The Refugees Who Became One

In 1722, a ragged band of Protestant refugees from Moravia arrived on the estate of Count Nikolaus von Zinzendorf in Saxony. They were exhausted, divided, and fractured — Lutherans, Reformed, Hussites, and Anabaptists all crammed into a tiny settlement called Herrnhut. For five years, they bickered over doctrine, worship styles, and church governance. The community nearly collapsed under the weight of its own disagreements.…