The Hutterites in North America

by Janzen, Rod A.; Stanton, Max Edward

• ISBN13: 9780801894893
• ISBN10: 0801894891
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2010-06-01
• Publisher: Johns Hopkins Univ Pr

Summary

One of the longest-lived communal societies in North America, the Hutterites have developed multifaceted communitarian perspectives on everything from conflict resolution and decision-making practices to standards of living and care for the elderly. This compellingly written book offers a glimpse into the complex and varied lives of the nearly 500 North American Hutterite communities.North American Hutterites today number around 50,000 and have common roots with and beliefs akin to the Amish and other Old Order Christians. This historical analysis and anthropological investigation draws on existing research, primary sources, and over 25 years of the authors' interaction with Hutterite communities to recount the group's physical and spiritual journey from its 16th-century founding in Eastern Europe and its near disappearance in Transylvania in the 1760s to its late 19th-century transplantation to North America and into the modern era. It explains how the Hutterites found creative ways to manage social and economic changes over more than five centuries while holding to the principles and cultural values embedded in their faith.Religious scholars, anthropologists, and historians of America and the Anabaptist faiths will find this objective-yet-appreciative account of the Hutterites' distinct North American culture to be a valuable and fascinating study both of the religion and of a viable alternative to modern-day capitalism.

Author Biography

Rod Janzen is a Distinguished Scholar and a professor of history and social science education at Fresno Pacific University.
Max Stanton is the profesor anthropology and geography at Brigham Young University, Hawaii. He has been writing about Hutterites since 1988.

Table of Contents

List of Figures, Tables, and Maps	p. ix
Preface	p. xi
Acknowledgments	p. xix
Communal Christians in North America	p. 1
Origins and History	p. 12
Immigration and Settlement in North America	p. 33
Four Hutterite Branches	p. 54
Beliefs and Practices	p. 76
Life Patterns and Rites of Passage	p. 108
Identity, Tradition, and Folk Beliefs	p. 138
Education and Cultural Continuity	p. 179
Colony Structure, Governance, and Economics	p. 197
Population, Demography, and Defection	p. 234
Managing Technology and Social Change	p. 259
Relationships with Non-Hutterites	p. 273
Facing the Future	p. 295
Appendix: Hutterite Colonies in North America, 2009	p. 307
Glossary	p. 321
Notes	p. 325
Bibliography	p. 347
Index	p. 363
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