Gelassenheit: Your definitions? Your praxis?

[Bootstrap]

How would you, as an Anabaptist, define Gelassenheit?

Is this an emphasized characteristic within your own fellowship?

As a Mennonite who has spent most of his adult life in Mennonite churches, is attending a Mennonite church, and preaches in it from time to time, let me share the first line of the Mennonite Confession of Faith.

Members of Mennonite Church USA share a Mennonite or Anabaptist perspective on matters of faith. It’s how we understand our commitment to following the way of Jesus Christ.

We do talk about Gelassenheit from time to time in our fellowship, we do not mean the same thing as, say, the Bruderhof.

I found a thread on Gelassenheit and posted to it when the concept came up in a thread on words not found in the Bible. I would like to be able to build on what others have said in this thread. I hope that I, a Mennonite, am welcome to participate in discussions of what Gelassenheit means on a Mennonite website. As far as I can see, people who are not Anabaptist have been welcome to participate in this thread. I could ask the thread to be split, but that just fragments the conversation and I don't see value in that.

I would hope that people in other faith traditions - including Catholics like you - are also welcome to share from their perspective. MennoNet is not meant to be an exclusive club for Mennonites. We don't need signs like this:

[MaxPC]

Another perspective from ten years after the Nickel Mines massacre of Amish girls. Gelassenheit is a goal for discipleship but in some situations, it's a hard-fought struggle to achieve.
The Happening: Ten Years After the Amish Shooting.
Acceptance, even forgiveness is never easy in extremely abusive and violent situations.

[Bootstrap]

We had some long discussions on Gelassenheit on the old Menno Discuss. It is a hard word to define even for German speakers. Yieldedness or submission or "letting go" are the simplest definitions.

I think it is easier to understand in German than it is to translate. I'm working mostly from modern German, but I think the basic word meanings here go way back.

It comes from a very simple, everyday word: lassen, to let, to leave, to leave something behind, to let go. As someone else pointed out, it is related to words like loslassen, to let go, or zulassen, to allow.

Gelassen can be used as a verb, an adjective, or an adverb. As a verb, it is simply the past tense of lassen in sentences like "I let it go". As an adjective, it means "calm", as in a person who is calm. As an adverb, it means "calmly", as in "he took it calmly".

Gelassen-heit adds a suffix that means more or less the same as "-ness" in English. Calmness, but also yieldedness. The sense of letting go is still there. This word is used at least twice in the German translation of the Martyr's Mirror, both times in the sense of accepting God's will as a martyr. One of these times, it is Raphel telling his wife that as he is being tortured and martyred, he hopes that she will be able to put all of this into God's hands so that she can inherit the crown of life.

We have this connection in English expressions like "let go and let God", but I can't think of an English word that combines these two senses this way. The difficulty is not so much knowing what the German word means, the difficulty is finding an exact equivalent in English. And perhaps that difficulty is greater because the word has taken on theological meanings in English, slightly different meanings in various Anabaptist traditions, and yet another meaning in Heidegger and secular philosophy. So when we ask what the word Gelassenheit means, we really do have to ask "to whom"? And if we want an overall understanding, the history of how it has been used is important.

I sometimes wonder if we would be better off using everyday English words that are easier to understand. I like "let go and let God", both as a means of prayer and a way to live life. It's certainly an area I could use a lot of growth in.

[MaxPC]

Interesting book I hope to read: Amish Grace: How Forgiveness Transcended Tragedy by Kraybill, et al.

For their refusal to dwell on the emotionally wrenching events, the Amish have received criticism. Personally I see it as a healthier way to avoid the temptation to grudges, anger and other emotional fallout. The concern for avoiding pride-driven attitudes of "it's not fair" seems much healthier to discipleship.

The world's way is to rehash anger and scream "this shouldn't have happened; it's not fair." The Amish Gelassenheit emphasizes forgiveness, an acknowledgement that life isn't always fair; and to realize that this should not impede our trust in God.

I'm looking forward to reading that book.

[Neto]

I do not speak German, nor am I of German descent, so it means little to me. Just a guess: I't when you didn't cut enough off of the windshield after chopping the top on your ratrod, and the glass is too high to fit into the opening.

[MaxPC]

I do not speak German, nor am I of German descent, so it means little to me. Just a guess: I't when you didn't cut enough off of the windshield after chopping the top on your ratrod, and the glass is too high to fit into the opening.

[Sudsy]

I sometimes wonder if we would be better off using everyday English words that are easier to understand. I like "let go and let God", both as a means of prayer and a way to live life. It's certainly an area I could use a lot of growth in.

Reminds me of this little chorus -

Let the Lord have His way
In your life everyday
There is no peace
There is no joy
Until the Lord has His way
Place your life in His hands
Feel secure in His plans
Let the Lord
Let the Lord have His way

[Bootstrap]

Reminds me of this little chorus -

Let the Lord have His way
In your life everyday
There is no peace
There is no joy
Until the Lord has His way
Place your life in His hands
Feel secure in His plans
Let the Lord
Let the Lord have His way

Yes. And this one:

All to Jesus I surrender,
All to Him I freely give;
I will ever love and trust Him,
In His presence daily live.

I surrender all,
I surrender all.
All to Thee, my blessed Savior,
I surrender all.

All to Jesus I surrender,
Humbly at His feet I bow,
Worldly pleasures all forsaken;
Take me, Jesus, take me now.

All to Jesus I surrender,
Make me, Savior, wholly Thine;
Let me feel Thy Holy Spirit,
Truly know that Thou art mine.

All to Jesus I surrender,
Lord, I give myself to Thee;
Fill me with Thy love and power,
Let Thy blessing fall on me.

All to Jesus I surrender,
Now I feel the sacred flame.
Oh, the joy of full salvation!
Glory, glory to His name!

[Neto]

I sometimes wonder if we would be better off using everyday English words that are easier to understand. I like "let go and let God", both as a means of prayer and a way to live life. It's certainly an area I could use a lot of growth in.

This was really my point with my joke about the "glass being too high". Often when words from other languages are used, there is more "meaning" to the term than can be found in the literal meaning of the word in that language, what one might call "theological baggage". (also all of the Latin terms that are thrown around, like "sola scriptura".)

I know that we can sometimes do the same in English (like when Max called me out to clarify what I meant by the term "systematic theology"), but the foreign ones are worse, in that a non-speaker must take the extra step of attempting to understand the word or phrase first in its original (literal) meaning, then attempt to gain an understanding of all of the extra meaning that has been attached to it along the years.

[Swiss Bro]

I found two other examples of the use of the word in German translations:

Proverbs 14;30 in the Neue Evangelistische Übersetzung

Gelassenheit hält auch den Körper gesund, / doch Leidenschaft ist Knochenfraß.

The Neue Evangelistische is a "free" translation. The more literal translations use "Ein gelassenes Herz" instead (Elberfelder). Luther translates "ein gütiges Herz" which is really not the same thing.

Interesting in the context of this thread is that Leidenschaft (passion) is used as the contrary / opposite of Gelassennheit.

Proverbs 15;4 in the revised Elberfelder:

Gelassenheit der Zunge ist ein Baum des Lebens, aber Falschheit in ihr ist Zerbruch des Geistes.

The unrevised Elberfelder used "Lindigkeit der Zunge" but Lindigkeit is a word nobody uses anymore today. Luther had "eine heilsame Zunge", again somewhat off the mark if you ask me.