Preservings $20 No. 25, December, 2005 - Plett Foundation

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Adolf Ens, Becoming a National Church: A History of the Conference of Mennonites in Canada (CMU Press, Winnipeg, Manitoba, 2004), 258 pages. Reviewed by John H. Peters, Steinbach, Manitoba In 1999, the Heritage Committee of the Conference of Mennonites in Canada began the important work of publishing the biographies of two of its long serving leaders, J.J. Thiessen and David Toews. Following the publication of those works in 2001 and 2002 respectively, it commissioned this book in order to document and preserve the story of the Conference of Mennonites in Manitoba from its inception until its evolution into the Mennonite Church Canada in 1999. Ens has done a masterful job of telling the story. As he states at the outset, the problem was not one of lack of material – there exists a vast body of information about the Conference and its member churches – it becomes instead a matter of determining what should be used. Even with what must have been a difficult selection process there is an immense amount of information in this book. The Heritage Committee’s direction from the outset was to have “this be as much about the congregations that make up the Conference as about the Conference as an institution.” He has done this effectively throughout the book. This in itself will make interesting reading for anyone who is a member or has connections to the Conference. There is some risk in telling the each congregation’s story. Not all of them are happy ones. Ens does not avoid the delicate or uncomfortable situations. He handles them objectively and sensitively and offers little editorial comment. Even serious differences of opinions between congregations are handled head-on but with gentleness. Especially notable are his observations about the tensions between the 1920’s immigrants and those who were already in Canada, the debate about alternative service during the Second World War and the more recent discussion about abortion or sexual orientation. He probably understates some of the intense debate and dissension which has been generated over these and other issues, but he certainly does not avoid them. While the bulk of this book deals with historical figures, dates and statistics, it is much more than just dry information. His wisdom and genuine understanding of how organizations function and how people interact, seems to permeate the pages of this book. He shows empathy for the Bishops and Elders of the early conference who felt their influence slip away as the congregations moved toward more democratic decision-making rather than the hierarchical structure they were used to. He is able to dispassionately, yet accurately, describe the turbulent period of the late 1960’s when most of society’s (and the Church’s) beliefs and structures were being challenged. The description of the growing influence of women in the Conference and the challenges they faced is given prominence. So are aboriginal and justice issues. 94 - Preservings No. 25, December 2005 Reviews Above all there is an optimistic tone to this work. One senses the author’s joy as he describes the positive way in which the conferences joined together. It was done with a great deal of planning, discussion and prayer. While he expresses some sadness in reporting the loss of congregations who have withdrawn from the conference for various reasons, there is also hope that the remaining congregations will be unified in furthering God’s Kingdom in a powerful way. This is a history book, certainly, but it is more than a simple compilation of facts and figures. It is a scholarly, insightful telling of who we are as congregations striving toward the same end. Much has happened since the first conference session at Hochstadt in 1903 and this work documents it well. It will serve, no doubt, as an invaluable resource to Mennonite scholars, historians and those who are simply interested in learning more about their past. __________ Rudy P. Friesen with Edith Elisabeth Friesen, Building on the Past: Mennonite Architecture and Settlements in Russia/Ukraine (Winnipeg: Raduga Publications, 2004), pp. 742 plus index; $45, pb. Reviewed by Adolf Ens, Winnipeg, Manitoba. Readers familiar with Friesen’s 1996 book Into the Past will be delighted with this greatly enlarged and improved new volume. In photographs and concise writing it tells an often neglected part of the story of Mennonite life in fourteen former colonies in Ukraine, as well as on numerous estates and several forestry camps and urban centres. In addition, Friesen has compiled perhaps the most comprehensive directory of former Mennonite settlements in Ukraine available. After providing a brief historical context for Mennonite life in southern Russia and the USSR, Friesen identifies five stages in the development of Mennonite architecture and building practises. The “settlement” stage (1789-1835) ends with the arrival of the last larger group of immigrants into Chortitza and Molotschna colonies. The division between the “progress” and “flowering” stages is slightly more arbitrarily set at 1880 – the end of the first major emigration of Mennonites from Russia and the end of a decade of significant reforms within Russia. The long “disintegration” stage begins with the outbreak of World War I and continues until the end of the century with a “recovery” stage – “remembering and rebuilding” – beginning in 1999. An overview of each of the colonies is provided before the more detailed identification and description of significant buildings in many of the villages. The photographs cover a wide range of buildings: homes, schools, churches, business and factory structures, medical and welfare institutions. Earlier books, such as Gerhard Lohrenz’s Heritage Remembered and Walter Quiring’s Als Ihre Zeit Erfüllet War, had preserved many building photos. But they provided little more than a bare bones identification of each. Friesen’s training as architect and understanding of building styles provides a wealth of insight into function and aesthetics of this aspect of Mennonite history in Russia. A good number of the photos were taken in the early 1900s, or even late 1800s, when the buildings were relatively new. Many more were taken in the 1990s, deep into the period of “disintegration.” A considerable number are even later, in the present century. Many of the later pictures are taken with high quality optics and focus on aspects of detail lacking in earlier collections. The reader thus gets a “depth perception” of how Russian Mennonites built: materials used, architectural styles, function and durability. In many cases Friesen also traces the changes in use to which a building was adapted over time. In addition to its main focus on buildings, the book will prove very helpful to “tourists” visiting Russia to look for remnants of their forbears’ past. To aid in finding a place, Friesen provides lists of former Mennonite villages and their current Russian or Ukrainian names. Lists of cemeteries, with names and “tombstone data” of persons for whom a gravestone survives, will aid many in making personal family connections. Published historical information on Mennonites who lived in urban centres or on estates is still relatively sparse and anecdotal, although several new publications in this area are in progress. Friesen describes thirty plus estates and provides some building photographs for most. The chapters on urban Mennonites and on the forestry camps are quite short. However, the links he makes between these two Mennonite “communities” and the main body of “colony” Mennonites, is very helpful. Thirty pages of sources and credits allows readers to track down most of the photographs and other illustrations used, although it takes a bit more effort than the more familiar footnote/endnote system does. The index similarly allows readers to find what they are looking for, but inconsistencies in its structure make it awkward. For example, under “mills” a sub-list identifies almost 20 individual photos. Each of these mills also has its separate entry by owner. Under “school buildings,” on the other hand, only special schools are listed. For secondary or elementary schools, one has to find the appropriate entry (“village schools” for elementary) to find a list that provides only page numbers without the name of each school. But these are minor technical criticisms. This is a significant volume in the slowly growing number of books dealing with social and economic history of the Mennonite experience in Russia and the USSR. Anyone travelling to Ukraine to visit former Mennonite areas should consider this book a must. But the enormous popularity of the picture books of Lohrenz and Quiring in an earlier generation suggests that Building on the Past will appeal to many who made such a trip before these good new resources were available or who cannot go. It also moves Mennonite historiography forward in considering the various influences on the Russian Mennonite community in their architecture and material culture.
George K. Epp. Geschichte Der Mennoniten In Russland. Band I. Deutsche Täufer in Rubland. Logos-Verlag, Lage, 1997. Band II. Die Gemeinschaft zwischen Fortschritt und Krise (1820-1874), Logos-Verlag, Lage, 1998. Band III. Neues Leben in der Gemeinschaft “Das Commonwealth der Mennoniten”(1871-1914). Logos-Verlag, Lage, 2003. Reviewed by Henry Schapansky, British Columbia This is a three-volume history of the Russian Mennonites, written in German, and published in Germany, although the writer, George K. Epp (1924-1997) was a Canadian. It covers the period from the first settlements to about 1910. The Volhynian and central Polish Mennonite settlements are not included, though they were under Russian control for most of the period covered by this work. On the other hand, the Volga and daughter colonies are included. Written in German, its main appeal will be to German academics. In view of the rather high cost per volume, it is doubtful whether it will appeal to German Umsiedler, or to Latin American Mennonites. Nor, perhaps does this work have much of importance to say to them. Indeed, the three volumes could have been combined into two or even one. That this was not done likely had to do with logistics, since the writing took place over an extended period of time with the last two volumes appearing posthumously. Each volume is a rather slim, attractive, wellbound book, with a good layout, useful heading, and a clear and concise use of language. Tables are used to present some of the data. The Old Colony and the Hutterites get good coverage, which is rare in works of this kind, and the Mennonite Brethren are viewed from a neutral stance. Epp seems to favour a pluralistic Mennonite religious society. Nonetheless, he continues in the footsteps of the nineteenth century writers and historians, and therefore the work is somewhat lacking in insight and originality. The author relies heavily on past generations of writers and historians, on Russian as well as Mennonite academics. Thus events are viewed in terms of the values of contemporary and past academics. The nature of the Gemeinde and the role of Mennonite faith in the historical context of Russia is not explored nor taken into consideration. A main theme of this work is that religious and civil spheres should be completely separated for progress and advancement. Although this is a necessary good, it is an ideal perhaps not shared by all Mennonites. A positive feature of this work is that the political and social conditions forming the background to the Russian Mennonites are explored. Mennonites are given a context within the historical events, something not found in some earlier works. Thus Russian government’s policies and changes are related well to the Mennonites. Volume I covers the early Russian period to about 1820. A very brief outline of earlier Mennonite history is followed by a much lengthier exposition of Russia’s colonization policies in respect of the newly annexed territories of New Russia and the Volga region. The Potemkin settlement projects are given a full chapter. In describing the early years of the Old Colony, Epp closely follows the accounts of Peter Hildebrandt and D.H. Epp, disappointingly so. Epp points out that Ältester David Epp was opposed by a significant group in the Old Colony on the grounds that leadership characteristics and a good example were wanting. Likely so, but the struggle between “progressives” and traditionalists transcended the personalities involved. As with Jacob Ens in the Molotschna, a poor choice in the selection of Ältester did not mean the idea of Gemeinde, or Mennonite faith and ideals as applied to community life, were discredited. Both Epp and Ens should likely have been dismissed from office. There was in fact a movement in the Old Colony to remove Epp). However, given the existence of a Co-Ältester, a relatively strong Lehrdienst, Epp’s long absence of two years, and his early subsequent death, the issue of suitability was less critical in Epp’s case than in the case of Ens. A lengthy chapter on the early Molotschna follows. The author’s overall unconcern with Gemeinde issues is reflected in the uncritical use of material from other writers. For instance, perhaps a minor point, Epp again repeats a mistake in regard to the election of Jacob Fast, incorrectly named as Jacob Vogt (p. 147), as Lehrer in 1805 (later second Ältester in the Molotschna).1 The volume concludes with an overview of economic and social progress in this early period. Volume II covers the period 1820-1870, a time of crisis and “progress”— the “Cornies era” and the Crimean war, and the aftermath of both. The strength of this volume lies in the connections made between external events and the Mennonite colonies. The crises themselves are introduced in table form, and include Cornies’ dictatorship, the forced breakup of the traditionalist Gemeinden in the Molotschna, the landless crisis, the formation of alien groups within the Mennonite community, and changes brought about by the Crimean war. The early influence of the Württemberg Pietists is well described, but perhaps not followed to its logical conclusion. The pietist bent of Cornies himself is not observed by the author. The subsequent analysis of the various crises favours the “progressives”, and indirectly the Pietists, as it seems that “progress” in material terms is, in the author’s mind, a superior goal. One could view, alternatively, all subsequent crises as provoked by Cornies, the Cornies era, and the Pietists. One might also have hoped that the author would have investigated the opposing and majority views of the traditionalists with some sympathy or neutrality. Needless to say, Epp gives Cornies almost unrestricted praise. Coverage of the Crimean war may be the most interesting part of this volume. Here Epp’s talent for tying external events, political considerations, and the Mennonite community together is displayed to advantage. Epp’s pro-Russian stance however, fails to consider that Russian aggressive imperialism was partly to blame for the war, and that the indigenous people of the Crimea, at the time of the war, were of Turkish/Asiatic ethnic origin. A good portion of the remaining part of the volume deals with the landless crisis, the additional divisions in the community represented by the Templers and the Mennonite Brethren, and changes brought about by the Crimean war—the abolition of serfdom and universal state service. The five chapters of Volume III, while ap- parently covering the period after 1871, actually contain a discussion of five somewhat separate topics. These are: civil/ Russian government administration, economic development, education, alternative service, and the daughter colonies. The first of these topics is covered with excellent reference to general Russian policy, particularly towards the foreign colonies. The chapters on economic growth and education, are unfortunately, in my view, too biased towards the “Cornie’s” school of thinking, and are rather uncritical of the negative effects of the Cornie’s era on the Mennonite community. With regard to education, one could validly question the so-called higher education that was made available under the auspices of the “progressives”. In the Molotschna for instance, the four Zentralschulen (High Schools) were completely dominated by persons of Templer/MB/ Pietist background, or persons with close family connections to Templers and Brethren. There is even evidence that the best qualified teachers were not always selected over poorer candidates, whose main qualification was politically correct (pietist) thinking. One could ask, was the traditionalist reaction to “higher” education shaped by this circumstance, or did the Pietists come to dominate the schools because higher education was abandoned by the traditionalists. In view of the early presence of pietists in the higher schools, one could conclude that the former was the case.2 The author’s individual treatment of these five topics in the last volume, as opposed to integration into the general history of the prior volumes, may be a result of circumstances beyond the writer’s control. Nevertheless, by compartmentalizing these topics, rather than relating and connecting them to the crises of the prior volume, I think Epp misses a very important cause and effect relation between Russian/Cornies intervention, “higher” education, economic change, and the crises themselves. This work invites comparison with other works of this kind. Examples which come to mind include the work of James Urry, the one-sided volume of P.M. Friesen, the book Mennonites in Russia, which is really a compendium of many articles, not all of which are equally useful, and the writings of Cornelius Krahn, as summarized in Smith’s History of the Mennonites. Epp has drawn on many of these sources. P.M. Friesen is extensively used, which is not surprising, since, Friesen’s prejudices apart, his work contains much valuable and untapped material and data. In respect of data, Friesen’s work is perhaps more useful. Urry’s work is perhaps more neutral. Epp’s work gives more coverage to the Old Colony and to the relationship between external politics and the Russian Mennonites. Endnotes 1 Fast and Vogt are often confused in the handwriting of the times. An original misreading has led to the perpetuation of this error. 2 As an aside, an example of the erosion of Mennonite fundamentals through the “progressive”/Orloff school of thinking was the Orloff Ältester Johann Harder. As a supporter of religious pluralism in the manner of Cornies by helping to break up the traditionalist majority, and as a supporter of so-called “higher” (pietist) education, he Preservings No. 25, December 2005 - 95
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~ Being the Journal of the D. F. Pl
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Delbert F. Plett, Q.C. 1948-2004
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Delbert was born March 6, 1948 in S
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Perhaps it was a force built on her
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Tribute to Delbert Plett at the vie
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D.F. Plett Historical Research Foun
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in Latin America and police raids f
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and sisters in Christ. Perhaps in t
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Revivalist-Fundamentalist-Evangelic
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people against questionable theolog
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Feature Articles: Seventeenth-Centu
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obey his Word. The third is a praye
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28 prayers for private use only, wa
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Francois de Knuyt, de Ries also art
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Dutch Mennonite historiography has
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In the same year the elders from Ha
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attitude of the Dordrecht elder. Wh
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trouw) was prohibited. Members were
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e found in The Bloody Theatre, or M
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the twelfth article of the Dordrech
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Pastor had accepted anti-trinitaria
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Page 61 and 62: Introduction Martin C. Friesen (188
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Preservings $20 No. 25, December, 2005 - Plett Foundation

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