I Didn’t Know that I Was Starving ‘Til I Tasted You: 18th Century Moravian Women’s Ecstatic Experience of Bridal Mysticism in Communion and Marital Sexuality
Ann-Catherine Wilkening
Lumen et Vita June 1, 2018 DOI: 10.6017/lv.v8i2.10509 (opens in new tab)
Study at a glance
AI-extracted from the abstract| Characteristics | Historical analysis Peer reviewed |
|---|---|
| Population | Moravian women and couples in the mid-18th century, as represented in spiritual autobiographies (Lebenslauf) and Choir Instructions |
| Topics | Mysticism |
| Key points | Argues that mid-18th-century Moravians practiced a sensual bridal mysticism in which Christ became tangible both in Holy Communion and in marital sexual intercourse, where a husband represented Christ and a wife the Church. Contends that marital sex was understood as a blessed, liturgical act ordained by God and was carefully directed to ensure its sacredness and the couple's comfort. |
Abstract
Against recent moves to exoticize Moravian sexual practices, this project is an attempt to understand how sexuality and religion intersect and relate to each other in Moravian piety and theology. In the mid-18th century, Moravians practiced a deeply sensual and erotic form of bridal mysticism. Christ, the bridegroom and lover of the believer, became uniquely tangible to the Moravian in their experience of Holy Communion, as well as in sexual encounters with their spouse. This paper examines the realization of this union in the experience of Moravian women through their spiritual autobiographies (Lebenslauf) as well as the manuals for sexual intercourse in the 18th century Moravian Choir Instructions. During communion, women consumed the body of their eternal bridegroom with their own bodies, drawing close to Christ and nourished themselves through the ritualized breaking and bleeding of Jesus for their salvation. Moravians also understood marital sexual intercourse to be a blessed, liturgical act ordained by God and was it therefore an extremely ritualized act in which a husband represented Christ and a wife the Church. In encountering their husbands, Moravian women could encounter Christ. Sex was carefully directed to ensure its sacredness as well as the comfort of the couple.
Comparable studies
Other theoretical and historical papers on mysticism, most cited first.
| Study | Year | Design | Participants |
|---|---|---|---|
| The mystical mind: probing the biology of religious experience | 2000 | Theoretical or philosophical paper | |
| Religious and Mystical Experiences as Artifacts of Temporal Lobe Function: A General Hypothesis | 1983 | Theoretical or philosophical paper | |
| The Problem of Pure Consciousness: Mysticism and Philosophy | 1993 | Edited collection of essays | |
| Irreducible Mind: Toward a Psychology for the 21st Century | 2020 | Theoretical or philosophical paper | |
| Mysticism and schizophrenia: A phenomenological exploration of the structure of consciousness in the schizophrenia spectrum disorders. | 2016 | Theoretical or philosophical paper |