Moravians in the Evangelical Imagination

This week I read through a new popular biography of Nicolaus Ludwig von Zinzendorf, called Lord of the Ring: in Search of Count von Zinzendorf, by 24-7 prayer guru, Phil Anderson. The title is a nod to the gold rings that members of Zinzendorf’s college prayer group, the Order of the Mustard Seed, used as a token of membership and obviously plays off of Tolkien’s trilogy popularized recently in movie theaters. I have mixed feelings. On one hand, I am glad that Zinzendorf is getting attention these days, especially among evangelicals (at least UK evangelicals). And Anderson has a reasonably good sense for biographical writing. But on the other hand, I cringed at this portrayal of Zinzendorf, which is part hagiography, part youth-group devotional and part Indiana Jones. In the process of telling us about Zinzendorf, who comes off looking like a pious version of the mysterious Gandalf the Gray, the author attempts to dramatize his own “pilgrimage” to Herrnhut, complete with dangerous mishaps and miraculous rescues.

For modern evangelicals, the Moravians have always served as exotic examples of radical Christianity – those zealous missionaries who warmed John Wesley’s heart and readily volunteered to die as martyrs. I admire these Moravians too, but as a historian, I know that evangelicals have rarely made the effort to really get to know the Moravians, most of whom would likely be too radical by the standards of modern evangelicals. In the end, this biography does little more than reinforce the popular caricatures of Moravians that have lived for centuries in the imagination of evangelicals.