Old Colony Mennonites in Argentina and Bolivia : nation making, religious conflict and imagination of the future / by Lorenzo Cañás Bottos.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Cañás Bottos, Lorenzo.

Contributor:

Louis A. Duhring Fund.

Series:

Religion in the Americas series 1542-1279 ; v. 7.

Religion in the Americas series, 1542-1279 ; v. 7

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Old Colony Mennonites.

Church history.

Argentina--Church history.

Argentina.

Bolivia--Church history.

Bolivia.

Physical Description:

xviii, 216 pages ; 25 cm.

Place of Publication:

Leiden ; Boston : Brill, 2008.

Summary:

This volume challenges received images of Old Colony Mennonites as 'living in the past' or perfect examples of community. Through the concept of the 'imagination of the future' this book presents an analysis of their historical transformations as the result of attempting to apply in practice their Christian ideals of building a community of believers in the world, while remaining separate from it. It argues that while they contributed to the territorialisation of the states that hosted them through their migrations from sixteenth-century Europe to late twentieth-century Latin America, they systematically rejected being incorporated into the nation through the building of a community of agricultural settlements that maintain ties across international borders. It explores how these imaginations are maintained and transformed through the analysis of schisms, conflict, and border management, together with a biographical approach to conversion narratives, and the religious experience.

Contents:

Preface: Arrival...and Departure xi

Representations of the Mennonites, Amish and Hutterites 4

The problem of the future 9

Chapter 1 The transformations of community 17

Persecutions, migration, and settlement 18

Contemporary organization of the Church of Christ 27

Authoritative texts 33

Identifying the Church of Christ 35

Regulating the Church of Christ: the Ordninj 42

Conclusion: Mennonite transformations 46

Chapter 2 Negotiating states, rejecting nations 49

Invitations, impositions, schisms and migrations 51

Excursus: those who stayed behind 64

Paraguay 65

Uruguay, Brazil, and Belize 67

Conclusion: the Mennonites' place in a world of nation-states 68

Chapter 3 Inter-colony dynamics 71

The founding of new colonies 71

Cross-border practices 77

Parish records 80

Conclusion: externalization of dissent, and cross-border strategies 83

Chapter 4 Articulations, connections and short-circuits 85

Perceptions of others 87

Controlled connections 88

Franz's balancing act 98

Short-circuits 102

Conclusion: isolation and the management of borders 107

Chapter 5 Careers in the faith 113

First movement: from the inside-out 117

The paths to riches, poverty, suffering and enlightenment 120

Second movement: from the outside-in 126

The road to Damascus 127

Conclusion: the reconstruction of the Christian self 139

Chapter 6 Scriptural practices 143

Writing dissent 145

Becoming worldly, becoming Christian 145

The Robore project 158

Interpreting the world and the Word 160

The Church of God 160

The Beasts of the Book of Revelation 163

Conclusion: alternative imaginations 166

Chapter 7 The handling of dissenters 169

Translations and transgressions 172

Letters to the Mennonites 175

Blessing as disguise 179

The uninvited host 180

Encounter with Sergio 182

The visitors 186

Conclusion: patterns in dealing with dissent 188.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages [199]-209) and index.

Local Notes:

Acquired for the Penn Libraries with assistance from the Louis A. Duhring Fund.

ISBN:

9789004160958

9004160957

OCLC:

173808139