Ethnic Mennonite

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The term ethnic Mennonite refers to Mennonites of Central European ancestry and culture who are considered to be members of a Mennonite ethnic or ethnoreligious group. [1] [2] The term is also used for aspects of their culture, such as language, dress, and Mennonite food. [3]

Contents

History

The most prominent ethnic Mennonite groups are Russian Mennonites (German: Russland-Mennoniten), who formed as an ethnic group in Prussia and South Russia (now Ukraine), but who are mostly of Dutch (both Flemish, Frisian) and North German ancestry and speak Plautdietsch and Mennonites of Pennsylvania Dutch heritage who formed as an ethnic group in North America and who are of Swiss-German and South German ancestry. [4]

For centuries, Mennonites almost exclusively married inside their churches, and moved through Europe and into North America in large groups, while maintaining their own language and religious practices. They emerged as distinct ethnic groups in Russia around 1789 and in North America around the 1730s. Many still speak those languages today: Pennsylvania German and Plautdietsch. [5]

While missionary activities after 1950s, converted thousands to the Mennonite church in Africa, India, Indonesia and other places outside Europe and North America, these groups cannot be considered ethnic Mennonites as they do not share the same European heritage. In 2012, the Mennonite World Conference estimated that the majority of people attending Mennonite churches were not of Central European or Eastern European heritage anymore. [6]

Some conservative strains of Mennonites, like the Old Order Mennonites and the Old Colony Mennonites have kept their languages, traditional customs and the practice of endogamy to this day, so that they are considered to be ethnic or ethnoreligious groups. The same is true for the Hutterites and the Amish who are Anabaptists like the Mennonites, but have never engaged in mission activities on a larger scale.

Since most religious Mennonites today do not belong to either Russian Mennonite or Pennsylvania Dutch heritage, discussions have arisen around what the Mennonite identity means. Some see the term "ethnic Mennonite" as unnecessary, believing that the only requirement needed to qualify someone as Mennonite is baptism as an adult into the Mennonite church.

That argument, however, fails to see a distinction between religious Mennonites and ethnic Mennonites, and denies the experience and identity of thousands of people in North America, Mexico, Belize, Paraguay, and elsewhere, who share a common Mennonite heritage.

While many ethnic Mennonites have assimilated into Western culture, and adopted English as their primary language, their heritage and their family names continue to distinguish them as ethnically Mennonites to other ethnic Mennonites, who are proud of their heritage and make a point of knowing who all their relatives are. This is affectionately referred to as the Mennonite Game.

Many ethnic Mennonites, would also consider themselves non-practicing, further demonstrating the need to distinguish between ethnic Mennonites and religious Mennonites, and highlighting the complications of ethnoreligious identity.


[7] [8] [9] [10] [11]

Literature

Related Research Articles

Anabaptism is a Christian movement which traces its origins to the Radical Reformation.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mennonites</span> Anabaptist groups originating in Western Europe

Mennonites are a group of Anabaptist Christian church communities tracing their roots to the Radical Reformation. The name is derived from that of one of the early prominent leaders of the Anabaptist movement, Menno Simons (1496–1561). Through his writings about Reformed Christianity during the Radical Reformation, Simons articulated and formalized the teachings of earlier Swiss Anabaptist founders as well as early teachings of the Mennonites founded on the belief in both the mission and ministry of Jesus. These beliefs the original Anabaptist followers had held with great conviction, despite persecution by various Roman Catholic and Mainline Protestant states. Formal Mennonite beliefs were codified in the Dordrecht Confession of Faith (1632), which affirmed "the baptism of believers only, the washing of the feet as a symbol of servanthood, church discipline, the shunning of the excommunicated, the non-swearing of oaths, marriage within the same church", strict pacifistic physical nonresistance, anti-Catholicism and in general, more emphasis on "true Christianity" involving "being Christian and obeying Christ" as they interpret it from the Holy Bible.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hutterites</span> Ethno-religious group since the 16th century; a communal branch of Anabaptists

Hutterites, also called Hutterian Brethren, are a communal ethnoreligious branch of Anabaptists, who, like the Amish and Mennonites, trace their roots to the Radical Reformation of the early 16th century and have formed intentional communities.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pennsylvania Dutch language</span> Variety of West Central German

Pennsylvania Dutch, sometimes referred to as Pennsylvania German, is a variety of Palatine German, also known as Palatinate German or Palatine Dutch, spoken by the Pennsylvania Dutch, including the Old Order Amish, Old Order Mennonites, Fancy Dutch, and other descendants of German immigrants in the United States and Canada. There are approximately 300,000 native speakers of Pennsylvania Dutch in the United States and Canada.

Plautdietsch or Mennonite Low German is a Low Prussian dialect of East Low German with Dutch influence that developed in the 16th and 17th centuries in the Vistula delta area of Royal Prussia. The word Plautdietsch translates to "flat German". In other Low German dialects, the word for Low German is usually realised as Plattdütsch/Plattdüütsch or Plattdüütsk, but the spelling Plautdietsch is used to refer specifically to the Vistula variant of the language.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Plain people</span> Simple lifestyle Christians

Plain people are Christian groups characterized by separation from the world and by simple living, including plain dressing in modest clothing. Many Plain people have an Anabaptist background. These denominations are largely of German, Swiss German and Dutch ancestry, though people of diverse backgrounds have been incorporated into them. Conservative Friends are traditional Quakers who are also considered plain people; they come from a variety of different ethnic backgrounds.

Old Order Mennonites form a branch of the Mennonite tradition. Old Order are those Mennonite groups of Swiss German and south German heritage who practice a lifestyle without some elements of modern technology, still drive a horse and buggy rather than cars, wear very conservative and modest dress, and have retained the old forms of worship, baptism and communion.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Russian Mennonites</span> Ethnic group

The Russian Mennonites are a group of Mennonites who are the descendants of Dutch and North German Anabaptists who settled in the Vistula delta in West Prussia for about 250 years and established colonies in the Russian Empire beginning in 1789. Since the late 19th century, many of them have emigrated to countries which are located throughout the Western Hemisphere. The rest of them were forcibly relocated, so very few of their descendants currently live in the locations of the original colonies. Russian Mennonites are traditionally multilingual but Plautdietsch is their first language as well as their lingua franca. In 2014, there were several hundred thousand Russian Mennonites: about 200,000 live in Germany, 74,122 live in Mexico, 150,000 in Bolivia, 40,000 live in Paraguay, 10,000 live in Belize, tens of thousands of them live in Canada and the US, and a few thousand live in Argentina, Uruguay, and Brazil.

The Radical Reformation represented a response to perceived corruption both in the Catholic Church and in the expanding Magisterial Protestant movement led by Martin Luther and many others. Beginning in Germany and Switzerland in the 16th century, the Radical Reformation gave birth to many radical Protestant groups throughout Europe. The term covers radical reformers like Thomas Müntzer and Andreas Karlstadt, the Zwickau prophets, and Anabaptist groups like the Hutterites and the Mennonites.

The Beachy Amish Mennonites, also known as the Beachy Mennonites, are an Anabaptist group of churches in the Conservative Mennonite tradition that have Amish roots. Although they have retained the name "Amish" they are quite different from the Old Order Amish: they do not use horse and buggy for transportation, with a few exceptions they do not speak Pennsylvania Dutch anymore, nor do they have restrictions on technology except for radio and television. In the years 1946 to 1977 a majority of the Beachy Amish incorporated certain elements of revivalist practice, such as the preaching of the New Birth. The traditionalists who wanted to preserve the old Beachy Amish ways then withdrew and formed their own congregations. Today they are known as Midwest Beachy Amish Mennonites or Old Beachy Amish.

An ethnoreligious group is a grouping of people who are unified by a common religious and ethnic background.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Amish</span> Group of traditionalist Christian church fellowships

The Amish, formally the Old Order Amish, are a group of traditionalist Anabaptist Christian church fellowships with Swiss German and Alsatian origins. They are closely related to Mennonite churches, a separate Anabaptist denomination. The Amish are known for simple living, plain dress, Christian pacifism, and slowness to adopt many conveniences of modern technology, with a view neither to interrupt family time, nor replace face-to-face conversations whenever possible, and a view to maintain self-sufficiency. The Amish value rural life, manual labor, humility and Gelassenheit.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Christianity in Canada</span>

Christianity is the most adhered to religion in Canada, with 19,373,330 Canadians, or 53.3%, identifying themselves as of the 2021 census. The preamble to the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms refers to God. The French colonization beginning in the 17th century established a Roman Catholic francophone population in New France, especially Acadia and Lower Canada. British colonization brought waves of Anglicans and other Protestants to Upper Canada, now Ontario. The Russian Empire spread Orthodox Christianity in a small extent to the tribes in the far north and western coasts, particularly hyperborean nomads like the Inuit. Orthodoxy would arrive in mainland Canada with immigrants from the eastern and southern Austro-Hungarian Empire and western Russian Empire starting in the 1890s; then refugees from the Soviet Union, Eastern Bloc, Greece and elsewhere during the last half of the 20th century.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mennonites in Belize</span>

Mennonites in Belize form different religious bodies and come from different ethnic backgrounds. There are groups of Mennonites living in Belize who are quite traditional and conservative, while others have modernized to various degrees.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mennonites in Paraguay</span>

Mennonites in Paraguay are either ethnic Mennonites with mostly Flemish, Frisian and Prussian ancestry and who speak Plautdietsch or of mixed or Amerindian ancestry like the vast majority of Paraguayans. Ethnic Mennonites contribute heavily to the agricultural and dairy output of Paraguay.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mennonites in Uruguay</span>

Mennonites in Uruguay have been present since 1948. The Mennonites of Uruguay are made up of ethnic Plautdietsch-speaking Russian Mennonites, who are descendants of Friesian, Flemish and Prussian people, as well as Spanish-speaking Uruguayans of all ethnic backgrounds, that converted responding to the missionary efforts of the immigrants.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mennonites in Argentina</span>

Mennonites in Argentina belong to two quite different groups: conservative and very conservative Plautdietsch-speaking group of Russian Mennonites who are descendants of Frisian, Flemish and Prussian people, and converts to the Mennonite faith from the general Argentinian population. The Russian Mennonites are the third largest community of Mennonites in South America, with six colonies in Argentina. While Russian Mennonites have their own language and customs and live in colonies, converts to the Mennonite faith normally live in cities and speak Spanish and do not differ much from other Protestants in Argentina. Conservative ethnic Mennonites normally do not engage in missionary activities but look for a quiet and remote place where they can live according to their tradition. More liberal Mennonites are engaged in worldwide missionary work like other North American Protestant denominations. About one third of Mennonites in Argentina are conservative ethnic Mennonites who belong to the Altkolonier branch.

A Seeker is a person likely to join an Old Order Anabaptist community, like the Amish, the Old Order Mennonites, the Hutterites, the Old Order Schwarzenau Brethren or the Old Order River Brethren. Among the 500,000 members of such communities in the United States there are only an estimated 1,200 to 1,300 outsiders who have joined them.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Old Order Anabaptism</span> Branch of Anabaptist Christianity

Old Order Anabaptism encompasses those groups which have preserved the old ways of Anabaptist Christian religion and lifestyle.

Anabaptists and Jews have had interactions for several centuries, since the origins of Anabaptism in the Radical Reformation in early modern Europe. Due to the insularity of many Anabaptist and Jewish communities, Anabaptist–Jewish relations have historically been limited but there are notable examples of interactions between Anabaptists and Jews. Due to some similarities in dress, culture, and language, Amish and Mennonite communities in particular have often been compared and contrasted to Haredi and Hasidic Jewish communities.

References

  1. ↑ "Part I - Mormons as an Ethno-Religious Group - University Publishing Online". ebooks.cambridge.org. Archived from the original on 2020-05-16. Retrieved 2016-01-24.
  2. ↑ Hammond, Phillip E. (2000). The Dynamics of Religious Organizations: The Extravasation of the Sacred and Other Essays. Oxford University Press. p. 59. ISBN   9780198297628. 1. Religion is the major foundation of ethnicity, examples include the Amish, Hutterites, Jews, and Mormons. Ethnicity in this pattern, so to speak, equals religion, and if the religious identity is denied, so is the ethnic identity. [Footnote: In actuality, of course, there can be exceptions, as the labels "jack Mormon," "banned Amish," or "cultural Jew" suggest.] Let us call this pattern "ethnic fusion."
    2. Religion may be one of several foundations of ethnicity, the others commonly being language and territorial origin; examples are the Greek or Russian Orthodox and the Dutch Reformed. Ethnicity in this pattern extends beyond religion in the sense that ethnic identification can be claimed without claiming the religious identification, but the reverse is rare. Let us call this pattern "ethnic religion."
    3. An ethnic group may be linked to a religious tradition, but other ethnic groups will be linked to it, too. Examples include Irish, Italian, and Polish Catholics; Danish, Norwegian, and Swedish Lutherans. Religion in this pattern extends beyond ethnicity, reversing the previous pattern, and religious identification can be claimed without claiming the ethnic identification. Let us call this pattern "religious ethnicity"
  3. ↑ Voth, Norma Jost, "Mennonite Foods & Folkways from South Russia, Volumes I", pp. 35-55. Good Books, 1990. ISBN   0-934672-89-X
  4. ↑ Staples, and, John R.; Toews, John B. Nestor Makhno and the Eichenfeld Massacre: A Civil War Tragedy in a Ukrainian Mennonite Village.
  5. ↑ "Ethnicity". gameo.org.
  6. ↑ "World Mennonite Membership Distribution". gameo.org.
  7. ↑ "MWR : Stop using the term 'ethnic Mennonite'". mennoworld.org.
  8. ↑ "A Response from an "Ethnic Mennonite" – "Stop using the term" - Abnormal Anabaptist". Abnormal Anabaptist. Archived from the original on 2016-05-28. Retrieved 2015-07-19.
  9. ↑ "Mennonites or Ethnonites?". anabaptistly.
  10. ↑ "The Mennonite Game" at Mennonite Historical Society of Canada.
  11. ↑ "Just who are the 'Racial/Ethnic' Mennonites?". Young Anabaptist Radicals.
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