Craig Atwood addresses the serious lack of comprehensive treatments in English of the Moravians. The Moravian Church, or Unity of the Brethren, was the first Western church to make separation of church and state a matter of doctrine and policy. The Unity’s vision for social and educational reform also sets it apart. Its theology centers on the key concepts of faith, love, and hope. The Unity—the heartbeat of the so-called Czech Reformation—was engaged with society and with other churches and did not retreat to isolationism, as did several movements in the Radical Reformation. Rather, the Unity continued to evolve as political and theological climates changed.
Craig D. Atwood teaches theology at the Moravian Seminary in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania. He is also the author of Community of the Cross: Moravian Piety in Colonial Bethlehem (Penn State, 2004).
“Atwood's important study contributes a great deal to our understanding of the complex Brethren community. It helps to disentangle the important elements of transmission across the line that notionally divides the medieval from the Reformation era. It characterizes the thought of what was in many respects a non-intellectual movement, giving the influence of Marsilius of Padua its proper place.”—G. R. Evans American Historical Review