The Waterloo Mennonites is truly a communal book: the substance treats the communal aspect of the Mennonite community in all its complexity, while the book itself came about through communal effort from the students and researchers assisting Fretz, the various organizations and individuals providing support, the larger community including the two universities and Wilfrid Laurier University Press, and public funding agencies. This book seeks to derive a clearer understanding of the sociological characteristics of a single Mennonite community, beginning with the historical and religious background of the Waterloo Mennonites, reviewing their European origins, their ethnic identification, and their immigration experience. It also examines their basic institutions: religion and church, marriage and the family, education and the school, economics and earning a living, government and how they relate to it, their use of leisure time and methods of recreation. It also looks at the way Mennonites interact with the larger society and how that society responds.
European Mennonites and the Holocaust is one of the first books to examine Mennonite involvement in the Holocaust, sometimes as rescuers but more often as killers, accomplices, beneficiaries, and bystanders.
This book is a companion to SmuckerOCOs 1977 publication The Sociologyof Canadian Mennonites, Hutterites and Amish, which is referred to asVol. 1. While the first volume consisted primarily of citations relatingto Canadian Mennonites, Hutterites, and Amish, the present volume ismuch broader in scope, in that it includes materials from both the U.S.and Canada, as well as from Europe. Vol. 2 is organized only slightly differently from the previous volume.There are four main sections: OC Bibliographies and EncyclopediasOCO;OC MennonitesOCO; OC HutteritesOCO; and OC Amish.OCO Each of the latterthree is further arranged by kind of material: OC Books andPamphletsOCO; OC Graduate ThesesOCO; OC ArticlesOCO (from journals andchapters from books); and OC Unpublished SourcesOCO (cited forMennonites only). Three appendixes appear at the end of the book. A nameindex and a subject index are also included. This handy bibliography lists 400 items (mostly published since 1977, though there are a few justified exceptions). It is important to notethat, while information on Mennonites and the Amish is more readilyavailable, the same on Hutterites is scarce. The 53 items listed will, in combination with the ones in the previous volume, prove very useful. The appendixes, though brief, may assist in further research, but theavailability of the materials mentioned therein is not apparent. Theappendixes do provide a little insight into the present-day status andactivities of these groups. Appendix A summarizes the Mennonite ChurchMember Profile II, which is the result of a current survey that willhelp identify trends in the beliefs of Mennonites today. This survey isexpected to be published in a book. Appendix B lists helpful sources(e.g., major Mennonite and Amish research libraries, bookstores, yearbooks, and handbooks relating to these groups). Appendix C listsspecial collections of Amish material. Only some of the books published in the U.S. before 1977 that weremissing from the earlier volume are included in this one. Several otherbooks may have been deliberately excluded (the authorOCOs criteria forinclusion or exclusion are not clearly stated). Just as in the previousbibliography, the writings of prominent Mennonite sociologists and otherauthors have been cited. Evidently books on sociological, religious, andhistorical aspects were chosen, though some fiction titles have alsobeen included. Some books could have been included but are not. Andthere is no mention of the journals Mennonite Historian or The Journalof Mennonite Studies, both of which are Canadian. The bibliography is mostly in essay form. There is no consistency inthe annotations. Some books and articles are annotated in great detail, while others receive only brief mention. A lot of effort has been putinto the arrangement of the material into subsections (books andpamphlets, etc.) for each group, but the user may well find this systemcumbersome. Since there are not many items, they could all have beenlisted in a single alphabetical sequence under each group. The authorindex is convenient, although a spot-check reveals some errors. Theterms used in the subject index are too broad and vague, and at timesserve no purpose. In publishing this bibliography, which reflects 10 years of research, Smucker has further extended his service to students of Mennonites. Theinformation gathered in this volume, as in the earlier one, is notrestricted to academic/research interest only. A bibliography is awelcome addition to any collection, and an annotated one has a distinctadvantage: it enables readers to choose more easily the books they wishto consult. Despite the inconsistencies prevalent in this book, there is no doubtthat, when used in conjunction with its predecessor, it will become avaluable tool for sociologists, historians, and theologiansOCoin fact, for anyone interested in studying or conducting research on thesefascinating people.a"
Donald Martin, who stands within the conservative Mennonite community, provides a unique and detailed history of the formation of the numerous groups of Old Order Mennonites. He traces the principle of Gelassenheit through the centuries from the teachings of Jesus, to the Anabaptists in Europe, to the hearts and homes of the Old Order Mennonites of today. The application of the principle of Gelassenheit is portrayed as a primary difference between the Old Order Mennonites and modern forms of Christianity.
The editor provides an important new scholarly tool for locating and understanding the enormous expansion of scholarly research dealing with the sociology of Canadian Mennonites, Hutterites and Amish. Although the book includes research from American scholars, the editor devotes special attention to Canadian works concerning these important and interesting minorities. Using the tripartite division of Mennonites, Hutterites and Amish, the bibliography includes 800 entries each with a concise summary and evaluation. The entries are listed under the subheadings: books, theses, articles and unpublished manuscripts. Preceding the bibliography itself is an essay by the editor originally presented to the Canadian Sociology and Anthropology Association. The essay outlines the differing conceptual assumptions of the researchers included in the book, the major methodologies employed and the main conclusions to be drawn from their work.
The continuing conflict between the Anabaptist/Mennonite community and the expanding industrial culture of the modern world has not been investigated. This book addresses the issues which fuel that conflict, focusing on the implications of subordinating an economic system to the theological framework of a Christian society. Contributors: Gregory Baum, Lawrence J. Burkholder, Leo Driedger, Kevin Enns-Rempel, Norm Ewert, Jim Halteman, Leland Harder, Al Hecht, Jim Lichti, Jacob A. Leowen, John Peters, Cal Redekop, Walter Regehr, T.D. Regehr, Jean Seguy, Robert Siemens, Arnold Snyder, Willis Sommer, Mary Sprunger, and Laura Weaver. Co-published with the Institute of Anabaptist and Mennonite Studies.
John Werner was a storyteller. A Mennonite immigrant in southern Manitoba, he captivated his audiences with tales of adventure and perseverance. With every telling he constructed and reconstructed the memories of his life. John Werner was a survivor. Born in the Soviet Union just after the Bolshevik Revolution, he was named Hans and grew up in a German-speaking Mennonite community in Siberia. As a young man in Stalinist Russia, he became Ivan and fought as a Red Army soldier in the Second World War. Captured by Germans, he was resettled in occupied Poland where he became Johann, was naturalized and drafted into Hitler’s German army where he served until captured and placed in an American POW camp. He was eventually released and then immigrated to Canada where he became John. The Constructed Mennonite is a unique account of a life shaped by Stalinism, Nazism, migration, famine, and war. It investigates the tenuous spaces where individual experiences inform and become public history; it studies the ways in which memory shapes identity, and reveals how context and audience shape autobiographical narratives.
T.D. Regehr shows how the Second World War challenged the pacifist views of Mennonites and created a population more aware of events, problems, and opportunities for Christian service and personal advancement in the world beyond their traditional rural communities.
