Pennsylvania has always been a haven for religious refugees from Europe and a destination for spiritual seekers determined to build intentional communities of shared values and faith. The Moravian community in Bethlehem, Ephrata Cloister, the Harmony Society in Ambridge, and less well-known groups help tell the story of Pennsylvania's many holy experiments.
Continue the Story...
Bring this subject into focus through the following chapters. These stories take exploration of the main story further by providing more detail for you to learn and explore.
Take your students back in history with these discussions and activities for the classroom
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1370 |
Birth of John Hus, Bohemian Protestant leader who developed the theological teachings of what became the Moravian church (circa 1370) |
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1415 |
John Hus is burned at the stake by the Roman Catholic Church for his heretical teachings |
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1457 |
Hus's followers officially congregate as a church near Lititz in Bohemia |
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1647 |
George Fox helps establish the Society of Friends, better known as the Quakers, in England
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1682 |
William Penn arrives in Pennsylvania to begin his Holy Experiment in religious toleration |
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1683 |
First Mennonites arrive in Pennsylvania and settle north of Philadelphia in a town that they name Germantown |
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1694 |
Johannes Kelpius and a group of German pietist hermits establish Pennsylvania's first religious commune on the Wissahickon Creek above Philadelphia, Pennsylvania |
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1722 |
The 'Renewed Church' of the Brethren founded by Hus gathers on the German estate of Count Nicholas Ludwig von Zinzendorf |
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1730 - 1740 |
In the 1730s and 40s, a revival of religious enthusiasm known as the Great Awakening sweeps across Britain's North American colonies |
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1732 - 1732 |
Conrad Beissel establishes the Ephrata Cloister community
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1736 |
Followers of Swiss religious reformer Jakob Ammann start the first major Amish settlement in the Americas along the Northkill Creek on the Berks County frontier
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1741 |
The Moravians establish Bethlehem and Nazareth, Pennsylvania |
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1762 |
Bethlehem and Nazareth make the transition from communal economies to private enterprise |
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1763 |
The Paxton Boys massacre twenty Conestoga Indians, who had been converted to Christianity by Moravian
missionaries |
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1787 |
George Rapp separates from the Lutheran Church in Germany and establishes the Harmony Society
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1804 |
George Rapp and his followers settle in western Pennsylvania |
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1825 |
The Harmony Society moves back to Pennsylvania and builds the town of Economy |
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1830 |
Joseph Smith begins The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, or the Mormons |
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1830 - 1840 |
In the 1830s and 40s, a Second Great Awakening, a revival of religious enthusiasm, sweeps across the United States |
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1842 |
The Sylvania Association starts America's first Fourierite phalanx in Pike County, Pennsylvania |
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1844 |
Moravians open the town of Bethlehem to settlement by outsiders |
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1850 |
George Armstrong and his followers found Celestia, Pennsylvania |
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1905 |
The Harmony Society disbands |
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1932 |
Father Divine establishes his growing community in Harlem. Claiming himself a deity, he established a communal society awaiting the realization of the Kingdom of Heaven on Earth |
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1941 |
The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania opens the Ephrata Cloister as an historic site |
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1943 |
Father Divine relocates headquarters of his interracial Peace Mission to Gladwyne, Pennsylvania |
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Original Documents
