Searching for Anabaptist “unity” , or ‘Wandering Stars ?
We recently ran across an article online by Peter Hoover .. ‘Radical Anabaptists part one”, a fairly lengthy 6 part writing about the Life and times and Spiritual quests of Harry Wanner .
Over the last 50 years or so there have been a shadowy group of seeking Anabaptist , that constantly were on the move .Mostly from Amish backgrounds .Often moving perhaps from Pa. to Ky. ,to Tennessee , to Belize and then perhaps Michigan . And then start the moving all over again.Lobelville Tennessee is sort of a center for them . All in the long quest to find someone to be ”enech” , or unified with . The so called unity hardly ever lasted more then a week or a month . At one time in Belize there were 7 factions among 11 households there, among that set of believers .
No modern conveniences allowed , certainly not cars and often no motors at all allowed , continuously seeking that elusive peace ,and or. perfection. Women in these settings are often treated like dirt or as things to own and use, not as people. Each man as a little private dictator, is the way to be ,seemingly.Weird.
Peter Hoover’s background is from this rather eccentric group setting, Although he has embraced modern media technology , and is a good writer . He lives in Australia at a place called ”Rocky cape” , in an Anabaptist Commune .If that setting is in a dictatorial role , we do not know.
We enjoy his writings , though one notices that he admires Hutterites and their culture , and is somewhat affiliated with a Hutterrite group in the USA Midwest. That he admires these wandering Stars , that spent perhaps all their lives searching and searching for someone to ”unify” with , raises several questions .
Harry Wanner is the subject of his 6 part article , with a lot of names of other such minded seekers too. Nicolas Stoltzfus,brothers Harold and Victor Stoll, Albert Stoll , Joe J Millers, and many others of like goals if not minds are mentioned.Seeking and moving , the ever elusive “unity ” being just out of reach , seems the norm here.
Harry Wanner had 22 children , married twice . We never met him ,though we have met most of the others mentioned. Knowing some of the Background history and information on him and those he was around , gives one pause.
Much of that thinking is basically selfish . ”My interpretation , and application of scripture is ground zero , for everything”. Treating those whose views are not exactly as one’s own like trash seems to be part of it ,too. Re-baptizing oneself or one another seemed rather the norm, from time to time .
On the subject of Hutterites , it is our observation that about all the attributes of a cult are found in the way they operate now. We used to visit a Group of them that later went totally to nothing as a group , in Bright, Ont. Called ‘Community farm of the Brethren”, founded in 1940 , they did well until their leader , an avowed dictator , died in the early 1960′s .He once made one of his defeated Rivals live in a Pig-pen there on the colony.(Peter Hoover lists this Leader in his Cloud of Witnesses section, as an inspiration) .
They were all such nice folks , and they all worked very hard like Amish do, from about age 14 on up. (Note .We desire first hand historical information on this ,on or off record),
Several Factions developed among the Bright, Ont . colony, to where they lived separately on the same compound , but were not on speaking terms. One faction even marched around the other every evening, singing and praying , somewhat like Joshua and the Israelites marching around Jericho.
Sometime in the 1980′s , the young people of there rose , and said “Enough is enough ”. They ended up selling everything and splitting the money , it was a well to do crowd .They all assimilated into neighboring Churches and communities very well. Maybe some Hutterites get along better then that ,at least on the surface .
Jan 17-12
January 25th, 2012 at 2:07 pm
A Few small corrections on the Bright, Ont Group you mention . They were not considered Hutterites, but Juilius-Lite, They were not after about 1950 in fellowship with the other colonies. Also , about the Pig-pen story . After expelling his rival , Kubassek discovered him living in the pig-shed on the property. He padlocked the pig-shed , and made him live wild, in the woods ,until a neighboring farmer took pity on him . Love in action ?