Speaking to Body and Soul

Dating back to 1785, the Moravian “Instructions for the Choir Helpers” contain detailed advice for the spiritual counselors of the men, women, and children in Moravian congregations on how to address concerns about one’s body and soul. In this volume, Katherine Faull presents an annotated, translated edition of the original German manuscript.In monthly “speakings”—regularly scheduled dialogues between the choir helper and individual church members to determine whether the congregant could be admitted to communion—men and women received spiritual guidance on topics as varied as the physical manifestations of puberty, sexual attraction, frequency of intercourse, infant care, and bereavement. From their founding in 1722, the Moravians were remarkable for their positive evaluation of the body; they held that the natural manifestations of masculinity and femininity were integral elements of spiritual consciousness. The “Instructions for the Choir Helpers”—which were highly confidential at the time and passed on only by permission of the church administration—reflect that philosophy, providing insights into an interpretation of the body as a holistic system that should be cared for as a vessel for the spirit.A unique resource for scholars of religious history, gender studies, and colonial American church history, Faull’s translation of this fascinating set of documents provides an unprecedented glimpse into a period of foundational change in Moravian history.

“Speaking to Body and Soul may be [Faull’s] most important work yet in terms of practical usefulness to clergy and average church members alike, because it shows how each member was spoken to and effectively cared for in the past.”—Lanie Yaswinski, Moravian Magazine, “This edition, a valuable resource for scholars and students alike, with high cross-disciplinary appeal, offers fresh perspectives for research on the interconnections among religious beliefs and sexuality as well as on the history of adolescence. It questions common assumptions concerning the relation between the sacred and the secular and offers a new focus on the surprising attention that was given to physical health and bodily concerns in the process of the formation of the religious self.”—Gisela Mettele, University of Jena, “For Moravians, pastoral care meant care for body and soul. Katherine Faull has uncovered an intriguing set of eighteenth-century documents instructing Moravian leaders how to tend to the physical and spiritual needs of their sheep. These detailed instructions offer rare insight into the positive evaluation of each person’s individual needs based on their gender, age, and development.”—Paul Peucker, author of A Time of Sifting: Mystical Marriage and the Crisis of Moravian Piety in the Eighteenth Century

Katherine M. Faull is Professor of German and Comparative Humanities at Bucknell University.