MennoNet.com

Books on Anabaptist History and Theology

What are your favorites?

I absolutely love the Hutterite chronicles, I’ve only read vol 1… I’m not sure if vol 2 was translated or not and I don’t know how to get it.

Ernie wrote: ↑Thu Mar 07, 2024 2:30 pm Books on Anabaptist History and Theology

What are your favorites?

I have some of Lester Bauman's books. They are quite thought provoking:
My Brother's Keeper: Congregational Brotherhood Relationships
The True Christian

Robert Friedmann's The Theology of Anabaptism

My current favorite is the one I am presently reading, by Marcus Yoder.

"Cathedrals, Castles, & Caves: The Origins of the Anabaptist Faith"

https://www.masthof.com/products/cathed ... 6151833643

I'm especially enjoying the book because I had opportunity to hear Marcus speak 2 weeks ago, at the Rosedale Network Of Churches Pastors Conference 2024 in Dayton Virginia.

His presentations were recorded:

There is a whole series of downloadable articles or books on the Kleine Gemeinde. (Not that I think anyone here is necessarily interested....)

The book The Mennonite Brotherhood in Russia (1709 - 1910) by P. M. Friesen is also available, in both the original German, and also in the much later translated English version. (I don't have the links handy, but can eventually find them again, if someone is interested.) This one is primarily a history of the first 50 years of the Mennonite Brethren church in "New Russia". (It can be tedious to read, with lots of names of both people and locations, running over 1000 pages if including the footnotes, some of which are extensive as well.)

There are other much shorter books that cover the MB history, some of which cover basic doctrine. For a more complete coverage of Scripture topics, I would suggest The Complete Writings of Menno Simons. I do not personally care for the Funk version, but it is now in public domain, so available on-line as a scanned PDF version (scanning errors not corrected). Martyr's Mirror is also available as a scanned (uncorrected) PDF version. The latter has received much more attention among the Amish than it has among my own people, although it is primarily composed of Dutch Mennonite history, with a bit of Swiss Brethren history. Of course the first section concerns early NT church history, staring in the Roman period. (I haven't read that section, so I don't know if it covers any OT church history - I just picked up at the "anabaptist" period.)

For a treatment on the State church vs pure church discussion, I suggest the book by Leonard Verduin (also the translator for the Menno Simons book version that is direct from Dutch to English), The Anatomy of a Hybrid. I don't agree with all he wrote there, especially in the first chapters, but it can be very thought provoking reading, and I think it offers some serious implications for Christians involved in secular politics. This book has been discussed here a bit. (I made extensive notes as I read through it, but haven't typed it all up yet.)

danfreed wrote: ↑Thu Mar 07, 2024 8:42 pm My current favorite is the one I am presently reading, by Marcus Yoder.

"Cathedrals, Castles, & Caves: The Origins of the Anabaptist Faith"

https://www.masthof.com/products/cathed ... 6151833643

I'm especially enjoying the book because I had opportunity to hear Marcus speak 2 weeks ago, at the Rosedale Network Of Churches Pastors Conference 2024 in Dayton Virginia.

His presentations were recorded:

He presented this 'series' at our congregation here in Holmes County some years ago, and I count him as a personal friend. (His father-in-law was one of my closest friends in our earlier years in our congregation.)

Soloist wrote: ↑Thu Mar 07, 2024 2:34 pm I absolutely love the Hutterite chronicles, I’ve only read vol 1… I’m not sure if vol 2 was translated or not and I don’t know how to get it.

It has been. Ring up the Hutterite colony in Altona, MN, and ask for their bookstore. They will likely direct you to a colony in Manitoba, which can help you.

That is how I got my copy. Was not cheap, although I forget how much I paid.

Neto wrote: ↑Thu Mar 07, 2024 8:56 pm For a treatment on the State church vs pure church discussion, I suggest the book by Leonard Verduin (also the translator for the Menno Simons book version that is direct from Dutch to English), The Anatomy of a Hybrid. I don't agree with all he wrote there, especially in the first chapters, but it can be very thought provoking reading, and I think it offers some serious implications for Christians involved in secular politics. This book has been discussed here a bit. (I made extensive notes as I read through it, but haven't typed it all up yet.)

If anyone is interested in Verduin's work but also wants something more specific to Anabaptist history, his book The Reformers and Their Stepchildren covers a lot of the same ground as Anatomy of a Hybrid but spends the bulk of its text observing the relationship between the magisterial and radical reformers of the 16th century.

I read stepchildren before hybrid and I was a bit disappointed at the amount of material covered twice across both books. For context, I believe stepchildren is a published collection of what were originally a series of lectures, probably conceived as a practical and specific educational application of his work in hybrid.

What I'm trying to say is, it might be a bit redundant to read both. If you want to read something that covers a bit more of church history, try hybrid. If you want something that zeroes in on the Reformation (and contains a lot more specific stories/examples from sources in the 16th century), read stepchildren.

Praxis+Theodicy wrote: ↑Tue Mar 26, 2024 10:06 am

Neto wrote: ↑Thu Mar 07, 2024 8:56 pm For a treatment on the State church vs pure church discussion, I suggest the book by Leonard Verduin (also the translator for the Menno Simons book version that is direct from Dutch to English), The Anatomy of a Hybrid. I don't agree with all he wrote there, especially in the first chapters, but it can be very thought provoking reading, and I think it offers some serious implications for Christians involved in secular politics. This book has been discussed here a bit. (I made extensive notes as I read through it, but haven't typed it all up yet.)

If anyone is interested in Verduin's work but also wants something more specific to Anabaptist history, his book The Reformers and Their Stepchildren covers a lot of the same ground as Anatomy of a Hybrid but spends the bulk of its text observing the relationship between the magisterial and radical reformers of the 16th century.

I read stepchildren before hybrid and I was a bit disappointed at the amount of material covered twice across both books. For context, I believe stepchildren is a published collection of what were originally a series of lectures, probably conceived as a practical and specific educational application of his work in hybrid.

What I'm trying to say is, it might be a bit redundant to read both. If you want to read something that covers a bit more of church history, try hybrid. If you want something that zeroes in on the Reformation (and contains a lot more specific stories/examples from sources in the 16th century), read stepchildren.

Thanks. I hadn't heard of the Stepchildren book.

Are there certain sections you would suggest for those who have already read Anatomy of a Hybrid? Do the chapter titles give a hint as to which parts are especially pertinent to 'anabaptism'?

EDIT: Thought I might find a review that gives the chapter titles, and found a PDF version!

https://www.standardbearer.org/wp-conte ... ildren.pdf