THE MENNONITE LIFESTYLE essays

THE MENNONITE LIFESTYLE essays The Protestant Reformation of Martin Luther sparked the formation of radical "Anabaptists" branch of Christianity in the sixteenth century, many eventually fled religious pressures and persecution in their countries of resettled in the Americas, while others found relative safety in Russia. many of the Russian Anabaptists sought refuge in the United States by the Many of the later Anabaptist immigrants to America came from and Germany, and they retained most of their cultures of origin, such as dialects and cuisine. Many more communities or sects developed within the Mennonite Anabaptists, totaling more than one million, in the Americas, and in Europe, their land of origin. Mennonites took their name from a converted Dutch priest by the name Menno Simons (1496-1561) who provided Anabaptism with his leadership in Century Holland. The appellation "Anabaptist" refers to their practice of adult believers.(2) Subsequent philosophical differences led to the stricter, more orthodox Mennonites living in Switzerland and Alsace into "Amish", named for Jakob Ammann (1644-1725), in 1693.(3) 1. About Mennonites (2001) Mennonite.net: Accessed at: 2. The Oxford Dictionary of World Religions Bower, J.(1997) Oxford The first groups of Amish migrating from Switzerland settled in in the early 18th Century, and subsequently spread primarily to Ohio and while also establishing a presence in twenty other states by the end of the Century. The United States is home to more than two hundred distinct Mennonites, comprising approximately 150,000 people, the vast majority of still live in Pennsylvania, Ohio, Indiana and Kansas. The principle philosophical differences between the Mennonites and the Amish sects of Anabaptism concern the relative strictness of practice, the underlying Christian belief. Specifically, the Amish practice strict exclusivity, while the Men...