From: The Encyclopedia of Canada's Peoples/Hutterites/Leo Driedger
The pioneer religious sociologist, Ernst Troeltsch, in the tradition of Max Weber, distinguishes the various Anabaptist groups as Protestant sects that differ from institutional churches such as the Catholics, the Lutherans, and the Reformed groups. They are a “gathered church,” committed to a disciplined life based on the teachings of Jesus, especially the Sermon on the Mount, and separate from the world. Other scholars have seen the Anabaptists as part of a struggle to restore the church to the purity of its New Testament beginnings. In this endeavour, the various branches of Anabaptism, under their individual leaders, have diverged.
The Hutterites are distinguished from other members of the movement, such as the Mennonites and the Amish, by their belief that Christians should share their religious, social, and economic activities through a communal life. They follow the biblical record in Acts 2:44, which states, “And all who believed were together and had all things in common; and they sold their possessions and goods and distributed them to all, as they had need.” Thus, Hutterites have lived communally for nearly five hundred years, with only two brief lapses.
Their world-view encompasses religious, social, educational, economic, and political activities in one unfragmented whole, like a seamless garment. It has been spelled out in a Hutterite charter that codifies both their beliefs and the guidelines needed for carrying them out in everyday life. Hutterites are not saved by a personal, professed faith alone, but by living it out with others in a Christian community where all things are shared. They reject a purely spiritual religion and require that every aspect of life, including property, be brought under the discipleship of Christ. In his Great Article Book (1577), Peter Walpot listed 148 arguments for communal living. Material goods are for the welfare of the community, and thus the individual is expected voluntarily to devote all of his or her time, energy, labour, and earnings to the community without remuneration.
Early Hutterites were especially diligent in working out the integration of faith and works. Peter Rideman in his Rechenschaft (1545) and Confession of Faith (1541) and Walpot in his Great Article Book expounded the divine order for the universe, humanity’s carnal and spiritual natures, the fusion of the individual with the community, the relation of the sexes, the question of property, and the proper worship of God. Respect for authority, including that of God over humanity, man over woman, parent over child, and elder over youth, pervades Hutterite thought and practice. Just as a grain of wheat loses its identity when bread is made, so also the individual must be broken and fused into the community. Unconditional obedience and self-renunciation are essential. From the kindergarten level to adulthood, the child is taught self-denial, submissiveness, and humility.
In the past, Hutterites often worshipped in the building erected for their English-language school, and some still do. But most Schmiedeleut in Manitoba and the Dakotas now have separate church buildings. Lehrerleut and Dariusleut have recently attached space for church functions to their dining rooms. Despite the fact that many Hutterites now meet in specially designated areas, the use of school buildings shows that sacred space is not confined to only one location but comprises the entire colony. The church structures are large enough to hold about two hundred people at weddings and funerals, when there are many visitors. Most of them are modest, neatly painted, and well maintained, but without a steeple. Inside they are undecorated and have no symbols on the walls and a minimum of furniture, though they usually have pews like other churches. In some colonies, older members are allowed cushions. At the front of the church is a table with a simple lectern and benches on each side for the minister, assistant minister, colony manager, German-language teacher, and other members of the colony council arranged in hierarchical fashion facing the congregation. Females in the congregation sit on the right and the males on the left according to age, with the youngest in front and the oldest at the back.
Worship services are held every evening (usually lasting less than an hour) and twice on Sunday (two hours in the morning and one hour in the evening). More modern colonies may have a buzzer that alerts families to the time of worship. Services begin with one of the ministers announcing a hymn and intoning the first line. The congregation repeats it after him in unison, singing in a high-pitched, shrill manner that resembles medieval chant. The tempo of the service is restful and unhurried. Both its sequence and the seating of the members emphasize order. The authority of males and their place in the hierarchy is thus displayed everyday. Worship serves as a didactic ritual of instruction and discipline. Symbolically, it reinforces the communal reality of which all are a part. The service is followed immediately by a communal meal at which members break bread together.
Hutterite colonies in North America vary somewhat, but the basic pattern in each community is similar. A typical colony ranges in size from 75 to 150 persons, half of whom are adults and the rest children under fifteen years of age. (Dariusleut colonies may be smaller than 75 in their early stages.) Table 1 shows that the average size in 1988 was 93 persons, with Schmiedeleut colonies somewhat larger (105) and Dariusleut (86) and Lehrerleut (89) slightly smaller. When colonies have reached about 150 individuals, they usually subdivide. In the 1950s this process occurred about every fifteen years. A colony of 100 ensures primary relations, provides more opportunities for leadership, keeps bureaucratic tendencies down, and allows for smaller land purchases in the region. Colonies go through three stages in a cycle: a newly formed settlement pays off the debts incurred by acquiring large tracts of land; it then enlarges its landholdings, buildings, and machinery and expands its operations; finally, it saves for the purchase of new land for a “daughter” colony. These stages are more distinct in some settlements than in others.
By the time that a colony approaches a population of 150, planning for a new colony has already been under way for several years. The last five years in the cycle are usually devoted to accumulating capital to buy a block of land ranging from 1,200 to 4,000 hectares depending on whether mixed or grain farming or ranching will be the major focus. The “mother” colony buys the land, preferably nearby, and begins to erect the buildings needed for some 60 to 80 people. Financing of the new operation has varied over the years; it depends on how well off the parent colony is. Sometimes a large down payment of cash can be made; in other cases, loans will be required from other colonies or banks. When the new colony is sufficiently developed, members of the parent settlement divide into two groups, usually headed by the minister and the assistant minister, and each group prepares for the move. Which one will actually go to the new colony is decided by lot. Those who remain behind rearrange themselves in the old colony, which now has almost twice as much space for them. With the division into two groups, all the leadership positions have doubled, and young male adults have more opportunities to assume responsibility for some aspect of the operations. Division also allows for any conflicts that may have developed over the years to be resolved. Since one group follows one of the ministers and the other group another, tensions that have built up can be alleviated.
Colonies are usually located away from towns and main roads, separated from the general population, and surrounded by Hutterite land. Spatially, they are similar in many respects. The central core, usually as far away from the entrance road as possible, consists of the kitchen, church, living quarters, kindergarten, and German- and English-language schools. Some colonies have a residence for the English-language teacher at the periphery of the compound. The various farm buildings are placed away from the residential area in order to isolate it from noise, smells, and farm vehicles and to provide access for deliveries from outside the colony. These buildings may include machine shops, storage sheds, garages, and fuel storage for crop operations. Pens, water tanks, feed hoppers, and sheds for the cattle, hogs, sheep, chickens, ducks, and geese are usually clustered together. Most early colonies had a lake or river for the ducks and geese. Each also has its own cemetery.
The colonies are extremely hierarchical in their organization. At the top is the minister, followed by the colony manager, who is in charge of the overall financial operation, and then the German-language teacher and the heads of the various departments, such as crops, cattle, hogs, and chickens. All these positions are filled by males. Women are less hierarchically ordered, although one of them serves as head cook. Sometimes a woman is in charge of the garden operations, but often in conjunction with a male. Leadership is crucial in a colony, and positions are filled by a vote of adult baptized males. Some colonies prosper and a few fail because of leadership. The minister, colony manager, German-language teacher, and several other elected members make up the colony council, which meets frequently to oversee all activities of the colony. To the extent that all baptized males vote for the leaders and meetings are held to discuss general concerns, the colonies are egalitarian. Members are also ordered by age. The elderly are highly esteemed and are given precedence in the communal dining hall. Older males are elected to more responsible positions. Just as in worship services the arrangement is by age, so in school the youngest students are placed at the front and the older ones behind them. These arrangements do not change much over time. Age, gender, and position structure Hutterite society.
