mike wrote: ↑Tue Aug 01, 2023 6:22 pm
mike wrote: ↑Fri Jul 21, 2023 9:36 am
What sense does this book make to a follower of Jesus who knows nothing of the conservative Anabaptist tradition? Does it have any value to them at all?
I see I didn't get an answer to this question, so I'll expand on it a little. What sense does it make to someone completely unaware of the conservative Anabaptist tradition to advocate for the wearing of the Mennonite plain coat for example? Some of the practices of plain Anabaptists could appear to be completely arbitrary and lacking in any sort of biblical underpinning. Of what value are things like this to someone from outside our tradition, and what sense does it make to them?
Good question.
The short answer is that, to someone completely unaware of (for example) the habits and customs of Amish people, hearing about the clothes Amish people wear won't make too much sense to them. The answer, however, is that "Amish" or "conservative Mennonite" or what have you only makes sense in a context of knowing who these people are, having them as neighbours, shopping at their stores, interacting with them as customers, and so on.
Some of the practices of plain Anabaptists could appear to be completely arbitrary and lacking in any sort of biblical underpinning.
One of the premises of evangelical-fundamentalist (and most conservative Mennonite groups try to do this, but Old Orders groups generally do not) is that they think they have to find some Bible verse to prove why whatever they do is okay. A rather extreme example of this are Charity folks who torture out of some passage that double-layer garments (for women) are somehow ordained by the Bible.
I don't think is the correct approach at all, because the Bible (particularly the New Testament) is not intended as a law and as a code for living. Yet it is obvious the duty of the church is to figure out how to make practical application of what we are taught in the NT and live it in our daily lives.
Of what value are things like this to someone from outside our tradition, and what sense does it make to them?
I think they have value for people who decide to join a particular plain group. If my church thought it best for men to wear plain coats, then I would have one (if I could even figure out where to find them or how to make them) and wear one to church, or formal occasions, or wherever it is exactly they're supposed to be worn.
It may well be that some traditions have a rather shaky foundation (the plain coat, unfortunately, would be one of these, it largely being a rather new innovation and dreamt up as hopefully being analogous to the Christian woman's covering by those who were trying to maintain the concept of plain dress as the old Mennonite church became fundamentalist around 1900.) Those ones are going to be a little tougher for those outside our tradition to understand, but the biggest harm frankly comes when outsiders accept many of these traditions, only to watch them be gradually stripped away as their new church home gradually drifts to the world.
I'm not entirely sure what to do about all of this, but my first instinct is that most of "plainness" should not (a) involve clothing, and (b) of what does involve clothing, less than 51% should be women's clothing. Many other things can indeed be plain and should be: church buildings, Christian people's homes, yards, cars, and so forth.