On the Backroad to Heaven is a unique guidebook to the world of Old Order Anabaptist groups. Focusing on four Old Order communities-the Hutterites, Mennonites, Amish, and Brethren-Donald B. Kraybill and Carl Desportes Bowman provide a fascinating overview of their culture, growth, and distinctive 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.
- ISBN10 0801870895
- ISBN13 9780801870897
- Publish Date 25 November 2002 (first published 20 March 2001)
- Publish Status Active
- Publish Country US
- Imprint Johns Hopkins University Press
- Format Paperback (US Trade)
- Pages 352
- Language English
- URL http://jhupbooks.press.jhu.edu/ecom/MasterServlet/GetItemDetailsHandler?iN=9780801870897&qty=1&viewMode=1&loggedIN=false&JavaScript=y