On the backroad to heaven
Subtitle: Old Order Hutterites, Mennonites, Amish, and Brethren
By: Donald B. Kraybill, Carl F. Bowman.
Contributors: Bowman, Carl Desportes, 1957-
Series: Center books in Anabaptist studies
Publisher: Johns Hopkins University Press; The Johns Hopkins University Press
Published: 2001
Place of publication: Baltimore
Language: eng
Number of pages: 330
Subjects: Hutterite Brethren; Old German Baptist Brethren; Old Order Mennonites; Amish; Plain People -- Comparative studies
Genres: Comparative studies.
Description: "On the Backroad to Heaven is a unique guide to the strange world of Old Order Anabaptist groups. Focusing on four Old Order communities - the Hutterites, Mennonites, Amish, and Brethren - Donald B. Kraybill and Carl F. Bowman provide a fascinating overview of their culture, growth, and unique way of life. Following a general introduction to Old Order culture, they show how each group uses a different strategy to create and sustain its identity. The Hutterites, for example, keep themselves geographically segregated from the larger society, whereas the Brethren interact more freely with it. The Amish and Mennonites are more alike in how they engage the outside world, adopting a complex but flexible strategy of compromise that produces an evolving canon of social and religious rules. This first comparative study sketches the differences as well as the common threads that bind these groups together."--Jacket.

"On the Backroad to Heaven is a unique guide to the strange world of Old Order Anabaptist groups. Focusing on four Old Order communities - the Hutterites, Mennonites, Amish, and Brethren - Donald B. Kraybill and Carl F. Bowman provide a fascinating overview of their culture, growth, and unique way of life. Following a general introduction to Old Order culture, they show how each group uses a different strategy to create and sustain its identity.

The Hutterites, for example, keep themselves geographically segregated from the larger society, whereas the Brethren interact more freely with it. The Amish and Mennonites are more alike in how they engage the outside world, adopting a complex but flexible strategy of compromise that produces an evolving canon of social and religious rules. This first comparative study sketches the differences as well as the common threads that bind these groups together."--BOOK JACKET.
Notes: Includes bibliographical references (p. [309]-322) and index.