Moravians in the Eighteenth-Century Atlantic World

Abstract

In its first sixty years, Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, went from being an energetic hub of evangelical outreach to a quiet retreat in the northeastern Pennsylvania hills. During the settlement's early decades, the Moravians took advantage of Britain's broad pro-Protestant policies and of the expanding Atlantic economy. Deep engagement also brought friction, however. This article argues that Bethlehem's retreat resulted from its very engagement in the wider British Atlantic world and from the difficulties caused by the Moravians' desire to remain a distinct community in a rapidly changing political and religious environment.In August 1790, Judith Sargent Murray published an essay extolling the virtues of Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, in the New York Magazine, or Literary Repository. "Bethlehem," she wrote, "is in the state of Pennsylvania-it is situated 54 miles north of Philadelphia-it is a beautiful village, and without the smallest degree of enthusiasm it may be pronounced a terrestial [sic] paradise." The setting was serene: "Embowering shades, meadows,