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Mennonites, Revivalism, Modernity—1683–1850

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  28 July 2009

Theron F. Schlabach
Affiliation:
Mr. Schiabach is professor of history in Goshen College, Goshen, Indiana.

Extract

In his Anti-Intellectualism in American Life, Richard Hofstadter portrayed eighteenth- and nineteenth-century revivalism in America as part of a “revolt against modernity.” Others, however, have suggested the opposite. For instance, Timothy Smith in his Revivalism and Social Reform saw revivalism as fundamental to much nineteenth-century American benevolence, a progenitor of the very social gospel that Hofstadter associated with modernity. And Donald G. Mathews saw in the Second Great Awakening of 1780 to 1830 an “organizing process” that fostered institutional structuring, mobilization of people for action, and their nationalization—ingredients central to theories of modernization, although Mathews himself did not use the term.1

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © American Society of Church History 1979

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References

1. Hofstadter, Richard, Anti-Intellectualism in American Life (New York, 1963), pt. 2;Google ScholarSmith, Timothy, Revivalism and Social Reform in Mid-Nineteenth Century America (New York, 1957), chaps. 9–13;Google ScholarMathews, Donald G., “The Second Great Awakening as an Organizing Process, 1780–1830: An Hypothesis,” American Quarterly 21 (Spring 1969): 2343.Google Scholar Modernization theory referred to herein derives from basic readings of Max Weber, David Apter, S. N. Eisenstadt, Marion Levy Jr., Alex Inkeles and David H. Smith, Mary Douglas, Peter Berger, Joseph Gusfield, Clifford Geertz, and others. Writings that were especially helpful in applying theory were Winter, Gibson, Religious Identity: A Study of Religious Organization (New York, 1968);Google ScholarHarrison, Paul M., Authority and Power in the Free Church Tradition: A Social Case Study of the American Baptist Convention (Princeton, 1959);Google Scholar and two by Brown, Richard D., “Modernization and the Modern Personality in Early America, 1600–1865: A Sketch of a Synthesis,” Journal of Interdisciplinary History 2 (Winter 1972): 201228,Google Scholar and Modernization: the Transformation of American Life, 1600–1865 (New York, 1976).Google Scholar

2. See my Gospel Versus Gospel: Missions and the Mennonite Church, 1863–1944 (Scottdale, PA, 1979), chap. 1;Google Scholar“Revielle for die Stillen im Lande,” The Mennonite Quarterly Review 51 (07 1977): 213226Google Scholar (hereafter cited as MQR); and “The Humble Become ‘Aggressive Workers’,” MQR 52 (04 1978): 113126.Google Scholar

3. See Frantz, John, “The Awakening of Religion Among the German Settlers in the Middle Colonies,” The William and Mary Quarterly 33 (04 1976): 267280;CrossRefGoogle Scholar and especially Sutter, Sem, “Mennonites and the Pennsylvania German Revival,” MQR 50 (01 1976): 3757.Google Scholar Amish Mennonite and Mennonite responses were sufficiently similar before 1850 to treat the groups as one for our purposes, for the Amish Mennonites at that time were not the same phenomenon as the branch existing today as “Old Order” Amish.

For United Brethren accounts, see Newcomer, Christian, The Life and Journal of the Rev'd Christian Newcomer… (Hagerstown, MD, 1834);Google ScholarGibble, Phares, History of the East Pennsylvania Conference of the Church of the United Brethren in Christ (Dayton, OH, 1951), pp. 3759;Google ScholarBerger, Daniel, History of the Church of the United Brethren in Christ (Dayton, OH, 1897), p. 163.Google Scholar

4. Critics often used the word “formalism” or “formality”; for example, see Methodist Magazine 6 (07 1823): 253.Google Scholar

5. Weber, Max, The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of capitalism (New York and London, 1930), pp. 44, 89, 144154, and 217, n. 2.Google Scholar

6. See Berger, Peter et al. , The Homeless Mind (New York, 1973), chap. 3.Google Scholar

7. Peachey, Paul, “Anabaptism and Church Organization,” MQR 30 (07 1956): 213228;Google ScholarKrahn, Cornelius, “The Office of Elder in Anabaptist-Mennonite History,” MQR 30 (04 1956): 120124;Google ScholarHarder, Leland, “The Quest for Equilibrium in an Established Sect…” (Ph.D. diss., Northwestern University, 1962), pp. 7892;Google ScholarDyck, Cornelius, ed., An Introduction to Mennonite History (Scottdale, PA, 1967), p. 117.Google Scholar

8. Krahn, Cornelius, ed., Mennonite Encyclopedia (Hilisboro and Newton, KS; Scottdale, PA, 19551959), 2:303304, 309311, and 4:111Google Scholar (hereafter cited as ME); Séguy, Jean, “Religion and Agricultural Success… French Anabaptists from the Seventeenth to the Nineteenth Centuries,” MQR 47 (07 1973): 181205, 221224;Google ScholarDyck, Mennonite History, pp. 36, 115;Google ScholarEisenstadt, Shumel N., Modernization: Protest and Change (Englewood Cliffs, 1966), p. 14;Google ScholarRush, Benjamin, “An Account of the Manners of the German Inhabitants of Pennsylvania,” Columbian Magazine 3 (09 1789): 2230,Google Scholar paraphrased and quoted in manuscript of a forthcoming book of colonial American Mennonite sources edited by Richard MacMaster, pp. 556–557.

9. On industry in Germantown, see Wolf, Stephanie, Urban Village (Princeton, 1976), especially pp. 1921 and chap. 3.Google Scholar

10. Lemon, James, The Best Poor Man's Country (Baltimore and London, 1972), pp. 22, 105, 4264, 98117.Google Scholar

11. Ibid., pp. 209–210.

12. Wenger, J[ohn] C., History of the Mennonites of the Franconia Conference (Telford, PA, 1937), app. 1.Google Scholar

13. Ruth, John, Twas, Seeding Time (Scottdale, PA and Kitchener, Ont., 1976), pp. 3134Google Scholar (Ruth's book is not the standard kind of scholarly history, but Ruth is a trained scholar; I have used many of the same sources he has, and I know him and his research methods in such a way that I consider his works as reliable as more typical “scholarly” works); ME, 3:116, and 1:668;Google Scholar MacMaster, forthcoming book, pp. 346–347.

14. Lemon, , The Best Poor Man's Country, chap. 6, especially pp. 173 and 216.Google Scholar Eastern Pennsylvania Mennonite Historical Library (hereafter cited as EPMHL) at Christopher Dock Mennonite High School, Lansdale, PA, has an exceptional collection of such account books; a published example is Keyser, Alan G., ed., The Account Book of the Clemens Family…1749–1857 (Breinigsville, PA, 1975).Google ScholarLandis, Ira, “Martin Mylin (Ca. 1675–1749),” Mennonite Research Journal 9 (04 1968): 1617,Google Scholar in part quoting Daniel Rupp.

15. Lemon, , The Best Poor Man's Country, p. 216; chap. 6; p. 185.Google ScholarLandis, , “Martin Mylin” pp. 1617;Google ScholarPennypacker, Samuel, The Autobiography of a Pennsylvanian (Philadelphia, 1918), pp. 1623;Google ScholarRuth, John, The History of Indian Valley and Its Bank (Souderton, PA, 1976), pp. 3563.Google Scholar

16. Sermon in MacMaster, forthcoming book, pp. 688–689. The lawsuit issue was important in an 1847 schism, and the majority took the conservative side; for accounts and sources see Wenger, , Franconia Conference, pp. 352359;Google ScholarPannebecker, Samuel, Open Doors (Newton, KS, 1975), p. 16;Google Scholar and entire issue of MQR 46 (10 1972).Google Scholar

17. The Journal of Henry Melchior Muhlenberg (Philadelphia, 19421943), 1:212Google Scholar; Durnbaugh, Donald,“Relationships of the Brethren with the Mennonites and Quakers, 1708–1865,” Church History 35 (03 1966): 4344, 46;CrossRefGoogle ScholarRuth, , 'Twas Seeding Time, pp. 2829, 111.Google Scholar

18. Durnbaugh, , Relationships of Brethren, p. 46.Google Scholar

19. Ruth, , Twas Seeding Time, p. 56;Google ScholarHershberger, Guy F., “A Newly Discovered Pennsylvania Mennonite Petition of 1755,” MQR 33 (04 1959): 143151.Google Scholar

20. Brock, Peter, Pacifism in the United States: From the Colonial Era to the First World War (Princeton, 1968), pp. 156166.Google Scholar

21. Quoted and briefly discussed in MacMaster, Richard K., “Neither Whig nor Tory: The Peace Churches in the American Revolution,” Fides et Historia 9 (Spring 1977): 12.Google Scholar The phrase “distressed brethren” was used by Congress. For an interpretation that differs from MacMaster's “neither Whig nor Tory” thesis, instead presenting Pennsylvania sectarian pacifists as “static loyalists,” see Young, Henry J., “The Treatment of the Loyalists in Pennsylvania” (Ph.D. diss., Johns Hopkins University, 1955), especially pp. 7480.Google Scholar

22. As general background for this observation, see MacMaster, “Neither Whig nor Tory.”

23. Wenger, Franconia Conference, app. 4.

24. Ibid.

25. Young, , “Treatment of Loyalists,” p. 143.Google Scholar

26. Ruth, , 'Twas Seeding Time, pp. 102107, 116;Google ScholarBender, Wilbur, “Pacifism among the Mennonites… of Pennsylvania to 1783,” MQR 1 (07, 10 1927): 2340, 2148;Google Scholar Brock, Pacifism, ch. 6; MacMaster, “Neither Whig nor Tory”; Young, “The Treatment of Loyalists,” chaps. 3, 4, and 6.

27. See Young, , “Treatment of Loyalists,” chap. 6, especially pp. 292293, 301304.Google Scholar Young perhaps overstated the apoliticism of Plain People; in any case, he offered no hard evidence that Mennonites uniformly rejected voting and other political activity.

28. Ruth ('Twas Seeding Time) is eloquent on how problematic the revolution was for Mennonites. For their pre-Revolution feeling of “unlimited freedom,” see Wenger, Franconia Conference, app. 1.

29. The township study is found in MacMaster, Richard, “The Children of God and the Children of Men” (Paper given at Goshen College, Goshe, IN, 17 12 1976);Google Scholar comparison with Lehman, James, “The Mennonites of Maryland During the Revolutionary War,” MQR 50 (07 1976): 200229,Google Scholar might suggest that the Mennonites' willingness to pay the levies depended more on neighbors' attitudes than the reverse. The basic story of the Funk schism is in Wenger, , Franconia Conference, pp. 345351,Google Scholar and in Ruth, , 'Twas Seeding Time, pp.64, 81101, 158166, 177186, 195199;Google Scholar the basic primary source is Christian Funk, Ein Spiegel für Alle Menschen, or an English version, A Mirror for All Mankind (Reading, PA, 1813; Norristown, PA, 1814).Google Scholar The Sauer communication is in Durnbaugh, Donald, ed., The Brethren in Colonial America (Elgin, IL, 1967), pp. 407408.Google Scholar

30. Ruth, , 'Twos Seeding Time, pp. 206207.Google Scholar

31. Young, , “Treatment of Loyalists,” pp. 273293, 301304.Google Scholar Again, see my reservation stated in note 27.

32. Musser, Daniel, The Reformed Mennonite Church… (Lancaster, PA, 2d ed., 1878), pp. 240, 285.Google Scholar Samuel Martin and others to Hostetter, 30 June 1839; Abr. Roth to Hostetter, 15 October 1845; Benj. Eby to Hostetter, 10 January 1848, Jacob Hostetter letters, originals and translations at Lancaster Mennonite Conference Historical Society, Lancaster, PA.

33. David Metzler to Jacob Hostetter and Christian Herr, 2 September 1846, Jacob Hostetter letters.

34. Ibid.

35. For the preacher-farmer's reading, see Hollenbach, Raymond, comp., “Gehman Family Records and Papers,” copy at EPMHL, pp. 24, 2733, 26;Google Scholar Funk letters, Menno Simons Historical Library, Eastern Mennonite College, Harrisonburg, VA (for example, 24 Dec. 1837 or 1 July 1839 for the “nature's God” references); ME, 2:879880.Google Scholar

36. Bender, Harold, Two Centuries of American Mennonite Literature: A Bibliography… (Goshen, IN, 1929), pp. 123;Google ScholarWenger, J[ohn] C., The Mennonite Church in America (Scottdale, PA, 1966), chap. 9;Google ScholarFriedmann, Robert, Mennonite Piety Through the Centuries (Goshen, IN, 1949), pp. 223253.Google Scholar

37. Funck, Heinrich, Ein Spiegel der Tauffe… (Germantown, PA, 1744);Google ScholarBurkholder, Christian, Nuetzliche und Erbauliche Anrede an die Jugend (Ephrata, PA, 1804),Google Scholar or the English version used for this paper, Useful and Edifying Address to the Young, in Christian Spiritual Conversation… (Lancaster, PA, 1857), pp. 179257;Google ScholarGodschalk, Abraham (or Gottschall), Eine Beschriebung der Neuen Creatur, and A Description of the New Creature (both: Doylestown, PA, 1838).Google Scholar For summaries of Funck and Godschalk see Hostetler, Beulah, “Fraconia Mennonite Conference and American Protestant Movements, 1840- 1940” (Ph.D. diss., University of Pennsylvania, 1977), pp. 2122, and 138151;Google Scholar and Friedmann, , Mennonite Piety, pp. 232233, 239244.Google Scholar

38. Dock, Christopher, Eine Einfaltige und Gründlich Abgefasste Schulordnung… (Germantown, PA, 1770);Google ScholarCremin, Lawrence, American Education… 1607–1783 (New York, 1970), p. 309;Google ScholarCurti, Merle, The Growth of American Thought (3d ed., New York, 1946), p. 15.Google Scholar

39. Document quoted in Funk, John, The Mennonite Church and Her Accusers (Elkhart, IN, 1878), pp. 4156.Google Scholar

40. Metzler to Hostetter and Herr, 2 September 1846, Hostetter letters. MQR 46 (10 1972): 363, 345Google Scholar; Ruth, , 'Twos Seeding Time, p. 185.Google Scholar

41. On the 1847 schism, see note 16. Michael Gingrich to Hostetter, 11 Nov 1834; Hörnly to Hostetter, 11 Nov 1834, Hostetter letters.

42. Burkholder, , Address to the Young, p. 183.Google Scholar

43. Ibid., pp. 188–189, 221–224.

44. Hostetter to C. Mardie, 11 Oct 1858, Hostetter letters.

45. Peter Nissley to John Funk, 22 Aug 1863, Funk papers, Mennonite Church Archives, Goshen College, Goshen, IN.

46. Spayth, Henry G., History of the Church of the United Brethren in Christ (Circleville, OH, 1851), p. 37;Google ScholarNewcomer, , Life and Journal, p. 183;Google ScholarHuber, Samuel, Autobiography (Chambersburg, PA, 1858);Google ScholarBoehm, Henry, Reminiscences… (New York, 1866).Google Scholar

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50. Berger, , Church of United Brethren, pp. 405413, 424437;Google ScholarDrury, , United Brethren in christ, p. 436;Google ScholarLawrence, John, The History of the Church of the United Brethren in Christ, 2 vols. (Dayton, OH, 1860), 1:337;Google ScholarSpayth, , History of United Brethren, pp. 220221, 229, 270271, 213216.Google Scholar

51. See note 2.