From Hebron to Saron: the religious transformation of an Ephrata convent
Abstract
Since the eighteenth century, visitors to the Ephrata Cloister in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania have marveled at the strange, medieval appearance of the Cloister's architecture. Established in 1732, the Ephrata community was a religious settlement founded by Conrad Beissel, a German immigrant. From 1734 to 1746, the community built four convents to house its single celibate Brothers and Sisters in sex-segregated quarters. Only one convent has survived, built in 1743 to house Ephrata's married members [Householders], thereby allowing them to dissolve their marriages and practice celibacy, a spiritual ideal. This experiment was the brainchild of Israel Eckerlin, the administrative head of the community, who saw it as a means to control the Householders' farmland. During his tenure, Eckerlin promoted Ephrata's economic growth and in the process steered the members in a worldly direction that was at odds with Beissel's endorsement of a separatist, ascetic Pietism. This opposition manifested itself tangibly in Ephrata's architecture, which was seen as a metaphor for the misguided ascendancy of rational thought over divine inspiration. The struggle between Beissel and Eckerlin ended in 1745 when Eckerlin was ousted from the community in 1745. The social and religious experiment in Hebron was concurrently dissolved and the building was remodeled, renamed "Saron," and turned over to the single Sisters of the community. ☐ To date, analysis of the construction and style of Hebron-Saron has been limited to detailed descriptions; the lack of community documentation, such as building plans or notes, has hindered explication. The focus of this thesis is an interpretation of the building that relates it to contemporary community events and religious beliefs. A comparison of the building's construction and floorplan to eighteenth century Pennsylvania-German techniques and designs exposes the building’s conventionality. Analysis of the relationship of Hebron-Saron to the convents that preceded it reveals the building's physical and symbolic position in the community landscape. Finally, the story of Israel Eckerlin's conflict with Beissel and subsequent fall from grace unlocks the symbolic and religious content of the building. The outcome of this approach is a contextualized interpretation of the community's only surviving convent.