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Reviews
The authors give the general reader an excellent basic understanding of the beliefs and practices shared by all of these separatists while making the uniqueness of each group clear. One of the best single-volume works on this subject; highly recommended.
This look at the history, similarities and differences between four groups of Old Order faithful in North America—Hutterites, Mennonites, Amish and Brethren—is fascinating... A book that, in one volume, tackles history, sociology and future trends—and does it well.
A complex, sympathetic, and delightfully nuanced argument that perhaps only such a comparative perspective could produce. The groups in question are depicted not as 'cultural fossils' or 'modern day Luddites' but instead as committed Christians who have made rational choices to stem the tides of modernity that they perceive as destructive to their faith.
The best effort so far in the task of comparing Old Order ethno-religious groups in North America.
On the Backroad to Heaven is above all an intelligent and accessible introduction to contemporary Old Order communities... This would be a valuable text in many courses on contemporary Western Religion.
Kraybill and Bowman have jointly produced a rich volume that clearly lives up to the promise of their earlier work... [Their] discussion displays both wide accessibility and exemplary clarity and rigor... General readers will find this book stimulating and rewarding.
The material on the Amish and Hutterites in Backroad is excellent, ranking with the best of the sizable amount of literature that is available on both groups. Kraybill and Bowman have provided more information on the Old Order Mennonites and Old German Baptist Brethren than one will find almost anywhere else. This book is recommended not only as an introduction to the four groups, but also as a fairly comprehensive guide to their beliefs and practices.
As one has come to expect from books written by Don Kraybill and by Carl Desportes Bowman, the organization of On the Backroad to Heaven is logical and coherent. References to recent phenomena—such as the media frenzy surrounding the unfortunate drug case involving Amish youth—as well as the inclusion of the latest scholarship should make this a book that will appeal to academic and general readers alike.
This is a model ethnography of four pacifist, Christian sectarian groups... It is a bold attempt to bring together four significant 'old order' groups and, through comparitive analysis, create a typology of 'old order' society or, as the authors put it, 'to see Old Orderliness across a spectrum'... This is a perceptive and rigorous ethnographic study, well conceptualized and sensibly executed.
On the Backroad to Heaven presents an accurate and very informative comparative picture of four Old Order groups in North America.
The book speaks to classic sociological questions in its exploration of how these four groups [Amish, Hutterites, Mennonites, and Brethren] are constantly responding to changes in the surrounding Gesellschaft society... I highly recommend the book for its thorough coverage of Old Order history, values, beliefs, and lifestyles and for its interesting comparative focus.
This work is insightful, informative, and so easy to read that I had a hard time putting it down!
A readily accessible and eminently readable introduction to a seemingly anachronistic world that remains vital in the twenty-first century.
In sorting out the puzzles and complexities of the Anabaptist movement in America today, there are no other social scientists doing more important work than Donald Kraybill and Carl Desportes Bowman. In their new book, On the Backroad to Heaven: Old Order Hutterites, Mennonites, Amish, and Brethren, they have done it again. They perform the most significant comparative analysis of these faith traditions to date. Their work not only informs us of the different strategies they pursue in surviving the challenges of the modern world, but it also provides a prism through which we see the weaknesses and deficiencies of contemporary American culture.
About
Book Details
Publication Date
Status
Available
Trim Size
6
x 9
Pages
352
ISBN
9780801870897
Illustration Description
53 halftones, 19 line drawings
Table of Contents
Preface
Acknowledgments
Chapter 1. The Old Road to Heaven
Chapter 2. The Hutterites
Chapter 3. The Mennonites
Chapter 4. The Amish
Chapter 5. The Brethren
Chapter 6. Common Convictions
Chapter 7. Four Roads
Preface
Acknowledgments
Chapter 1. The Old Road to Heaven
Chapter 2. The Hutterites
Chapter 3. The Mennonites
Chapter 4. The Amish
Chapter 5. The Brethren
Chapter 6. Common Convictions
Chapter 7. Four Roads to Heaven
Chapter 8. Preserving a Pilgrim People
Chapter 9. Ironies of a Postmodern Journey
Notes
Selected References
Index
Featured Contributor
Donald B. Kraybill
Donald B. Kraybill is a Distinguished College Professor and senior fellow emeritus at Elizabethtown College's Young Center for Anabaptist and Pietist Studies.Resources
