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Roth, John D. 2006. Stories: How Mennonites Came To Be. Scottdale, Pa: Herald Press.
Book Review
Roth, John D. 2006. Stories: How Mennonites Came To Be. Scottdale, Pa: Herald Press.
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Being a historian-cum-theologian, John D. Roth makes the book non-academic and it turns out to be reader-friendly. This book gives a history of the contemporary Mennonites and what developmental stages they went through to arrive at what they are today. Roth begins this book with a little narration of how one of his daughters came home from school angry and got into a quarrel with everyone in the family. Later after she retires to her room, Roth goes in to console her. He finds her viewing their family pictures. He joins her in the viewing and soon they forget about the quarrel and the misunderstanding.
From that incidence, Roth tried to argue how stories have the capability of helping us know ourselves better. He believes that when we talk about things that we are involved in or affect us, we are seeking to have a reconnection with our past. From there, he deems it crucial for the stories of the Christian church to be revisited, and with special attention to the Mennonite church. This reconnection with the past is important, in Roth’s view.
He starts with how the development process of the Christian church was. This covers the early stages to the later stages. He describes how the Christian church started off as a movement before the idea of erecting structures came up. This then brings us to the Constantine Empire and the Medieval Christian Empire. He gives a summary of the three first three centuries of the early Christian church after talking shortly about Jesus and his disciples. This slight deviation was in an effort to avoid embarking on the Anabaptist beforehand. He highlights the conversion of Constantine, the Roman emperor as a turning point in the history of the Christian faith. He should have however explained or mentioned the emergence of the Anabaptist-Mennonite beliefs.
He sheds some light on the events of the following a thousand years. Only then does he introduce the aspect of reformation by Protestants. This happens in the third chapter where he also tackles the history of the early Anabaptists, with Martin Luther also in the picture. He makes us understand the forces behind the reformation; the Anabaptists. He also makes clear the differences between the 16thcentury Anabaptist movement and the early church and also our today’s position. Tracing the history of the Anabaptist movement, the differences with the present Mennonite church are clear-cut.
After dealing with Reformation, with Martin Luther and the history of the early Anabaptist movement, he tackles the reformers in one chapter before looking at the early Anabaptism in the next two chapters. Next, he dwells on how the Mennonite churches emerged. The development of the Mennonite Churches is then keenly addressed in different geographical localities. He explains how these churches developed in Russia, Europe, America, and other regions of the world.
Roth honestly brings out the ambiguities experienced in trying to come up and sustain a church without any political support whatsoever, as expected by the Protestants and Catholics. He argues that the contours of the Anabaptist history are as a result of their forceful quest for identity.
Roth employs the best scope in the narration of the Anabaptist-Mennonite history. He does not understate or overstate important incidences in this history. For instance, he narrates of how the Protestant reformers and the Anabaptists break up. He gives this account in the most open and straightforward manner. This comes out uniquely. He as well does not exaggerate the instances of their persecution. A clear explanation of the events that followed is also given; of how the Anabaptist-Mennonite church later dispersed and was scattered across the world. He argues that this had a major impact on their church, faith and beliefs.
In another chapter, Roth dwells on South Russia, while in two others he dwells on North America. He then finalizes this with a common trait of the contemporary Mennonitism which is; multi-ethnicity. The last chapters base on the mission efforts of the Mennonites, their World Conference and how the Mennonites associate with other Christian believers. An important question arises in these final chapters. This is on how the Mennonites can embrace and also ensure the continuity of their identity.
Near the end of this book, there is a strong warning drawn from past history of the Mennonite. This mainly puts an emphasis on the disappearance of moral regeneration among the Mennonites and how their church is slowly aping the Protestants teachings and beliefs yet these are two vital aspects of the Mennonites that have to be embraced by all means. However, at the end of the book, Roth concludes that the encounters we have with God, which require us to take off our shoes since we deem that as holy ground, are more powerful stories than the stories about us.
Generally, this book is very resourceful and rich with knowledge of the Mennonite history. Whether one is familiar or not with the Mennonites, this is an easy read and gives an opportunity for one to learn more. Roth employs a fascinating perspective of history in trying to explain the emergence of the Anabaptists as well as the small groupings of the Mennonites in today’s world.
Comparing the contemporary Mennonites to the historical ones, Roth helps us to appreciate our past and understand how our past impacts on our present and also future, just as in the case of the Mennonites. We also learn to view the Mennonites as the determinants of the future of the church, basing on the vast differences between them and the other Christians.
Although this is a book based on History, it is quite evident that Roth does not mention the word ‘History’ in any of the chapters of this book. This could have been his way of wooing readers to the book. However, many historians may not agree with him on the omission of that word, which is the basis of the whole book.
This book is primarily based on the history of Mennonite church. Roth does not delve into the main theme of the book at the beginning of his chapters. He however begins with other stories that have their interests outside of the Mennonite history. This is in a bid to capture the readers’ attention. This at some point appears as lacking correlation.
A strong point of this book is that it has broken down and simplified the history of the Mennonites. Any reader can therefore read and understand the contents. On the contrary, the history that has been addressed in the book is not complete as other broader historic accounts have it. Roth only concentrated on a part of the Mennonite history that had not been revealed by the other history accounts. This therefore renders this book shallow and cannot be relied on to give one a full historic account of the Mennonites. Regardless of this, the book still has got something to offer its readers.
Despite these weaknesses and strengths, from the historic account of this book, Roth passes to us a very important lesson that should be embraced. In his introduction and closing, Roth insists on the benefits of individuals being in possession of the knowledge of the past; both individually and societal past. He teaches us that the past has a way of telling our present and our future. So, we better be careful and keenly watch out and learn from our past.
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