Mennonite Weekly Review

On my desk is Testing Faith and Tradition, written by a team of European Mennonites, published by Good Books and co-published with Pandora Press, 2006, 324 pages, $11.95. This is the Europe volume of the Global Mennonite History series. In 2003 the Africa volume launched the series.

Although Europe is the birthplace of the Mennonite church, the authors note that “now the times have changed.” Until well into the 20th century, the typical Mennonite was Caucasian, spoke German or some variation, and traced ancestors back to Europe. Now, typical Mennonites live in the southern hemisphere and speak a multitude of languages. The “southern churches” of Africa, Asia, and Central/South America today comprise at least 63 percent of world Mennonite membership. Leading off with the Africa volume, rather than Europe, was symbolically appropriate.

The European authors acknowledge that Europe’s role has shrunk. Membership is reduced. But that does not diminish our interest, especially to readers in America, who share Europe’s history of “northern hemisphere Mennonitism.” It is instructive to see how Europe has faced problems similar to ours.

This book emphasizes the story from 1850 to the present. An opening chapter by Diether Götz Lichdi, gives a short overview of Anabaptist-Mennonite history from 1525 to 1800. The following chapters cover more recent history. “The Political, Economic, Social and Religious Context” by Claude Baecher; the Netherlands by Annelies Verbeek and Alle G. Hoekema; Germany by James Jacob Fehr and D.G. Lichdi; Switz­erland by D.G. Lichdi; France by D.G. Lichdi; Russia by John N. Klassen; “Mission Efforts in Europe” by Neal Blough; and “Current Mennonite Life” by Ed van Straten. Hanspeter Jecker and Alle G. Hoekema provide a preface and epilogue.

The writers emphasize themes that reflect European history as a whole, especially urbanization, nationalism, secularization and acculturation to the larger society. The chapters on the Netherlands and Germany show how Mennonites became good citizens of the nation by participating freely in society, with some loss of their Mennonite distinctiveness. The teaching to be “strangers and pilgrims” in the world (I Peter 2:11) “was no longer taken literally but was spiritualized.”

Russia shows a different pattern. Here Mennonites built a closed life of their own and “did not accommodate themselves to the culture.” In 1871 when a Mennonite delegation went to St. Petersburg to conduct government business, they could not speak Russian. “That is a sin,” the government official exclaimed.

These European topics of nationalism, secularism and acculturation differ from the themes of the earlier Africa volume, where considerable attention was given to relating Christianity to traditional African culture, ancestral spirits and tribalism.

The European authors have tackled some new topics ordinarily downplayed, including diversity, new Mennonites and World War II. The war divided Mennonites in Europe and put them on opposing sides. Some Mennonites collaborated with the Nazis, leading to questions of dealing with “fellow-travelers, traitors, foes and cowards.” Speaking and writing freely about this topic was “one of the last taboos facing our church.”

Testing Faith and Tradition is an excellent addition to the Global Mennonite History Series. It helps us to place Mennonite history into the context of world history.

Keith Sprunger is Oswald H. Wedel Professor of History Emeritus at Bethel College in North Newton, Kan.