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Untitled [Astrid Von Schlachta on the Old German Baptist Brethren Charles D. Thompson, Jr.. The Old German Baptist Brethren: Faith, Farming, and Change in the Virginia Blue Ridge. Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 2006. 240 pp. $20.00, paper, ISBN 978-0-252-07343-4. Reviewed by Astrid von Schlachta Published on H-German (May, 2007) In this volume Charles D. Thompson tells the summed up" (p. xix). Today the Brethren still try story of the Old German Baptist Brethren in to practice their separation from "the world," and Franklin County, Virginia. The Old German Baptist to keep away from politics and public speaking. In Brethren are an old order branch of the German Franklin County, Virginia, the German Baptist Baptist Brethren, founded in 1708 in Brethren have 500 members still living in rural Schwarzenau (in the Grafschaft Sayn-Wittgen‐ communities. Thirty of the seventy-three dairy stein-Hohenstein) by Alexander Mack. Today the farms in Franklin County are operated by Old German Baptist Brethren are subdivided in fve German Baptist Brethren, many of the remainder groups: the Old German Baptist Brethren, the by members of the Church of the Brethren. Church of the Brethren, the Dunkard Brethren, In a rather lengthy introduction, the author the Brethren Church, and the Grace Brethren outlines the problems and the changes the Churches. The Old German Baptist Brethren, Brethren have to face today. The story of the which emerged from a split in 1881, make up ap‐ Brethren in the twenty-first century, similar to proximately 10 percent of the whole Brethren that of other old order groups, is marked by at‐ population. Although its members have not spo‐ tempts to maintain and tell the old story of perse‐ ken German since the turn of the nineteenth cen‐ cution and survival, while at the same time living tury, they retain the name and feel a great affinity a lifestyle that reflects and remains true to the an‐ with the term. A special identity is bound up in cient order bequeathed in the tradition of the the word "German," which is explained by one el‐ group. Both are central elements of group identity der of the German Baptist Brethren as follows: that constantly come under pressure due to "The name German had two reasons. One, be‐ changes in surrounding society. Economic and cause the church actually originated in Germany. agricultural innovations offer new possibilities Another is the word German means a family. It that often present themselves via the allure of means children of the same parent or cousins. So larger markets and chances for expansion. The it really means 'brethren,' when you get it all H-Net Reviews consequence is that many Brethren have left tra‐ members. The interviews, recorded in 2001 and ditional agriculture, a process that has threatened 2002, illustrate the tension between tradition and to wipe out older traditions and values, such as modernity the Brethren face today. These tensions mutual aid in cases of hardship or illness, in some are also portrayed by the interview partners who communities. The author emphasizes repeatedly come from outside the community. The interviews the blessings of traditional Brethren community. offer interesting, illuminating insights into the Under the title "Saints in the Wilderness," life, thinking, and faith of the Brethren. The domi‐ Thompson turns to the history of the Old German nant role economy and agriculture play in the Baptist Brethren, a group with origins in central lives of the Brethren is developed; additionally, Germany under Alexander Mack. From around the social environment and changes in it are pre‐ 1708 on Mack, who came from a Reformed back‐ sented directly and immediately. Unfortunately, ground, gathered a group of believers around the emphasis on economy and farming leaves lit‐ himself, who were called Schwarzenauer tle room for further discussions of Brethren spiri‐ Neutäufer due to their practice of baptizing adults tuality or the deeper substance of the faith and pi‐ by immersion. This special practice was also the ous practice. It appears, quite astonishingly, that reason why outsiders gave them the name "Die many Brethren seem to equate "faith" with "farm‐ Tunkenden," later in English "Dunkards." Howev‐ ing" and define their identity through it. This im‐ er, the sudden appearance of persecution forced pression may, however, be influenced by the Mack and his group to emigrate from Sayn- questions given the interview subjects. Wittgenstein-Hohenstein in 1720. They went frst Brethren life today is characterized by many to Frisia, and in 1729 they left the Reich for Penn‐ tensions between the strong emphasis on commu‐ sylvania. At the same time, another group of nity and family inside the group and influences Brethren had emerged in the Wetterau under the from the outside. Despite the fact that the leadership of Peter Becker. They were also forced Brethren in Franklin County still live in rural to migrate, frst to Krefeld and then, in 1719, to communities mostly occupied with dairy farming, Pennsylvania. Becker later became the frst changing surroundings have a strong impact on church elder of the Neutäufer in Germantown. their congregations. The impact of these changes Thompson traces the path of the Brethren into can be seen most obviously near the town of Virginia and into Franklin County and describes Roanoke, the largest city in Virginia's southwest. their problems during the Civil War and splits in Franklin County is now a popular recreational the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. area and land prices are constantly rising. Agri‐ Following this historical outline the author culture, organized in larger productive units than turns to present times, in a section titled "Wilder‐ the old methods allowed, as well as jobs in con‐ ness No More," in which he offers the reader in‐ struction promise a better, more profitable in‐ terviews with members of the German Baptist come for Brethren families. In addition, the exten‐ Brethren in Franklin County, as well as statements sion of Interstate 73, which cuts through Brethren of Brethren neighbors and business partners, land, affects Brethren agriculture. It is becoming recorded with the aim "to understand their own increasingly difficult for the Brethren to maintain words about what they believe about issues of their traditional understanding of farming, based faith, farming, change, in the past, present and fu‐ not only on the idea of producing necessary food, ture" (p. 41). The author tries to give the publicly but also as the point of departure for building a rather quiet and "silent" Brethren a voice by family and a religious community. In recent years telling their story through the personal words of many Brethren have switched from dairy farming to craft work, carpentry, and cabinetry. These new 2 H-Net Reviews developments and techniques, which are partly idence from more recent studies on themes such subsidized by the government and thus offer ad‐ as radical pietism, confessionalization, or the con‐ ditional incentives, stand in opposition to tradi‐ text of politics and law in the early eighteenth tional Brethren farming as an anchor of the com‐ century, is missing. This deficit might be ex‐ munity. Thompson calls this development "agri‐ plained by the general approach of the author culture without a community base" (p. xxxiv). who, as director of education at the Center for These changes also make an impact on the Documentary Studies at Duke University, aims to Brethren's family coherence, as men leave the document changes in environment and society by home for increasing periods of time. means of interviews and life stories. This scholar‐ The book portrays the Old German Baptist ly orientation and the personal background of the Brethren particularly in terms of economic and author as a descendant of a Brethren family cultural issues. The author confronts the reader might also explain the sometimes romantic de‐ with Brethren economy and farming and all its scriptions and conclusions found in the volume. difficulties in the modern world, contrasting The author points out the connection of his own Brethren beliefs with the modern "Wal-Martiza‐ story with that of the Brethren several times: tion" (p. 201) of the food industry. The clear "This book is one such telling, theirs and mine to‐ strength of this survey of Brethren life lies in the gether" (p. xii). immediacy of observation achieved by the inter‐ Despite these criticisms, the book is extremely views. The reader is provided with a broad survey enjoyable, written at times in a journalistic tone, of the history and the contemporary situation of and very readable. The volume provides a color‐ the Old German Baptist Brethren through the eyes ful description of the lives and thinking of its sub‐ of the Brethren and their immediate neighbors jects. Photos and maps add to and make visible and friends. Thus, the book opens up a wide feld the picture the reader gets of the Brethren life. of perception, of remembrance and recollection, The book confronts modern people with values and a personal sense of the contemporary dis‐ emanating from Brethren tradition, while at the crepancy between tradition and modernity. But same time confronting these values with modern this strength constitutes on the other hand the ideas of individualism and arbitrariness. principal weakness of the book, because the au‐ thor only slightly expounds on the problems of his approach, method, and theory. His reliance on oral history is not questioned despite the difficul‐ ties particular to these types of sources. From the standpoint of a historian, this approach becomes particularly problematic when Brethren recount the movement's beginnings in the eighteenth-cen‐ tury Reich and this account is integrated into the general narrative of Brethren history without fur‐ ther comment. Authorial consultation of the liter‐ ature on critical analysis of sources regarding col‐ lective and personal memory would have added to the scholarly profundity of the book.
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