The Hutterites in North America

389 Pages·2010·7.45 MB·English

by  Rod Janzen

YOUNG CENTER BOOKS IN ANABAPTIST PIETIST STUDIES
DONALD B. Kraybill, Series Editor
Two Hutterite sisters near a pond in Alberta.
The Hutterites in North America
Rod Janzen
Max Stanton
© 2010 The Johns Hopkins University Press
All rights reserved. Published 2010
Printed in the United States of America on acid-free paper
2 4 6 8 9 7 5 3 1
The Johns Hopkins University Press
2715 North Charles Street
Baltimore, Maryland 21218-4363
www.press.jhu.edu
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Janzen, Rod A.
The Hutterites in North America / Rod Janzen and Max Stanton.
p. cm. — (Young Center books in Anabaptist and Pietist studies)
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN-13: 978-0-80189489-3 (hardcover : alk. paper)
ISBN-10: 0-8018-9489-1 (hardcover : alk. paper)
1. Hutterite Brethren—North America. 2. North America—Church history. I.
Stanton,
Max Edward, 1941– II. Title.
BX8129.H8J35 2010
289.7′3—dc22 2009033024
A catalog record for this book is available from the British Library.
Frontispiece: Courtesy of Max Stanton.
Special discounts are available for bulk purchases of this book. For more
information, please contact Special Sales at 410-516-6936 or
[email protected].
The Johns Hopkins University Press uses environmentally friendly book
materials, including recycled text paper that is composed of at least 30 percent
post-consumer waste, whenever possible. All of our book papers are acid-free,
and our jackets and covers are printed on paper with recycled content.
Mammon is nothing else but what is temporal; and that which is another’s
is that which is borrowed, with which a man plays for a while like a cat with
the mouse. And afterwards he must leave it to somebody else,
and in the end his folly becomes evident.
—Hutterite sermon on Acts 2
Contents
List of Figures, Tables, and Maps
Preface
Acknowledgments
CHAPTER 1. Communal Christians in North America
CHAPTER 2. Origins and History
CHAPTER 3. Immigration and Settlement in North America
CHAPTER 4. Four Hutterite Branches
CHAPTER 5. Beliefs and Practices
CHAPTER 6. Life Patterns and Rites of Passage
CHAPTER 7. Identity, Tradition, and Folk Beliefs
CHAPTER 8. Education and Cultural Continuity
CHAPTER 9. Colony Structure, Governance, and Economics
CHAPTER 10. Population, Demography, and Defection
CHAPTER 11. Managing Technology and Social Change
CHAPTER 12. Relationships with Non-Hutterites
CHAPTER 13. Facing the Future
Appendix: Hutterite Colonies in North America, 2009
Glossary
Notes
Bibliography
Index
Figures, Tables, and Maps
FIGURES
10.1. Birthrate by Hutterite Leut 10.2. Hutterite mothers’ age at last birth TABLES
2.1. Hutterites in Europe and North America 2.2. Hutterites in Europe 4.1. The
Hutterite-Bruderhof relationship 4.2. Hutterite colonies 5.1. Schmiedeleut
ministers’ previous colony positions 7.1. Surnames and ethnic backgrounds 7.2.
Surname distribution in four colonies 9.1. Colony leadership structure 10.1.
Hutterite birthrates 10.2. Hutterite surnames in public telephone directories MAPS
Hutterite colonies, 2009
Hutterite settlements in Europe, 1528–1879
Dariusleut and Lehrerleut colonies, 2009
Schmiedeleut colonies, 2009
Preface
God does not want his children here on earth to live like cattle, donkeys
and oxen, which are only out to fill their bellies for themselves, without
concern for others.
—Hutterite sermon on Luke 3, circa 1650
At the Wilson Siding Hutterite Colony in southern Alberta, German teacher
Henry Wurz walks quickly across the yard late on a Thursday afternoon. He has
been working in the garden. Sporting a reddish beard and very dusty pants,
Henry says hello and invites us into his home, one of the colony’s many large
single-family residences, with five or six bedrooms and a full basement. Inside
the house, Henry glances at the clock, sees that it is almost time for evening
church, and quickly changes into plain black dress. Henry’s daughters gather in
the kitchen, waiting for a sign to begin walking to the church building. The
youngest girls wear head coverings and simple long dresses, but they are also
barefoot. This is a very hot day.
At the church service, minister Joe Wurz greets members of the congregation.
Then he names a hymn and chants the first line. In response about seventy
people sing out loudly and passionately, and one can see that they are being
transported into a different realm of reality. The hymn is long, with many verses
and lines, and there is no holding back as males and females sing at the top of
their lungs in a minor key. All of them, adults and children, sing without
hymnbooks, following memorized tunes, often slurring notes, and emitting one
of the most ear-shattering and otherworldly sounds that one will ever hear. The
hymn is followed by a short sermon, read from a collection of sacred writings
that are hundreds of years old. The meeting closes with prayer. With heads
bowed, all kneel reverently on the hard linoleum floor.
This is Hutterite life on any late afternoon. From south-central South Dakota
to northwestern Alberta, this is what Hutterite men and women do at the end of a
day of hard physical labor. A twenty-minute church service (the Gebet) precedes
the evening meal, giving Hutterite men and women an opportunity to reflect on
their lives, to worship God, and to regroup intellectually and spiritually. The late-
afternoon Gebet ensures that, whatever has happened during the day, there is
always a time set aside when members of the community come together to focus
on the meaning and purpose of their lives.
Today nearly five hundred Hutterite communities, or colonies, are scattered
across the northern plains states of the United States and the prairie provinces of
Canada. Since the sixteenth century, the Hutterites have lived communally,
sharing all of their material resources and maintaining as much isolation from
the rest of the world as possible. Having outlasted most other communal
societies, they provide a striking social and economic contrast and alternative to
the individualistic way of life that is commonplace in industrialized Western
countries in the postmodern world.
Hutterites are Old Order Christians who dress simply and maintain religious
and cultural traditions that are hundreds of years old. They speak a distinctive
German dialect, live in isolated rural areas, and manage change with careful
discernment and unapologetic discrimination. Hutterites honor the earth and
interact with the natural world as careful stewards of God. Uniquely adept at
interpersonal relations and conflict resolution, they use democratic procedures to
make the important decisions that affect their lives.
In this book we introduce a group of Old Order Christians who exude
confidence as well as humility. Hutterites refuse to be assimilated into the social
mainstream of the United States and Canada, and they do not vote or serve in the
military. They dress like nineteenth-century eastern European villagers and for
the most part keep to themselves. Yet Hutterites are some of the most hospitable,
generous people one will ever meet. They are also remarkably knowledgeable
about contemporary social, economic, and political developments. The
Hutterites also continue to increase in numbers, with high birth and retention
rates. In the 1870s, when they arrived in the Dakota Territory, 425 Hutterites
lived in three small communities. Today the Hutterite population exceeds
49,000.
Since the last major work on the Hutterites, John Hostetler’s Hutterite
Society, was published in 1974, many important changes have occurred. Our
book weaves research findings of the past thirty-five years together with our own
analysis of Hutterite beliefs and practices.1 Our descriptions and assessments are
based on twenty-five years of interaction with Hutterites at colonies in every
state and province where they have established communities. We review all
aspects of Hutterite life and view it from a variety of vantage points, discussing
negative and positive developments and describing how Hutterite communities