Gordon Barlow

https://www.quora.com/How-do-Hutteri...d-Amish-differ "Amish and Hutterites live simply with some separation from the world while Mennonites are typically in the world similarly to other Protestant denominations. Hutterites live communally in rural areas and typically use electricity while Amish live in family households and typically don't use electricity and travel by horse and buggy."
This is the difference, it seems.

bats

Maybe but I don't think so unless thinking that women being treated as equal is wrong.

dbd33

That's not true of Mennonites, at least not the 70hp and more commited variations of the religion. There are a few who have become detached from their communities and have regular jobs buf the males are generally hampered by not having been educated to read, write or perform arthimetic. Only the women are educated to that level.

Quora is, of course, a source less reliable than "man in pub told me".

Oakvillian

Mennonites are Anabaptist protestant Christians. There are many subdivisions within the Mennonite movement, broadly splitting Mennonite communities into Old-Order Mennonites (who eschew much modern technology), Conservative Mennonites (who hold to much of the same theology as Old Order adherents, likely adopt the "plain and simple" dress codes, but make use of electricity, cars, phones etc), and mainline Mennonites, who by manner of dress and adoption of technology are indistinguishable from the general population. There are plenty of Mennonite congregations integrated into society throughout urban and suburban Canada, as well as the more "obviously Mennonite" communities in mostly rural areas. Among mainstream Mennonites, in my experience (I know several) there seems to be little to distinguish their behaviour towards women, or towards those outside their religious group, from the bahaviour or attitudes of anybody else. I can't speak to the Old Order or Conservative Mennonite communities, as I don't really have any direct experience - that's kind of the point of the closed communities in which they tend to function!

There are other fundamentalist Anabaptist congregations, of course. Probably the most well-known are the Amish, formed in the late 17th century in Switzerland and south Germany as a result of a schism in the Mennonite community mostly around the practice of "shunning" (which followers of Jakob Ammann wanted to bring back into vogue after it had been largely dropped). The Amish subsequently suffered further schisms, especially among those who had moved to North America to escape persecution in central Europe, resulting in the large number of different Amish communities with different levels of integration into modern society. Mennonite doctrine, as far as I'm aware, still does not include the practice of shunning. I'm aware that there have been some efforts towards reconciliation of the various Anabaptist churches, but it's my impression that ideas are too entrenched for much progress to have been made there.

dbd33

I think "closed commuties" is too strong for Old Order and Conservative Mennonites. They don't live in colonies inaccesible to strangers but trade with local people of any stripe. The guy who delivers firewood here is a reasonably conservative Mennonite, he comes with a horse and cart. At the end of the street there's a more progressive family, they have a black minivan with wind-up windows (black vehicles with minimal electrical gadgets dominate car lots here). The minivan people whizz by multiple times a day hauling produce and products for sale.

Much construction work is conducted by Mennonites, working without safety harnesses and without OHIP. The child labourers did a great job on our barn roof, they came and went by horse and trailer though they were also allowed to travel to work in a van driven by a goy. They were fascinated by the light aircraft and gliders so I offered to buy them a flight. They couldn't take it because flight is blasphemy.

What I haven't seen for a couple of seasons is Mennonites harvesting corn with scythes and horse-drawn wagons. Perhaps they've fallen into the 70hp apostasy.

AdrianR

Lots of Mennonites, and Hutterites, in eastern Alberta.
I even came across a colony of Mennonites when I lived in Mexico - descendants of those who left Manitoba in the 1920's, attracted by cheap land, an assurance they would be left alone, and the right for 100 years to be the sole producer of 'Queso Mennonita' (a type of cheddar).

kimilseung

Can missionary work ever be anything else than self serving? Wouldn't it create more opportunities and provide more services, if the funding for these missions and missionaries was given directly to local tradespeople and local service providers? I know for some the answer to this is that the missionaries know what the locals need, better than the locals do.

Gordon Barlow

Yes, maybe, Kim. But missionary work of all kinds is a worldwide tradition of long standing. Politicians of all stripes in all countries prefer to create opportunities and provide services, over giving money to the beneficiaries. Do the missionary politicians know what their subjects need better than the subjects themselves? As an armchair-anarchist I would say "NO, NEVER!", but - sadly, perhaps - most people aren't anarchists. What do you reckon?

Gordon Barlow

Just as a matter of interest, Adrian, and before the thread grinds to a halt... whereabouts in Mexico? In case I ever get to Mexico again.