![\"Zinzendorf\"](\"\/missiology\/files\/2013\/05\/Zinzendorf.jpg\" "\\"Zinzendorf\\"")
<\/a>Zinzendorf was born in Dresden. At the age of ten, following tutoring at home, he attended a boarding school in Halle conducted by August Hermann Francke. From 1716-1721 he traveled and studied law at the University of Wittenberg. He became a legal councilor at the Dresden court of the Saxon elector August the Strong in 1721. Following his marriage in 1722 to Countess Erdmuthe Dorothea von Reuss, he established his manorial home at Berthelsdorf in eastern Germany. Zinzendorf was released from state service in 1727 and devoted his life to leadership of the Moravians. Refugees from Bohemia and Moravia (present-day Czech Republic) had arrived on his land beginning in 1722, bringing with them the heritage of the suppressed Hussite Unity of the Brethren (Unitas Fratrum<\/em>). Together with German Pietists, these people formed the nucleus of the new town Herrnhut and were the first members of the Moravian Church, which emerged as a separate denomination by the 1740s. As leader of the Moravians, Zinzendorf traveled oversee activity in Europe, England, the West Indies, and the eastern United States. His activities often aroused controversy, as he sought to guide the development of unique forms of Moravian witness. Self-sufficient settlement congregations were established to enhance the spirituality of the inhabitants and to serve as homes<\/a>for those who traveled to conduct renewal activities within established state churches or as missionaries among those who had never heard the gospel. He was consecrated a bishop in 1737. His greatest contribution to missiology was his awakening within Protestantism of an awareness of cross-cultural mission as a fundamental task of the church. Though not a systematic writer, he revealed in his published materials a consistent desire to seek contemporary expression of Christian theology.<\/p>\nDavid A. Schattschneider, “Zinzendorf, Nikolaus Ludwig von” in Biographical Dictionary of Christian Missions<\/em>, ed. Gerald H. Anderson (New York: Macmillan Reference USA, 1998), 762.<\/p>\n This article is reprinted from Biographical Dictionary of Christian Missions<\/em>, Macmillan Reference USA, copyright \u00a9 1998 Gerald H. Anderson, by permission of Macmillan Reference USA, New York, NY. All rights reserved.<\/p>\n Loskiel, George Henry. <\/em>The History of the Moravian Mission Among the Indians in North <\/em>America from its Commencement to the Present Time with a Preliminary Account of the <\/em>Indians Compiled from Authentic Sources<\/em><\/a>. Trans. Christian Ignatius La Trobe. London: T. Allman, 1838. Orig. London: John Stockdale, 1794.<\/p>\n Zinzendorf, Nikolaus L. von. Hymns Composed for the Use of the Brethren by the Right Reverend and most illustrious C. Z.<\/em> London: Printed for James Hutton, 1749.<\/p>\n _____. Nine Public Lectures on Important Subjects in Religion, preached in Fetter Lane Chapel in London in the Year 1746.<\/em> Translated and edited by George W. Forell. Iowa City: University of Iowa Press, 1973.<\/p>\n Allen, Walser H. Who are the Moravians: The Story of the Moravian Church, a World-Wide <\/em>Fellowship<\/em>. Bethlehem, PA: n.p., 1966.<\/p>\n Atwood, Craig D. Community of the Cross: Moravian Piety in Colonial Bethlehem<\/em>. University Park, PA: Pennsylvania State University Press, 2004.<\/p>\n Fogleman, Aaron Spencer. Jesus is Female: Moravians and the Challenge of Radical Religion in Early America<\/em>. Philadephia, PA: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2007.<\/p>\n Freeman, Arthur J. An Ecumenical Theology of the Heart: The Theology of Nicholas Ludwig <\/em>von Zinzendorf<\/em>. Bethlehem, PA: The Moravian Church in America, 1998.<\/p>\nBibliography<\/h3>\n
Digital Text<\/h5>\n
Primary<\/h5>\n
Secondary<\/h5>\n