Sleeping preacher

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A sleeping preacher, also called trance-preacher, is a Christian, most often Protestant person who preaches, prophesies or addresses a public audience while "sleeping," that is, in a state of trance. [1]

Contents

History

The first reports of sporadic trance preachers, often children, are from the 16th and 17th century in Germany. [2] Immediately after the revocation of the Edict of Nantes in 1685, a resistance movement broke out among the persecuted French Protestants of the Cevennes in Southern France. This movement, in which trance preaching was relatively widespread, is known as the "prophet movement", the "French Prophets" or eventually as the "Camisards". It spread to England in 1706 and to Germany and Switzerland in 1711 where its adherents took the name Wahre Insprierte, that is, 'True Inspirationalists'. [3]

Amish sleeping preacher Noah Troyer lived three miles north of Kalona in Washington County, Iowa, which immediately adjoins Iowa County, where the Amana Colonies are situated, at the time the principal American establishment of the religious community of the Inspirationalists, also known as the Community of True Inspiration, who had brought trance preaching to North America. [4]

An article of the Herald of Truth reported on 15 May 1882 that Noah Troyer had preached together with John D. Kauffman (1847–1913), who was also an Amish "sleeping preacher", both in an "unconscious state", Kauffman after Troyer, each for about two hours. [5]

Today

The Kauffman Amish Mennonites, also called Sleeping Preacher Churches or Tampico Amish Mennonite Churches, are the only existing church that goes back to a sleeping preacher, namely John D. Kauffman (1847–1913). They are a Plain, car-driving branch of the Amish Mennonites. In 2017, the Kauffman Amish Mennonites had some 2,000 baptized members and lived mainly in Missouri and Arkansas. In contrast to other Amish Mennonites, they have largely retained the Pennsylvania German language and other traditions from the late 1800s. [6]

Examples

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Troyer is a last name which is widespread among the Amish, Brethren and the Mennonites. It is the Pennsylvania German form of the German last name "Dreier", "Dreyer" or "Treyer". Hans Treyer, an early Anabaptist leader, died as a martyr of his faith in Bern in 1529.

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The Noah Hoover Mennonites, called "Old Order Mennonite Church (Hoover)" by the Mennonite World Conference, and sometimes called "Scottsville Mennonites”, are a group of very plain Old Order Mennonites that originally came from the Stauffer Mennonites and later merged with several other groups. Today it is seen as an independent branch of Old Order Mennonites. The group differs from other Old Order Mennonites by having settlements outside the US and Canada and by attracting new members from other groups on a larger scale. They have more restrictions on modern technology than all other Old Order Mennonite groups. They are rather intentionalist minded than ultra traditional.

The Kauffman Amish Mennonites, also called Sleeping Preacher Churches or Tampico Amish Mennonite Churches, are a plain, car-driving branch of the Amish Mennonites whose tradition goes back to John D. Kauffman (1847-1913) who preached while being in a state of trance and who was seen as a "sleeping preacher". In 2017 the Kauffman Amish Mennonites had some 2,000 baptized members and lived mainly in Missouri and Arkansas. In contrast to other Amish Mennonites they have retained their identity over the last hundred years and also largely the Pennsylvania German language and other Amish Mennonite traditions from the late 1800s.

John D. Kauffman was an Amish Mennonite minister and later bishop who preached while being in a state of trance and who was seen as a "sleeping preacher". The Kauffman Amish Mennonites, a group with about 3,500 members, still adhere to his teachings.

Noah Troyer, was an Amish Mennonite farmer who preached while being in a state of trance and who was seen as a "sleeping preacher".

References

  1. Don Yoder: Trance-Preaching in the United States, in Pennsylvania Folklife 18 (Winter 1968/69), page 12.
  2. Aarni Voipio: Sleeping Preachers: a Study in Ecstatic Religiosity, Helsinki, 1951, Pages 41-42.
  3. Don Yoder: Trance-Preaching in the United States in Pennsylvania Folklife 18 (Winter 1968/69), page 15.
  4. Harry H. Hiller: The Sleeping Preacher: An Historical Study of the Role of Charisma in Amish Society in Pennsylvania Folklife 18 (Winter 1968/69), page 12.
  5. "Bro. Troyer". Herald of Truth . Vol. 19, no. 10. Goshen College Mennonite Historical Library. May 15, 1882. p. 152.{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: others (link)
  6. Sleeping Preacher Churches at Global Anabaptist Mennonite Encyclopedia Online.

Literature