Paper short abstract:

This paper will explore an understanding of emotions as cultural practices using the example of Methodist worship among Germans in Württemberg (Germany) and the Ohio River valley (USA), for whom emotions were integral to their religious practice.

Paper long abstract:

An understanding of emotions as cultural practices is slowly evolving: If we conceive of feelings as learned and cultivated, then it becomes clear that they are to be viewed as a form of bodily as well as conceptual knowledge transmitted in specific cultural contexts. For the role of emotions in religion, this perspective means that we can take them seriously as an integral part of practice, not simply as its effect. Sources for this kind of analysis can and should be not only what people say they feel, but also what they do in order to feel a certain way. This paper will explore this claim using the example of Methodist worship among Germans in Württemberg (Germany) and the Ohio River valley (USA). From the class meeting to the camp meeting, different spaces of experience were created for the purpose of cultivating certain emotions, which were understood to be evidence of God's presence. Anglo-American Methodist practices, from singing hymns and listening to rousing sermons, to experiencing conversion and "shouting", were learned by newly arrived German settlers participating in meetings. They may not have understood the language, but their physical presnce at the meetings gave them other avenues for learning. They found a new vocabulary for their bodily experiences and soon began sending missionaries back to Germany, who implemented American practices, adapting them to their local contexts.