ABSTRACT

This chapter discusses the creation of order and disorder as part of an ecstatic revival movement in Herrnhut in 1727, in which young girls took a leading role. This prophetic movement urged the congregation to repent their sins, bury their conflicts, and to work towards a cohesive social community. The emotional state of ecstasy and the spiritual message and management of it created disorder temporarily, but through social intervention and leadership the emotional performance was channelled into a re-ordering of the community. The discussion of the revival movement and its social, gendered, and emotional dynamics is mainly based on the Herrnhut diary. The girls transgressed the social norms for bodily comportment: while kneeling down was acceptable during regular church prayers, but throwing oneself on the ground face down was not. The somatic nature of emotions was an important aspect of Moravian conversions. The transformation of the convert was spoken of in Moravian texts as a somatic renewal process.