Editing Nicolaus Zinzendorf (section)

==Religious freedom and discord==
In 1722, Zinzendorf offered asylum to a number of persecuted wanderers from [[Moravia]] and [[Bohemia]] (parts of [[Czech Republic]] today), and permitted them to build the village of [[Herrnhut]] on a corner of his estate of [[Berthelsdorf]]. Most of the initial refugees who came to this asylum were recruited by [[Christian David]] and came from areas where the early Protestant groups such as the Unitas Fratrum had been dominant prior to the [[Thirty Years' War]]. As the village grew it became known as a place of religious freedom, and attracted individuals from a variety of persecuted groups, including the [[Schwenkfelder Church|Schwenkfelders]]. The concentration of differing beliefs in the village produced intense conflict. Personal and religious differences between the estate manager Heitz and Johann Andreas Rothe, the Lutheran pastor of Berthelsdorf, were made more tense by the apocalyptic preaching of Johann Sigismund Krüger.<ref name="HMC">{{cite book|title=The History of the Moravian Church|last1=Hamilton|first1=J. Taylor|first2=Kenneth G.|last2=Hamilton|year=1967|publisher=Moravian Church in America|location=Bethlehem, PA|page=30}}</ref>

Zinzendorf began to visit each home for prayer, and finally called the men of the village together for an intense study of the Scriptures. The question they came to focus on was how the Scriptures described Christian life in community. These studies, combined with intense prayer, convinced many of the community that they were called to live together in love, and that the disunity and conflict they had experienced was contrary to the clear calling of Scripture.<ref name="HMC1">Taylor, pp. 31-32</ref>