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The Hutterites in North America / Rod Janzen and Max Stanton

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The Hutterites in North America / Rod Janzen and Max Stanton Young Center Books in Anabaptist & Pietist Studies Donald B. Kraybill, Series Editor Two Hutterite sisters near a pond in Alberta. The Hutterites in NorthgG America Rod Janzen Max Stanton z The Johns Hopkins University Press Baltimore © 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: 978-0-8018-9489-3 (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 This page intentionally left blank Contents List of Figures, Tables, and Maps ix Preface xi Acknowledgments xix chapter 1. Communal Christians in North America 1 chapter 2. Origins and History 12 chapter 3. Immigration and Settlement in North America 33 chapter 4. Four Hutterite Branches 54 chapter 5. Beliefs and Practices 76 chapter 6. Life Patterns and Rites of Passage 108 chapter 7. Identity, Tradition, and Folk Beliefs 138 chapter 8. Education and Cultural Continuity 179 chapter 9. Colony Structure, Governance, and Economics 197 chapter 10. Population, Demography, and Defection 234 chapter 11. Managing Technology and Social Change 259 chapter 12. Relationships with Non-Hutterites 273 chapter 13. Facing the Future 295 viii contents 2009 307 Appendix: Hutterite gColonies in NorthG America, Glossary 321 Notes 325 Bibliography 347 Index 363 Figures, Tables, and Maps figures 10.1. Birthrate by Hutterite Leut 236 10.2. Hutterite mothers’ age at last birth 237 tables 2.1. Hutterites in Europe and North America 14 2.2. Hutterites in Europe 31 4.1. The Hutterite-Bruderhof relationship 69 4.2. Hutterite colonies 74 5.1. Schmiedeleut ministers’ previous colony positions 95 7.1. Surnames and ethnic backgrounds 140 7.2. Surname distribution in four colonies 143 9.1. Colony leadership structure 208 10.1. Hutterite birthrates 235 10.2. Hutterite surnames in public telephone directories 255 maps Hutterite colonies, 2009 10 Hutterite settlements in Europe, 1528–1879 30 Dariusleut and Lehrerleut colonies, 2009 63 Schmiedeleut colonies, 2009 70 This page intentionally left blank 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 t the Wilson Siding Hutterite Colony in southern Alberta, Ger- man teacher Henry Wurz walks quickly across the yard late on a Thursday afternoon. He has been working in the garden. Sport- Aing 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 congre- gation. 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 fe- males sing at the top of their lungs in a minor key. All of them, adults and children, sing without hymnbooks, following memorized tunes, often slur- ring notes, and emitting one of the most ear-shattering and otherworldly xii preface sounds that one will ever hear.g The hymnG 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 scat- tered across the northern plains states of the United States and the prai- rie 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 common- place in industrialized Western countries in the postmodern world. Hutterites are Old Order Christians who dress simply and maintain re- ligious 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 af- fect 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 Euro- pean 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 num- preface xiii bers, with high birth and retentiong rates. InG 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 Hut- terites 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 function on a daily basis. Fu- ture prospects are assessed as are areas where non-Hutterites might learn things of importance from the Christian communitarians. Hutterites view all of life communally, not individualistically. A Hut- terite character in the Frederick Manfred novel Sons of Adam puts it this way: “We are very much like the Dakota Sioux. It is not for nothing that we have settled in their land, land that was taken away from them by other whites. Like the Sioux, we strive not for self-expression or self-in- terest, but strive to understand how we are related to all beings and all things. All is one and one is all.”2 The Hutterites have created a society where all males and females, in all age groups, work together and commu- nicate openly in a highly verbal and relational community. On the grounds of the Hutterite colony, there is little holding back, little inhibition. At a colony east of Edmonton, Alberta, three-year-old Marcus Wipf walks into a neighbor’s house without knocking. When asked to sing, he quickly belts out five verses of a hymn without hesitation. He is comfortable with himself and with others, embraced and nourished by a community that provides security and gives him the freedom to express himself in a variety of ways. The day is warm, but Marcus is wearing a pair of gloves.
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