Nikolaus Ludwig von Zinzendorf created not a systematic theology but a Church. As Peter Vogt points out, he could put theology into practice as few other theologians could – and change it in the light of experience. This survey of Zinzendorf's contribution to ‘practical theology’ demonstrates not only his remarkable originality and creativity but also the large number of areas of church life to which he made a significant, distinctive contribution. Peter Zimmerling examines homiletics, pastoral care, congregational development, spirituality and the ‘watchwords’, Dietrich Meyer liturgy, hymnology and catechetics and Vogt ministry. Their essays are all of high quality, usefully summarise previous scholarship (where it exists) and contribute new insights. Zinzendorf's catechisms and, surprisingly, his preaching have hitherto received little attention. The distinctive homily form, in which heart spoke to heart, arose because before 1734 Zinzendorf could not preach in the parish church where his community worshipped on Sundays. Pastoral care was tailored to the stages of personal development, emphasised individuality and offered practical support, for example in ‘parenting’. Zimmerling underlines the role of women, laymen and groups in delivering it. His essay on congregational development presents the key themes of Zinzendorf's ecumenical ecclesiology but perhaps downplays the extent to which Moravians saw their Church as having a privileged relationship with Christ. Zinzendorf never set out his thoughts on ministry systematically; Vogt's nine-point summary is helpful. Though preaching was Zinzendorf's primary vocation, he saw himself as ‘cantor and liturgist’ rather than preacher. He not only wrote hymns but also collected them, his Londoner Gesangbuch being intended as a reference work. Meyer highlights the litany and Te Deum as the two basic forms of Moravian liturgy and the importance of Holy Week and Easter in the Moravian year. Gottfried Arnold's Erste Liebe influenced Zinzendorf, but so did the Moravian revival and the practical needs of the Herrnhut community and the freestanding Wetteravian congregations. As Zimmerling has pointed out, the love feast may have originated in the early Church but in Zinzendorf's hands it became a ‘liturgizing of elements of barock festival culture’. Zimmerling's presentation of Zinzendorf's spirituality – aesthetic (peaceful, elegant simplicity), aristocratic, liturgical and characterised by joy and thankfulness – is highly attractive but prompts questions. How did Zinzendorf's valuing of diversity relate to the uniform character of Moravian dress and buildings? How far was eschatological equality honoured in practice? (Artisans became bishops, but aristocratic Moravians had Moravian servants). Zinzendorf was ahead of his time yet a man of his time, pushed at boundaries but also respected them. Zimmerling highlights Zinzendorf's ‘unparalleled ecclesiastical and social emancipation of women’ yet, as Vogt points out, he ordained women for ministry to women not to the whole congregation. Understandably, this volume commemorating the 250th anniversary of Zinzendorf's death focuses on his positive contribution. Experimental theology can be pursued to excess and was by Zinzendorf's Moravians in the later 1740s. Valuing childlikeness, joy at unconditional forgiveness of sin, and realised eschatology had serious consequences at which Zimmerling only hints. A more dispassionate assessment would have to give these more weight.