Customer Reviews (9)

Falling in Love with Esther Ayers
How could you not fall in love with Esther Royer Ayers after reading her stirring life story in "Rolling Down Black Stockings?" I know that my wife and I did. Perhaps it's because Esther and I had strong, dominant mothers who chose non-mainstream religious beliefs and practices over common sense to raise their children. Maybe it's due to the ghosts that haunted both of our adult lives because of how fear trumped love in our parent's decision making skills while we were growing up. Then again, it may be that as an author, I especially enjoy writers with a gift for words, engaging their readers with eloquent prose, poignant metaphors, and down-to-earth analogies.
Richard E. Kelly, Author of "Growing Up In Mama's Club"

A Perfect Memoir
Anyone approaching this genre, to either read or write memoir, should begin with this book.Ayers has everything it takes, solid storytelling, subtle humor, an objective approach that doesn't feel like the often used oh-woe-was-me attitude, and a strong premise: You're different--deal with it.

A "Foreign" World
This first-hand account of life in a cloistered community is very moving. What Ms. Ayres experienced growing up and how she was able to enter and adapt to main-stream society is a remarkable story. An enjoyable and amazing read.

A must read
Before this book, the only experience I have had with the Amish was visiting Lancaster, PA and sampling their crafts and food.It was fascinating to learn about the author's life and growing up in the Amish community.I learned many things from this book, somehappy and some sad and think it was very courageous of Esther Royer Ayers to share her story.I think it is a must read for anyone interested in other cultures.

A Candid Memoir
I thoroughly enjoyed Rolling Down Black Stockings, Esther Royer Ayers' candid memoir of growing up in the shackles of an Old Order Mennonite Church family.

I delighted at the young Esther's spirit of rebellion, and cringed at some of the humiliations forced upon her and her siblings in the name of religion.At times, I felt that the treatment of the children bordered on child abuse; i.e. forcing a bright, precocious child to "fail" in school in order to comply with church rules.

And although she finally developed the courage to move them all away from the community and the church, Esther's mother was herself unable to cope with life in the outside world without having one after another authoritative church as a crutch, probably because it felt familiar and comfortable to her.

Fortunately, Esther is finally able to throw off the hobbles of her early shame, and live freely and contentedly in the world, although it took a good deal of her adult life to reach that point.This book is not only Esther's personal story, but also a definitive history of a religion that remains a mystery to most of us.It's a story that has probably occurred, and still occurs, many times over.
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Product Description
A Mennonite Polity for Ministerial Leadership deals with the leadership structure at the center of congregational life.It addresses the relationship of ministerial leaders to congregations, conferences and denominations.For use by pastors and congregational leaders, this book can also be used for leadership training, churchwide discussion, and study in seminary courses.152 pages. ... Read more

Product Description
The art, architecture and furniture of Ontario's Mennonite settlers reflected the deep convictions of these law-abiding, profoundly religious and pacifist people.

Among the earliest settlers of Ontario's Niagara and York County regions, Mennonites brought to Canada a long rural tradition of building, furniture making and folk art. These ideas inspired the houses and farms they built and the production of a great variety of furniture, and informed the emergence of a style rooted in Germany and Pennsylvania, but clearly modified by the Ontario experience.

Mennonite Furniture is a well-illustrated examination of an unmistakeable nineteenth century Ontario style of domestic construction and ornament. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (3)

Excellent resource about Mennonites
I was given this book after I was converted in a Mennonite church in Maine as a part of a short discipleship class. This book is excellent in its clear and concise descriptions of what Mennonites believe on most important subjects in theology. The book contains ample endnotes when needed to further explain a concept from the basic statements given in the chapters. Anyone in the Anabaptist movement could also use this resource as a good discipleship tool or group study guide.

I have found myself going back to this book at times when considering my own doctrinal position to glean from the truths contained therein. I consider myself an Anabaptist and this is an excellent resource.

A wonderful resource
This wonderful little book is a highly readable explanation of the Mennonite faith. Prepared by theologians from two North American Mennonite groups (the Mennonite Church and the General Conference Mennonite Church), it is a work of thought that is practically a work of art. The book contains twenty-three chapters on the key articles of Mennonite faith; each article contains a statement of faith (e.g. "We believe that..."), Bible references, and a clear and concise commentary.

Overall, I found this book to be a wonderful resource. The people who prepared it have done an excellent job of presenting the Mennonite faith in a way that is understandable to everyone, regardless of their knowledge of who the Mennonites are. So, if you are a non-Mennonite who is interested in the Mennonite faith, or are a Mennonite who wishes to have a short but succinct statement of their faith, then I highly recommend this book to you.

What Mennonites Believe
This book provides the reader with the core values that Mennonites confess prior to becoming members of a Mennonite congregation.The book includes commentary and biblical references.Essential for any Mennonite or personwho wants to know what Mennonites believe. ... Read more

Product Description
Mennonite and Amish Folk TraditionsErvin Beck offers the abundance of Mennonite life: jokes, origin stories, trickster tales, and the Reggie Jackson urban legend, along with analysis of folk tradition in the context of Mennonite and Amish history, culture, and beliefs. Beck studies Mennonite and Amish paintings on glass, family records, and the concept of Mennonite relief sales as folk festivals. This is the first book to analyze such a wide range of expressive forms in Mennonite and Amish folk culture. Volume 43 in the Studies in Anabaptist and Mennonite History Series. ... Read more

Product Description
Loewen examines how the Mennonites' social structure and life goals accommodated societal changes and tells of three generations for whom the farm family was the primary social unit. The group's strategies of cultural continuity dictated that they adapt sensitively and carefully to the market economy and the outside world. Photos. Maps. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Interesting
During the first years of the Mennonites' sojourn in Russia, a small group splintered off of the Mennonite congregation (or Gemeinde). This small congregation (or Kleine Gemeinde) sought a more strict separation from the "worldly" culture that surrounded the Mennonites. During the subsequent years, the Kleine Gemeinde moved first from the Molotschna Colony to the daughter Borosenko Colony, and later on to North America; some settling in Nebraska, and more settling in Manitoba. This book traces the story of three generations of Kleine Gemeinde Mennonites, as they employed various strategies to maintain their distinctive identity - the generation that moved to the Borosenko Colony, the generation that moved to the New World, and their children who faced a future where open tracks of land were no longer to be found.

Overall, I found this to be an interesting book. The author obviously did a lot of research, and quotes often from the diaries of the people he writes about. Also, I thought that he did a very good job of maintaining an unbiased and impartial stand towards the various paths taken by the various people. (Which is all too often not the case.)

So, if you are interested in the story of the Kleine Gemeinde, then this is a book that you really must get. Also, if you are interested in the history of the Russian Mennonites, this is a good book for you, because it discusses choices and actions taken by many of the Russian Mennonites, both in the Old World and the New. ... Read more

Product Description
This collection of data on the Amish Mennonites in Germany is a massive array of details accumulated from European archives and other sources to assemble a unique portrait of families which populated the 18th- and 19th-century Amish congregations. Translations of original documents as well as a delightful photo essay. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Terrific Find
I had just recently learned my paternal grandmother was of descent of Amish Mennonites. I purchased the book hoping to learn more about why our ancestors left their home countries. When the book came and I looked at it and was amazed to find the genealogy on my grandmothers ancestors. WHAT A FIND!!! ... Read more

Product Description
Ask any person randomly on the sidewalk what they know about the Mennonites and chances are their answer will include Mormons, black clothes and buggies, or general confusion. This short, engaging book gives a brief account of what Mennonites believe. From the beginnings of the Anabaptist (or Mennonite) movement in the 16th-century, to biblical interpretation, baptism, understandings of the church, ethics, and the complex question of denominationalism, John D. Roth provides a solid framework for on-going conversations about faithful discipleship in the Mennonite church today. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (3)

Excellent Resource!
Our family has just moved to a new town -- and are seriously considering joining the local Mennonite Church.Having not been associated with the denomination in the past, we asked the pastor for some reading material.He gave us this book, as well as the Confession of Faith in a Mennonite Perspective (a Mennonite Church publication, from Herald Press) -- and between the 2 books they answered most of our questions about the current beliefs of the denomination, as well as a brief history of where they came from.Just what we needed... Extremely Helpful!

a great read...
I'm considering affialiating with the Mennonite faith, and this book is an excellent starting place.My only posible negative on this (perhaps b/c I'm ex-mormon) is that the author seems to shy away from definitive stmnts on faith/beliefs... However, I understand that Mennonites do not have a rigidly enforced dogma as the LDS church does, so that goes a ways to explain.
This is not an 'authoritative' stmnt of faith... the author describes what he sees around him as the current (2005) conditions.

GREAT book!!!
Whether you are Mennonite or just curious, this is a great book to read. I was raised Mennonite, but strayed away from the religion when I was a teen- it seemed so old fashioned. But after reading this book, I can say that I really am a Mennonite at heart. It clarified all my questions about where our beliefs come from.

Mennonite beliefs are very simple, straightforward, and rather admirable. This book made me proud to be a Mennonite, and I think that any believer could take something away from this book that may help clarify or strenthen their faith.

Easy, quick read. ... Read more

Product Description

The Mennonites, with their long tradition of peaceful protest and commitment to equality, were castigated by the Reverend Martin Luther King Jr. for not showing up on the streets to support the civil rights movement. Daily Demonstrators shows how the civil rights movement played out in Mennonite homes and churches from the 1940s through the 1960s.

In the first book to bring together Mennonite religious history and civil rights movement history, Tobin Miller Shearer discusses how the civil rights movement challenged Mennonites to explore whether they, within their own church, were truly as committed to racial tolerance and equality as they might like to believe. Shearer shows the surprising role of children in overcoming the racial stereotypes of white adults. Reflecting the transformation taking place in the nation as a whole, Mennonites had to go through their own civil rights struggle before they came to accept interracial marriages and integrated congregations.

Based on oral history interviews, photographs, letters, minutes, diaries, and journals of white and African-American Mennonites, this fascinating book further illuminates the role of race in modern American religion.

Product Description
In this intimate narrative, Braun ushers us into the life of one extended Mennonite family - in particular the lives of her father and grandfather, living under the terror of Stalin, and later, under the military expansion of Hitler's Nazi Lebensraum in the Ukraine. In a memoir that is historically faithful to documents, letters, old photographs and personal testimony, Braun offers a lyrical second-generation witness to her family members and to all other Canadians who have suffered displacement in history's disasters, and whose obscure stories must be told. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Highly informative and very moving
This book is Professor David Rempel's posthumous magnum opus. David Rempel was born in 1899 in Nieder Khortitsa, Ukraine, into the thriving Russian Mennonite community that had existed there since late 18th century. And as such, he was an eyewitness to the events recorded in this book, the events that surrounded the final destruction of the Mennonite community in Russia.

This book begins by tracing the migration on the Mennonites from Prussia to the Ukraine, and the growth of the Mennonite communities there. When the book gets to Professor Rempel's own era, it shifts, becoming a biography of himself and his immediate family. As this part of the story proceeds, you get to see the sad fate of the Russian Mennonites, seeing their experiences through the eyes of the author.

Now, I must say that I found this book to be both highly informative and very moving. The author does an excellent job of presenting the Russian Mennonites with all of their faults, as an imperfect people (as all are), who found themselves caught up in a catastrophe that they could not deal with.

I must admit that I cannot find words enough to express my feelings about this wonderful book, and fear that this review does not even begin to do it justice. Let me just say that I loved this book, and highly recommend it to anyone interested in the Russian Mennonites, or the fate of minorities in Revolutionary Russia. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Mennonite Community Cookbook/paperback
Emma Showalter's Mennonite Community Cookbook is a classic in Lancaster County, PA and surrounding areas.Fabulous "country cooking" from the PA Dutch Country..and is great. I purchased this paperback as a gift for someone in Colorado.It is a smaller version of the hardback but has the basic great recipes. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Valuable book
This book examines events in the South Russian Mennonite Commonwealth through the lens of the life of Cornelius Jansen.Jansen was a more cosmopolitan Mennonite and quickly realized the rammifications of the russification effforts of 1871.His efforts to encourage emmigration to the USA were not appreciated by the Russian government but were invaluable to those who listened.Without Jansen fewer Mennonites would have emmigrated.Those who did not leave suffered enormously later on. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Concise history of first 100 years of Mennonites in Russia
This book offers an overview of the fascinating first 100 years of Mennonites in Russia.Written in academic style for a university audience, it nicely mixes economic, religious and sociological history to present a rounded overview of this diverse and evolving community.Some will wish for more of a human element to this history; although certain individuals feature prominently, the discourse of the book generally remains at a detached scholarly level.Some readers will wish for a more detailed description of day-to-day life in colonial Mennonite Russia.All readers will probably regret that the book ends in 1889; what was to happen to this fascinating community in the communist revolution, for instance?Written by a largely sympathetic non-Mennonite, and based on both Mennonite and non-Mennonite sources, this book does not shy away from the skeletons in the closet that a Mennonite historiographer might try to gloss over. ... Read more