Kraybill - Concise Encyclopedia of Amish, Brethren, Hutterites, and Mennonites

Donald B. Kraybill - Concise Encyclopedia of Amish, Brethren, Hutterites, and Mennonites

Baltimore, MD: The Johns Hopkins University Press, 2010. – 328 p.

ISBN-13: 978-0-8018-9657-6 (hardcover: alk. paper)

ISBN-10: 0-8018-9657-6 (hardcover: alk. paper)

This encyclopedia provides a succinct overview of the history, religious beliefs, and cultural practices of four North American religious families: Amish, Brethren, Hutterites, and Mennonites. These families include more than 200 different groups that trace their roots, inspiration, and/or affiliations back to the Anabaptist Movement in Europe during the 16th-century Protestant Reformation. The nearly 350 short entries in this volume offer students, journalists, scholars, and general readers a synopsis of key topics and snapshots of Anabaptist groups in the 21st century. Ample references provide additional resources for more in-depth research.

The volume focuses on 21st-century Anabaptist communities in North America (Canada, the Caribbean, Central America, Mexico, and the United States), where Anabaptist-related groups are found in 17 of the 23 countries. The United States is home to all four of the Anabaptist families, and Canada is home to three of them (Amish, Hutterites, and Mennonites). Brethren and Mennonites, but no Amish or Hutterites, live in the Caribbean region. Mennonite groups are the primary Anabaptist presence in the Central American countries and Mexico. Although the entries cover a wide range of information, they emphasize culture and 20th-century social history more than theology or European Anabaptist history. This work is not comprehensive or exhaustive. Scholars seeking in-depth treatments of the topics will find electronic resources (web sites) at the end of some entries, as well as printed resources in the References section.

There is an entry on each of the four Anabaptist families—Amish, Brethren, Hutterites, and Mennonites—as well as entries on a wide range of topics related to religious views and social practices. In addition, each organized church group with 5,000 or more baptized members has an entry, as does each country in North America. Because many Anabaptist groups, especially those in Canada and the United States, have European origins, each of the following countries has an entry: Austria, France, Germany, the Netherlands, Poland, Russia, and Switzerland.

In general, entries focus on topics rather than people. Several leaders of historical significance in the formative years of the major families (Amish, Brethren, Hutterites, Mennonites) have entries. Other people discussed in the text have their birth and death dates noted in parentheses. The Index of Names includes the names of all people mentioned in the encyclopedia.

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Holidays, Religious

European ANABAPTISTS rejected the religious holidays that were based on Roman Catholic saints, but they did observe many of the basic Protestant and Catholic holy days, such as Good Friday, Easter, Pentecost, and Christmas, with special

WORSHIP services, fasting, and celebrations. Some MENNONITE and BRETHREN groups in North America, both traditional and assimilated, were influenced by the Puritan rejection of certain religious seasons such as Advent, Epiphany, and Lent. Thus, many groups observe Christmas, Ascension Day, Good Friday, Easter, and Pentecost, but not Epiphany or Lent.

The North American Anabaptist groups that have retained more of their European roots have the most extensive church calendar. For example, the HUTTERITES celebrate days such as Annunciation Day and the Day of Jesus’ Circumcision. Some AMISH groups observe the day after Christmas and Easter Monday as special times for social visiting and family gatherings. Many AMISH in the Midwest observe Epiphany (which they call Old Christmas) as a holiday and avoid making much of December 25, which they consider an overly commercialized day. In general, most Anabaptist groups tend to avoid the excessive commercialization and secularization of religious holidays.

In the last quarter of the 20th century, some ASSIMILATED GROUPS began to incorporate aspects of the broader Christian calendar into their worship by including the seasons of Advent and Lent. Some of these groups also rely on the lectionary cycle of biblical texts used in many Protestant and Catholic churches and have created Anabaptist-oriented lectionary aids.

Most Anabaptist groups hold their primary worship services on Sunday. Apart from attending worship services, other Sunday activities vary widely among Anabaptist groups. Many members of assimilated groups engage in recreation and leisure activities, and some do not object to employment on Sunday. Most of the TRADITIONAL GROUPS do not allow members to buy and sell or engage in any work or commercial activities on Sunday, other than caring for animals.