Merle - thank you for your info. re: Pietistism, Anabaptism," Annual Meeting Brethren" and the "Pietist/Far West Brethren". I saw the subject line, DAR and did not read some of the earlier emails thru lack of time. But now I read your interesting review of Church and war history. My family was involved with Ephrata and also around the Far West Brethren in Montgomery Co. OH, so I am interested in what you had to say - that some move to KY or OH before Annual meetings started was something I hadn't considered before. I would like to understand the difference between Anabaptism and Pietism. I have read explanations, but particularly with pietism, the explanations have been abstract and non-specific and I never really understood. Could you simply explain the specifc, broad points of each? I would really appreciate it. winter On Jul 2, 2008, at 4:52 AM, Merle C Rummel wrote: > >> >> First, I highly recommend you read the book “Brethren in the New >> Nation”, by >> Sappington. Although this book does not deal with the >> Revolutionary War >> period, it does go into explicit detail regarding how the Brethren >> dealt >> with the draft during the Civil War. The attitudes toward pacifism >> shown in >> Sappington’s book during the Civil War would also have been the >> same in the >> Revolutionary War. The non-enroller listings for Frederick County, >> MD, and >> the non-associator listings for Lancaster County, support this view. >> >> > > Let me complicate the picture - > > I took the Conscientious Objector stand during the Korean War, but my > son went into the Marines - so I have some sympathy with both sides - > > In this research I've been doing on the Early Brethren in Kentucky - > the > "Frontier Brethren" - one of the observations I am making was that > these > Brethren held strongly to the Pietist origin of our church - and there > were differences. Dr Dale Brown, who taught the Pietism Course at > Bethany Seminary, made the point strong that we Brethren today do not > know what Pietism was. What he taught was the history of the > beginnings > - and he admitted that there were no records, except for Ephrata (a > Radical Pietism), to show what it meant in the life of the individual > and the church. > > The Brethren Church of today comes out of the Brethren of eastern > Pennsylvania and Maryland (and slightly in Virginia, the Brethren had > only been in the Valley a couple years before the war started) who > survived the persecution of the Revolutionary period. Our stand was > based both on the Bible -the commandment - "Thou shalt not kill." (The > Hebrew word is "ratasch" - which means to kill a person -as opposed to > "sachat" -which means to kill an animal. - so to explain it as "no > murder" is incorrect!) and through our promise ("A Dunker's word is as > good as his bond!") of loyalty to the King. We appreciated the > opportunity the King gave, to permit us to live in this peaceful land, > after the devastations suffered in the Palatinate during the wars of > Europe. The Sons of Liberty, proponents of the Revolution, but not a > majority of the population, terrorized those who stood in opposition > to > them. The Brethren, and Mennonites and Amish (fellow Anabaptists), > were > persecuted - some severely. The church "withdrew" into community with > these others also suffering for their stand. Shall I say, we hid out > together. > > The early Brethren were nearly opposite. The Germantown Church (mother > church) was reported to pray and sing so loud, that it hurt your ears, > clear down the street (Durnbaugh). Many a Brethren home became a > center > of evangelism to their neighbors. Pietism was concerned with a revival > of the individual, to bring them to a closer relationship to Jesus. > Creeds and practices hardly mattered. The original pietism spread > through all the churches of Germany. There were only two denominations > to directly result out of the movement, and the Brethren are one - and > even his mentor, Hochmann von Hochenau, was upset about what Alexander > Mack had done. > > As such, Dr Floyd Mallot, professor of Church History at Bethany > Seminary, used to ask - "What happened to the Brethren during the > Revolution? They Changed!" The change was from Pietism to Anabaptism - > from an open freedom to a type of legalism. The church Elders met in > an > Annual Meeting, where they determined the direction of the Church, and > they enforced their decisions on the churches. > > This was not Pietism, this was Anabaptism - and the Brethren who had > migrated west (Brothers Valley, and Washington Co PA) and south (the > Carolinas), and some few who were in Kaintuck - were Pietist - they > had > left before Annual Meeting developed and before the emphasis on > Anabaptism. As one migrant coming to Ohio on the new National Road (US > 40) -about 1826 asked: "What do we do about these 'Strange Brethren'?" > There was considerable difference between the Brethren, who were > already > here, and these Annual Meeting Brethren who came later -and Annual > Meeting kicked all these early Brethren OUT (unless they changed -and > accepted the Annual Meeting decisions - see the records on the "Far > Western Brethren" and Elder George Wolfe Jr - George Wolfe accepted > the > Annual Meeting way, many others did not!) > > The Frontier Brethren do not seem to have had the strong stand for > Pacifism that was true of the Annual Meeting Brethren. They did defend > themselves against the British and Indian invasions. Some of them > killed, others reloaded the guns for the fighters or tended injured or > fought fires from the fire arrows. It was as Daniel Boone (Quaker > origin) said (speaking of being a waggoner for General Braddock, at > the > defeat at Pittsburg) -he killed the first of only three Indians that > he > killed in his life. Many of the early Brethren in Kentucky were youth > who had fought in the Revolution (Capt Henry Rhoads -of Brothers > Valley > - in Muhlenberg Co KY 1784). Some had even been expelled from their > family back home, because of the war, but they were still Brethren - > and > carried the Brethren faith with them (but Pietism -and not the > Anabaptism). > > Annual Meeting "expelled" (Frontier Brethren term) these early > Brethren > about 1826. Elder Adam Hostetler and Elder Peter Hon were placed on > the > Ban (the Brethren Encyclopedia calls them "the Hostetler Brethren", > they > called themselves "the Brethren Association"). From what Historian > Abraham Cassel says, in numbers it may have been almost half the > denomination. The Brethren, in that time, practiced what they called: > "Unanimity" - we sought the guidance of the Holy Spirit in our > decisions, so there could be no decision until the whole body voted > unanimous. The Annual Meeting Brethren saw these Frontier Brethren as > not accepting the decisions of the Holy Spirit (but the Frontier > Brethren had not been present when the decisions were made, and seem > to > have not even known about the question or the decision!) So they had > to > change and accept the Annual Meeting decision - or leave. > > The Brethren of the Civil War period were All - Annual Meeting > Brethren, > the Brethren of the Revolution were not. > > Be sure - there were other differences between the Pietist faith and > Anabaptism - we don't really know them all (someone needs to translate > the commentary of the Pietist Berleberg Bible -I'm sure it would > tell us > things we don't know about Pietist beliefs - but it is HUGE - 8 > volumes, > over 1000 pages each - 18th Century German) > > Merle C Rummel > > ------------------------ > Search the Archives at http://archiver.rootsweb.com/th/index/BRETHREN > ------------------------ > Support Our Sponsoring Agency > The Fellowship Of Brethren Genealogists (FOBG) > For further information contact Ron McAdams > mailto:McAdamsr@hotmail.com > ------------------------ > > ------------------------------- > To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to BRETHREN-request@rootsweb.com > with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and > the body of the message