Horse And Buggy Mennonites

Examining how the Wengers have cautiously and incrementally adapted to the changes swirling around them, this book offers an invaluable case study of a traditional group caught in the throes of a postmodern world."--Jacket.

The history of the twentieth century is one of modernization, a story of old ways being left behind. Many traditionalist Mennonites rejected these changes, especially the automobile, which they regarded as a symbol of pride and individualism. They became known as a “horse-and-buggy” people. Between 2009 and 2012, Royden Loewen and a team of researchers interviewed 250 Mennonites in thirty-five communities across the Americas about the impact of the modern world on their lives. This book records their responses and strategies for resisting the very things—ease, technology, upward mobility, consumption—that most people today take for granted. Loewen’s subjects are drawn from two distinctive groups: 8,000 Old Order Mennonites, who continue to pursue old ways in highly urbanized southern Ontario, and 100,000 Old Colony Mennonites, whose history of migration to protect traditional ways has taken them from the Canadian prairies to Mexico and farther south to Belize, Paraguay, and Bolivia. Whether they live in the shadow of an urban, industrial region or in more isolated, rural communities, the fundamental approach of “horse-and-buggy” Mennonites is the same: life is best when it is kept simple, lived out in the local, close to nature. This equation is the genius at the heart of their world.

Accessible in style, Plain Buggies presents the most complete work on the transportation modes of the "plain people" published to date. includes details on prices, styles, laws, stories. Why do 100,000 persons in North America refuse to drive cars for religious reasons? What are the main styles among the 90-some variations of their vehicles? What does a horse's face tell you about its personality? What about accidents, the law, and harassment? How much does a buggy cost in various states? How long does it last? Are they sold second-hand?

Horse-and-buggy Mennonites, like the more readily identified Amish, live a purposely simple lifestyle. They do this because their beliefs, which are based on biblical principles, guide them. Supposedly. Like so much of the Evangelical community, the foundation of their faith hinges on biblical texts, understood as being the Word of God. As in other fundamentally Christian denominations, certain texts are emphasized more than others, and these distinctions become expressed in their worldview and sometimes in their ways of living. Regardless of how the details of their understanding and lifestyle are expressed, the notion of truth--perhaps God's truth--would presumably undergird what is of most value. But the devil is in the details regarding that assumption. The details (actions taken and the failure to act) provide a better understanding of how complex the lives are of these horseand-buggy Mennonites--a group known for their simple lifestyle. My findings suggest that their lives are far from simple.

In 1958 a considerable group of Mennonites travelled down from Canada to Central America. They considered Canada to be too modern and sought after the simplicity of a more traditional society. Their search led them to Mexico and Paraguay. And to Belize, the setting of this newly published volume. This book is the first important study about the Mennonite community in Belize, consisting of approximately 10.000 people. Much like the Amish in the US, these Mennonites transport themselves in characteristic horse drawn buggies, they live in large families and try to keep their houses and households as sober as possible. And they are religious, of course. Although modernity is slowly moving ahead, even for them.

In the 1870s, approximately 18,000 Mennonites migrated from the southern steppes of Imperial Russia (present-day Ukraine) to the North American grasslands. They brought with them an array of cultural and institutional features that indicated they were a "transplanted" people. What is less frequently noted, however, is that they created in their everyday lives a world that ensured their cultural longevity and social cohesiveness in a new land.Their adaptation to the New World required new concepts of social boundary and community, new strategies of land ownership and legacy, new associations, and new ways of interacting with markets. In Hidden Worlds, historian Royden Loewen illuminates some of these adaptations, which have been largely overshadowed by an emphasis on institutional history, or whose sources have only recently been revealed. Through an analysis of diaries, wills, newspaper articles, census and tax records, and other literature, an examination of inheritance practices, household dynamics, and gender relations, and a comparison of several Mennonite communities in the United States and Canada, Loewen uncovers the multi-dimensional and highly resourceful character of the 1870s migrants.

In this unique educational history, Donald B. Kraybill traces the sociocultural transformation of Eastern Mennonite University from a fledgling separatist school founded by white, rural, Germanic Mennonites into a world-engaged institution populated by many faith traditions, cultures, and nationalities. The founding of Eastern Mennonite School, later Eastern Mennonite University, in 1917 came at a pivotal time for the Mennonite community. Industrialization and scientific discovery were rapidly changing the world, and the increasing availability of secular education offered tempting alternatives that threatened the Mennonite way of life. In response, the Eastern Mennonites founded a school that would “uphold the principles of plainness and simplicity,” where youth could learn the Bible and develop skills that would help advance the church. In the latter half of the twentieth century, the university’s identity evolved from separatism to social engagement in the face of churning moral tides and accelerating technology. EMU now defines its mission in terms of service, peacebuilding, and community. Comprehensive and well told by a leading scholar of Anabaptist and Pietist studies, this social history of Eastern Mennonite University reveals how the school has mediated modernity while remaining consistently Mennonite. A must-have for anyone affiliated with EMU, it will appeal especially to sociologists and historians of Anabaptist and Pietist studies and higher education.

"Mennonite Women in Canada "traces the complex social history and multiple identities of Canadian Mennonite women over 200 years. Marlene Epp explores women's roles, as prescribed and as lived, within the contexts of immigration and settlement, household and family, church and organizational life, work and education, and in response to social trends and events. The combined histories of Mennonite women offer a rich and fascinating study of how women actively participate in ordering their lives within ethno-religious communities.