion, with the adoration of the piercing in Christ’s side, and inherits Passion mystical motifs13 but is basically constituted from classical elements of mysti- cism, for example paradoxical use of language.14 Mysticism can be defined as one of the most intensive phenomena of piety: The core element of this phenomenon is the religious “Spitzenerfahrung” [peak ex- pericence] of the unio mystica that results in “radical interior transformation (trans- formatio mystica) and deepened perception and cognition”. With Annette Wilke the definition of the unio as “concentration of transcendence into the personal” (Luh- mann/Fuchs) shall be preferred.15 10 See Meyer 1979, 59–60. 11 Knauss 2008, 61. 12 See Wilke 2006a, 81. 13 For passion mysticism see Wilke 2006b, 396. 14 The bridal mysticism of Zinzendorf and the Moravians was an adaptation of medieval bridal mysticism, especially as inspired by Bernard of Clairvaux and also William of St. Thierry and St. John of the Cross (see Peucker 2011, 43, 50), transformed for a Protestant context. 15 Bauer 2017, 179.