Voices of the Turtledoves: The Sacred World of Ephrata

Pennsylvania German History and Culture

by Jeff Bach

Winner, 2004 Dale W. Brown Book Award for Outstanding Scholarship in Anabaptist and Pietist Studies Winner, 2005 Outstanding Publication, Communal Studies Association Co-published with the Pennsylvania German Society/Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht The Ephrata Cloister was a community of radical Pietists founded by Georg Conrad Beissel (1691–1768), a charismatic mystic who had been a journeyman baker in Europe. In 1720 he and a few companions sought a new life in William Penn’s land of religious freedom, eventually settling on the banks of the Cocalico Creek in what is now Lancaster County. They called their community “Ephrata,” after the Hebrew name for the area around Bethlehem. Voices of the Turtledoves is a fascinating look at the sacred world that flourished at Ephrata. In Voices of the Turtledoves , Jeff Bach is the first to draw extensively on Ephrata’s manuscript resources and on recent archaeological investigations to present an overarching look at the community. He concludes that the key to understanding all the various aspects of life at Ephrata―its architecture, manuscript art, and social organization―is the religious thought of Beissel and his co-leaders.

Genres: Religion, History

304 pages, Hardcover

First published March 19, 2003

Reviews

[Heidi · Rating 4 out of 5]

I appreciate the research.

[Apryl Anderson · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is absolutely astonishing in the amount of research that obviously went into the writing! I won't say that it's an entertaining or amusing read--it's completely scholarly--and I'm tempted to give it 3-stars for that. 5-stars for Bach's ability to assemble several centuries and continents of religious history, bringing it into the specific time and place that became the Ephrata "Cloister." (Voila, 4-stars.) I can see why this won awards.

I've been searching for clues on my Zarfos ancestors. They were householders near the community. (The Kmart now stands where they lived circa 1740.) This book didn't shine any light on what part they might've played, unfortunately. (They were Brethren once they moved to York county, which became Methodist by my generation.) Now, I'm even more curious as to their involvement. Would I be projecting if I assumed they threw a few lavish love feasts for the sake of keeping their neighbors from starvation? We really hate to see anyone leave hungry. Frankly, the excessive legalism sounds craaazy cultish. I really wonder where they stood on that? I certainly hope that heaven is eternal, because I've got lifetimes of questions for those who've gone before me! I'd much rather sit at their feet to hear personal accounts than all of my attempts to glean insight.