The research was greatly facilitated by the assistance and guidance of archival and research library staff at the Centre for Mennonite Brethren Studies in Winnipeg, Manitoba and Fresno Pacific University in Fresno, California; the Mennonite Church USA Archives in Goshen, Indiana and North Newton, Kansas; and the Mennonite Archives in Waterloo, Ontario. A Christian was a new person belonging to a new people. Gandhi insisted that evil, oppression, injustice, or exploitation must be resisted, but by using means that exemplified the truth and virtue of the satyagrahi’s cause. Mennonite migrations continued during the 20th century, primarily from Russia to North and South America—to Brazil, Paraguay, Uruguay, Bolivia, Mexico, and British Honduras. So the priest has an idol made, puts it on an altar in a temple, blows in its ears and nose and mouth, puts a garland around its neck and tells the unsophisticated heathen, ‘These be thy gods.’ When he knows he is telling them a lie. For example, he focused on the elevated ideals and aspirations of Hinduism, while challenging many of its central practices like untouchability and idol worship. Toledo District: Pine Hill. Although not a Christian, he held Christ and His teachings in great respect. Social. It has 19 congregations. [64], The letter was acknowledged by staff in the offices of most of the leaders. [3] Nearly three years later, on June 10, 1891, Gandhi was called to the bar in London. [6], When Gandhi arrived in Bombay on January 9, 1915, there were a dozen Mennonite churches, several schools, orphanages, clinics and hospitals, and 50 Mennonite missionaries in India. Why worry! [50] Goshen College Bulletin 30.5 (1936): 12. Their huts were outside the main part of the village. And everywhere there were religious devotees with long matted hair, bodies pierced and emaciated in self-mortification. Press, 2011), 94. [25] But the Christian practice was not consistent. Mennonites were people of the book, the Bible. The Livery Barn is at the Mennonite Heritage Village and is open seasonaly. As Lehman put it in the Goshen College Bulletin, What then is the nature of the New Testament attitude toward evil and how to overcome it? If untouchability could be a part of Hinduism, it could but be a rotten part or an excrescence. 6. It was in England, as a young law student, that Gandhi first developed friendships with Christians. Thus a booklet marking the 50th anniversary of MB mission in India contains nearly no biblical or theological reflection, but each of the three major sections opens with a Bible verse: John 20:21 – “As the Father hath sent me, even so send I you;” Luke 24:47 – “Repentance and remission of sins should be preached in his name unto all nations;” Rev. He and his wife Mary arrived from Pennsylvania in 1807. The church celebrated its centenary year in October 2011 which was attended by 22 churches at a conference Dhamtari. [47] Young India, August 20, 1925, cited in Ellsberg, 39. Their notebooks contain descriptions of Hindu gods and goddesses, summaries of scriptures, and outlines of Hindu religious teachings that were based largely on their reading of contemporary European scholars such as Max Mueller, Albert Schweitzer, and A.A. The number of its members is about 3,500. And that is what set in motion the correspondence that led to the enigmatic postcard that Gandhi sent to James Norman Kaufman in June 1947. Non-resistance was the result of a radical reorientation, a conversion brought about by an encounter with God through Jesus Christ. He wrote in his autobiography that while he was struggling with his religious identity in South Africa he was unable to accept that Hinduism was the greatest religion because, Hindu defects were pressingly visible to me. Non-resistance, as taught and modeled by Jesus, was possible only because of the indwelling Spirit of God that empowered people who had experienced the new birth.[51]. He developed friendships with Theosophists (members of a philosophical-occult movement with high regard for the religions of India) who “disabused [him] of the notion fostered by the missionaries that Hinduism was rife with superstition.”[27] Theosophist friends invited him to study the Bhagavad Gita with them, thinking he would be able to help them explore its riches in the original Sanskrit. His religious practices included meditation, prayer, singing, and scripture reading, using sources from Hindu, Christian, Buddhist, Jain, and Muslim traditions. [58] The change in Mennonite understanding, activism, and language is exemplified by the Fall 2011 issue of The Conrad Grebel Review, which focuses on the “Warsaw Lectures” presented by John Howard Yoder in 1983. Press, 2011). They could not drink water from the same wells, share food, travel with, or worship in the same temples as caste Hindus. There were other differences. https://caribbeanlifestyle.com/mennonite-communities-in-belize [60] Passive resistance was negative, but satyagraha was an active principle: “Love those that despitefully use you.” Satyagraha intended to move the heart and to lift up rather than to destroy the adversary.[61]. A lover of books, Eby wrote two primers for public school children, compiled the Gemeinschaftliche Liedersammlung, a new hymnal for Mennonites in Ontario, and edited a volume of articles by Anabaptist and early Mennonite authors. Gandhi quoted the aphorism “As is the God, so is the votary.”[23] He meant it to express the aspiration that people could become like the gods they worshiped. 28:18-20; Mark 16:15-16; Luke 24:46-49; John 20:21; Acts 1:8. [24] See Prothero, “Hinduphobia and Hinduphilia in U.S. Culture,” 27-31. As Gandhi himself once put it, “To bear all sorts of tortures without a murmur of resentment is impossible for a human being without the strength that comes from God.”[54] The true satyagrahi is purified and strengthened through spiritual resources and ethical practices. If religious reform was needed, it would be defined and implemented by Hindus drawing from the profound resources of Hinduism.[32]. I note these few documented encounters to stress that while I am not able to offer much about interactions between Gandhi and Mennonites, because direct interactions were very limited or almost entirely undocumented, I can describe how Gandhi and Mennonites addressed common issues and provide an account of what Mennonites said about Gandhi’s work and ideas. [54] Harijan, June 3, 1936, cited in M K. Gandhi, Non-Violent Resistance (Satyagraha), 364. From the Reformation to today, Anabaptist history is inconceivable without robust consideration of empires and imperialism. Hinduism, said to be the oldest living religion, has been here in various forms at least since the beginning of recorded history. When a person from one religious tradition experienced the riches of another, it was best to add rather than to replace. Origin and languages. Kaufman and P.J. 16, n.p. El Vecino offers Mexican Mennonite empanadas and Russian Mennonite treats like vereneki. It appeared, vivid, clear, and particularized…”[22]. [but] To those who would convert India, might it not be said: ‘Physician, heal thyself!’”[44], Gandhi supported the right of everyone “freely to profess, practice and propagate religion,” which is how such rights are now defined in the Indian Constitution. As noted earlier, Gandhi insisted that this nonviolent, suffering-resistant discipline was rooted in reliance on God. [57] That seems self-evident and hardly controversial today, less than two years after the demonstrations and political transformations of the “Arab Spring.”[58] But Hershberger and Mennonite missionaries in India demanded a disinterested non-resistance that was simply obedience to God and a strong symbol of separation from the world. While some Christian missionaries (such as Catholics and Unitarians) explored the commonalities and continuities between the beliefs and practices of Hindus and Christians, Mennonites did not. While undertaking doctoral research in India, he studied 19th-century religious debates within Hindu society that were prompted by the encounter with European Christianity and liberalism. Clad only in his loin cloth and large horn rimmed spectacles. Lehman recounted this conversation with Gandhi in his ashram in Sabarmuti in 1929:[50], Seated squat on the floor of his little mud office in his office at Sabarmuti I asked Gandhi in 1929 what was his attitude toward Christianity. Mennonite Refugees, MCC, and the International Refugee Organization,” Journal of Mennonite Studies (1995): 15-17; Ted Regehr, “Walter Quiring (1893-1983),” in Shepherds, Servants and Prophets: Leadership among the Russian Mennonites (ca. Mennonite Brethren Church. They described the shrines and worship of local gods and goddesses and their influence on health, family life, and agriculture. It is this sense that I see Him and recognize Him as the son of God…. The Mennonite Brethren, who had begun their work in 1889, were clustered in the Hyderabad region. I am grateful to the College for that opportunity to focus on research and writing. In a conversation with his Plymouth Brethren friend Michael Coates, Gandhi said, “I do not seek redemption from the consequences of my sin. Mennonites to worship online as last British church is forced to close. They agreed that worship, ethics, and community life were inseparably interconnected. Those principles, Graber continued, were based on Jesus’ words in the Sermon on the Mount, a part of the Bible that Gandhi cherished. [39] Reported in Young India, August 6, 1925. Gandhi wrote that the “independent thinking, profound morality, and the truthfulness” of this book “overwhelmed me. [59] Goshen College Bulletin 30.5 (1936). Attractions include state parks, the Iowa State Fair in Des Moines, Decorah bald eagles, Pella Tulip Festival, Amana Colonies tours, the Mississippi River and Dubuque, Maquoketa Caves State Park, and the Loess Hills. [22] Harold R. Isaacs, Scratches on our Minds: American Images of China and India (Westport, CT: Greenwood Press Publishers, 1958), 259. On the one hand, it provided an opportunity for converts to identify with the educated and privileged missionaries and to gain access to educational and vocational opportunities they would not have had within their social setting. What about Gandhi? He was eager to ask Gandhi some questions, because he had studied many of Gandhi’s speeches. This “middle” involves such matters as disease, accidents, childbirth, planting crops, setting dates of weddings, aligning a house, and setting off on a journey. [30], But overall he counseled against offending or undermining the religious sensibilities of common people, who were still charmed and edified by temple rituals, pilgrimages, and devotional practices that he himself would not participate in. What were his own religious practices? We ought to oppose evil by every righteous means in our power, but not by evil. As Independence drew closer, this became an urgent question. On April 19, 1893, after less than two years back in India, he boarded the “Safari” and sailed from Bombay to Durban. [31], Identifying with Hinduism was also a significant part of swaraj (self-rule). This is the title of a book written by Paul D. Wiebe, former principal of Kodaikanal school, Tamil Nadu, India, and published in 2010. Gandhi, the Hindu, helping Mennonites to be better Christians. Many converts were rejected by their families and evicted from their communities when they joined the church. The most ancient are philosophical. [43] Young India, September 8, 1920, cited in Ellsberg, 32. These assumptions were based on their theology and experience. Like most Protestants, they de-spiritualized the material universe. But he opposed conversion from one religion to another in principle and practice. A scholar studying American impressions of India and China wrote in 1958 that “the image of the very benighted heathen Hindu is perhaps the strongest of all that came to us out of India from the past and it retains its full sharpness up to the present day. Lambert traveled to India in April 1897 and oversaw the distribution of food and money. [44] Young India, April 23, 1931, cited in Ellsberg, 45. Although Gandhi did not interpret Jesus from a Christian perspective, he admired Jesus and often spoke and wrote about him. [28] Cited in Akeel Bilgrami, “Gandhi’s religion and its relation to his politics,” The Cambridge Companion to Gandhi (Cambridge: Cambridge Univ. Actually it is not really there. Mathur, ed., Non-Violence and Social Change (Ahmedabad, India: Navajivan Publishing House, 1977), 108. The next day, when Gandhi addressed the crowds, there was no opportunity for Dick to speak with him. The Medical Board administers Dhamtari Christian Hospital, which is the primary point of connection with North American support. While missionaries and Indian Christians emphasized the folly of praying to local deities for healing, they always prayed for healing in the name of Jesus, and thanked God for intervening on behalf of those who were healed. Later he published those reports in a book, India, the Horror-Stricken Empire, Containing a Full Account of the Famine, Plague, and Earthquake of 1896-97. But we Hindus think and act more honestly as to war. But nine days later Gandhi replied by postcard in his own handwriting: “Your letter. A good number of them also wrote about his profound impact on their lives. Asheervadam writes that Gandhi visited the Mennonites in Dhamtari on two occasions “during the height of the independence movement,”[14] and that MCC worker William Yoder walked with Gandhi in East Bengal when the latter was trying to stop the violence in that region. un mouvement chrétien anabaptiste parallèle à la Réforme protestante. I saw you demolish each other’s churches and cathedrals.” And then his lips quivered as he continued, “I saw your so-called Christian soldiers charge across no-man’s land with bayonets sharp and set to disembowel each other and they were led in their hellish work by a standard bearer who carried a standard on which was emblazoned the cross of the Prince of Peace. During his time in South Africa, one of his British friends sent him Tolstoy’s The Kingdom of God is Within You. Centre for the Study of Religion and Peace, Institute of Anabaptist and Mennonite Studies, J. Winfield Fretz Fellowship in Mennonite Studies, Kindred Credit Union Centre for Peace Advancement, Global Mennonite Peacebuilding Conference and Festival, Giving up Privilege, Pursuing Decolonization, Indigenous-Mennonite Encounters in Time and Place, Support Kindred Credit Union Centre for Peace Advancement. Others were local, identified with specific natural features like trees or mountains, or with phenomena such as smallpox, weather, harvest, human sexual fertility, or childrearing. Lapp, who died in 1951,was a Mennonite Church missionary in India 1905-1945. See Paul G. Hiebert, “The Flaw of the Excluded Middle,” Missiology: An International Review 10.1 (January 1982): 35-47. Among the first Indian members of the church were seven men from Dhamtari. First of all, polytheism. [8] See Wilbert R. Shenk, By Faith They Went Out: Mennonite Missions 1850-1999 (Elkhart, IN: Institute of Mennonite Studies, 2000), ch. When Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi[1] was born on October 2, 1869 in Porbandar, a coastal town on the Arabian Sea on the northwest coast of India in the present state of Gujarat, there were no Mennonites in that country. [52] He used the term “passive resistance” till 1908. The Gita is a subtle, extended argument to convince Arjuna, the commander of one of the armies, that it is his religious and social duty to lead his troops into battle against other members of his own family. Henry Krahn (Mennonite Brethren missionary in India 1956-61, d. 1985) completed a master’s thesis at the University of Washington in 1962 on the historical development of the MB mission program in India. John Lapp elaborates on one of those Dhamtari visits in late 1933, noting that Gandhi left a gift of Rs.1000 to support outcastes in the community. Orange Walk District: Blue Creek, Indian Creek, and Shipyard. [26] A vegetarian by practice, he now became one by conviction. These “agitations” as they sometimes called them, were provocative. Mennonite missionaries—including my great-great-great uncle Peter Penner (center)—at a leper station in British India, ca. Madhukant Masih, Rev. Benjamin Eby (1785-1853) was a leading shaper of Mennonite culture in Upper Canada from the 1830s on. Conversion and separation from the world were fundamental characteristics of the Christian life. Did they cease to be Indians because they had become Christians?”[46] In 1925 he wrote, “Is it not deplorable that many Christian Indians discard their own mother tongue, bring up their children only to speak in English?”[47] While Mennonite and other missionaries usually took the change in lifestyle among converts to be a sign of transformation by the Spirit of God, Gandhi saw many of the changes as imitations of the “superficialities of European civilization.”[48] But he also noted gratefully, “I know that there is a marvelous change coming over Indian Christians. However, Mennonites argued that Gandhi’s approach really was instrumental, since he at times acknowledged there could be occasions when a violent response would be appropriate. See also Stephen Prothero, “Hinduphobia and Hinduphilia in U.S. Culture,” in Anna Lannstrom, ed., The Stranger’s Religion: Fascination and Fear (Notre Dame, IN: Univ. Yoder similarly grounds it in a “religious community discipline,” a “religious vision,” and a “distinctive spirituality.” See Cortright, “Toward Realistic Pacifism: John Howard Yoder and the Theory and Practice of Nonviolent Peacemaking,” 67-68. Whether the original mission impetus was establishing churches or feeding the hungry, Mennonite mission work in different locations soon looked much the same. Throughout the rest of his life he continued to deepen his understanding of Hinduism and to expand his knowledge and appreciation of other religions. I seek to be redeemed from sin itself.”[38] His friend warned him that this would be a fruitless quest, for sin was inherent in human nature. The largest populations of Mennonites are in India, Ethiopia, Canada, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and the United States. Writing in his paper Young India in 1925, he characterized himself this way: I am not a literalist. But in the wake of the strong anti-German and anti-pacifist prejudice that … [17] Goshen College Bulletin 30.5 (1936): 12. Conference of the Mennonite Brethren Churches, India (Mennonite Brethren Church, India) is a Mennonite conference in India that is officially associated with Mennonite World Conference.It is the largest of the 5 conferences in India affiliated with MWC. Mennonites and Gandhi both stated that non-resistance or nonviolence were not merely instrumental, not tactics to be abandoned if unsuccessful. When critics condemned established Christianity for its history of violence and domination, Mennonites joined in that criticism and at times stated flatly that those who perpetuated such violence were not true Christians at all. The Mennonite churches in India were established among marginalized people, poor, low caste or outcaste, and tribal groups. Ethnic Mennonites, that is Mennonites of German, Swiss German and Dutch descent in Paraguay are spread across 19 colonies and in the city of Asuncion. What would the situation of Mennonite Christians in India be? More than a dozen missionaries wrote masters or doctoral theses in sociology, anthropology, history and religious studies based on their experiences in India between 1900 and 1970. Caste divided people into very broad categories and specific occupational groups. [19], Missionaries not only observed and documented; they also explained, compared, and evaluated Indian religious life from their own religious perspectives and within the framework and cultural assumptions of Europeans and North Americans. He is the son of John A. and Viola (Bergthold) Wiebe, who held a prominent position in the Mennonite Brethren (MB) mission in Andhra Pradesh in the 1940s and 1950s. In a 1925 address to missionaries, Gandhi said, “One of the greatest of Christian divines, Bishop Heber, wrote the two lines which have always left a sting in me: ‘Where every prospect pleases and only man is vile.’ I wish he had not written them… [Man] is not vile. The indigena feels overruled by the Mennonites, they feel discriminated and displeasured. He once told journalist Frank Moraes that the only time he could see Moraes during busy Congress Working Committee meetings was “during Gandhiji’s prayer meeting. Finally, Hinduism legitimated the caste system that was the most defining characteristic of Indian society. A. To say that he was perfect is to deny God’s superiority to man…. No; it ought to be taken in the exact sense of our Savior's teaching -- that is, not repaying evil for evil. I would be ashamed to be a Christian.”, Mennonites and Gandhi agreed that a nonviolent/non-resistant life needed to be grounded spiritually. Today, the Mission Network relates to a variety of partners emphasizing leadership training, providing scholarships for Indian Mennonite pastors and health workers to obtain broader skills in their chosen professions.
To use today’s language, it was holistic mission. Mennonites in India and America often expressed discomfort and concern about the adversarial, confrontational non-cooperation campaigns that Gandhi led. From that perspective, all Indians are in the same boat. And they were horrified. Although he intended to stay for only a year to complete the specific legal business he had been sent to transact, it would be more than 21 years before he returned to live in India again. When Gandhi arrived in Bombay on January 9, 1915, there were a dozen Mennonite churches, several schools, orphanages, clinics and hospitals, and 50 Mennonite missionaries in India. Ambedkar was a Dalit (outcaste) who served for several years as Chairman of the Drafting Committee of the Indian Constitution. I apply the test of satya [truth] and ahimsa [nonviolence] laid down by these very scriptures for their interpretation. The gods and popular forms of worship were all around them – temples, idols, sacrifices, processions and festivals with pulsating chanting, drumming, and dancing. [10] There was famine and disaster relief. There is one record of correspondence between Gandhi and Mennonite missionary J.N. Although they were supported by the Mennonite Brethren in Russia, Abraham was pastor of a church of 300 members that had been established and sponsored by the American Baptist Missionary Union (AMBU). There were plenty of popular stories about the scheming exploits, conflicts, fits of temper, and sexual prowess of gods and goddesses. The most egregious manifestation of caste was the practice of untouchability that marginalized tens of millions to the fringes of communities, to demeaning work, and to massive exploitation. The Presiding officer for the conference is Dr P B Arnold. He maintained correspondence with some of them after returning to the US, and through them he became aware of the devastating famine in several regions of India in 1897. He had never read the Gita before and knew very little Sanskrit, but he studied it with them in Edwin Arnold’s English translation, The Song Celestial, and it became the central Scripture of his life. It has 19 congregations. Satyagraha[52] assumes that the opponent’s conscience will respond positively to nonviolent efforts to bring about justice. It is a torn copy of the Goshen newspaper, The News-Democrat, dated January 30, 1948. Where did Mennonites in Canada come from? What was it that Mennonites found so offensive in Hinduism in the first half of the twentieth century? Using the language and worldview of the day, they increasingly expressed concern that they were not doing enough to ensure that the “heathen” heard the message of salvation and came to faith in Christ. Direct interaction between Mennonites and Gandhi was very limited. He would have been pleased. Its bishop has his seat at the town of Dhamtari in Chhattisgarh. The various branches were represented as follows: 22 GC; 12 MB; 3 MC; 2 KMB; 2 Holdeman; 2 Old Order Amish; and 1 Amish-Mennonite. The 248 congregations with 36,276 members … The church started its preaching ministry from Ama Bagicha. [33] There was one God, who was revealed through the Bible, the only authoritative scripture. But God was gracious and loving, and took the initiative to restore the relationship with humans through Jesus, the only Son of God and the Savior of the world. [40], He was one of the greatest teachers humanity has ever had…. They came down to India from … Amos Dick was asked by community leaders to provide goat milk for Gandhi and his entourage.Deals Gap Tail Of The Dragon Crashes, Daily Mass Propers 2021, Southampton Vs Newcastle 2019/20, Simple Wedding Decorations In Ghana, Newcastle United 2010, Martha Kalifatidis Partner, De Bruyne Vs Bournemouth,