History book of the Hutterite Brothers
The history book of the Hutteran Brothers , also known as the Great History Book and also simply called The Fat Book by the Hutterites , tells - apart from the introduction - in the form of an extended diary of the beginnings of Hutterite history and breaks suddenly with the date of October 28, 1665 from. The history book is one of the most important source books of Anabaptist research . Johannes Waldner wrote a continuation of the Great History Book , the so-called Small History Book .
Emergence
The beginnings of the history book go back to the Hutterite servant of necessity and servant of the word Kaspar Braitmichel , who kept it until 1542. He was followed as co-authors by Hanns Kräl and Haupprecht Zapff . The latter wrote proven by the year 1593. He is followed by four more anonymous chronicler, the first of which until 1614, the second to 1624, the third to 1629 and the last to 1665, the story book continued. The handwritten version of the chronicle was considered lost for a long time, but it was owned by a Hutterite community in Russia, which emigrated to America in 1874 and then published it there - spelling and stylistically revised. The aim of this publication was to make the history book the house book of the Hutterite families.
Rudolf Wolkan , the editor and editor of the history book printed in 1923 , points out in his foreword that he did not have the original manuscript for his work, but only a handwritten copy of the first history book.
content
The full title of the history book of the Hutterite Brethren reads: History = book and brief passage from the beginning of the world, how God judged, acted and carried out his work in his people on earth; therefore: Our common story = book.
Hanns Kräl, the second editor, mentions the real intention of the history book in his foreword ; it wants to tell how God "gathered a united people from all peoples, generations and tongues of Germany". Kräl interprets his time as the last age of this world , i.e. the final phase of history. The persecutions, cross, and tribulation suffered by the Anabaptist Church are hallmarks of this end time . They are the focus of the history book - wonderful arrangement for good memory and contemplation of the gentleman .
Contents of the history book
The quoted foreword by Hans Kräl is followed by a list of the leading Hutterite personalities in the period 1533 to 1687. These are: Jakob Hueter (1533 to 1536), Hanns Amon (1536 to 1542), Leonhard Lanzenstil (1542 to 1565), Peter Ridemann ( 1542 to 1556), Peter Walbot (1565 to 1578), Hans Kräl (1578 to 1583), Klaus Braidl (1583 to 1611), Sebastian Dietrich (1611 to 1619), Ulrich Jausling (1619 to 1621), Valtin Winter (1622 to 1631), Heinrich Hartmann (1631 to 1639), Andreas Ehrenpreis (1639 to 1662) and Johannes Rücker (1662 to 1687).
The history book of the Hutterite Brothers begins with the creation of the world and then leads through the biblical salvation history of the Old and New Testaments . This is followed by a passage through church history from a “free church” perspective. The so-called Constantinian turning point and the resulting growing dependence of the church on the state are seen as the deepest fall into sin of the Christian community. A special criticism is aimed at the papacy "as the highest abomination", which, from syncretistic sources and at its own discretion, has "mixed up a special book, the Decretal," and "stone churches, painted saints and wooden cross".
The emergence of Islam is also mentioned in the history book: "Machomet [Note: This means Mohammed ] came and created a special book of sentences from the old and the new testament, which the peoples of the Turks accepted and still keep".
In the special field of view of the church history show in the history book are the so-called heretics , u. a. Donatus of Carthage , the Arians , the Hussites, and the Waldensians . Here the chroniclers see their theological and intellectual historical roots, but also subject these movements to a critical examination.
The Reformation of Martin Luther and Huldrych Zwingli commented story book like this: "But the beginning was how beautiful always, they are soon the sacrament divided, half in two ruthless nations, the new Babel display it. Because no improvement in life was not felt in them at all, but a proudly inflated knowledge. To despise others, to eat meat, to take women, to scold the Pope, Münch and priests (as they probably deserve it), was their highest worship service ... But both of them (Luther, Zwingli) were baptisms of children and let the right baptism of Christ go. "
The actual chronicle of the Hutterite Brothers begins with the report on the establishment of the first Anabaptist congregation in Zurich on January 21, 1525, as well as its prehistory. It concludes with an economic report from the years 1664 and 1665: "These two years [...] was all the grain very expensive purchase, a peck of wheat, Senitzer degree to 3 fl and above [...] a few r [a] uhe ox skins were bought for 10 florins ”.
register
The history book is preceded by a register. The first part of this "register [s] and contents of this chronicle or story = book" give a chronological overview with short content summaries as well as page numbers on "all sorts of things and what happened". The second part offers a chronologically arranged compilation of all Anabaptists / inside "who were in prison or who testified with their blood and were executed for the sake of believing divine truth". Years and page numbers refer to the places where they were found in the history book .
A detailed register of the people mentioned in the text follows the history book . Members of the Anabaptist and Hutterite congregations are marked with a brother and sister. The following is a list of the places mentioned in the history book. The history book of the Hutterite brothers concludes with a list of “rare and uncommon words” with an explanation and a misprint correction .
continuation
The large history book was continued with the small history book begun by Johannes Waldner in 1793 , which contained a summary of the Hutterite history that had taken place to date as well as a description of the movement in the 18th and early 19th centuries. The small history book describes, among other things, how the Protestants who were expelled from Carinthia came to the Hutterites in Transylvania.
literature
- Josef Beck: The history books of the Anabaptists in Austria-Hungary . Vienna 1883
- Rudolf Wolkan (Ed. In collaboration with the Hutterite Brothers in America and Canada): History book of the Hutterite Brothers . Standoff Colony near Macleod, Alberta (Canada) 1923
- Andreas Johannes Friedrich Zieglschmid (Ed.): The small history book of the Hutterite brothers. The Carl Schurz Memorial Foundation, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 1947.
- Robert Friedmann: The writings of the Hutterite Anabaptist communities . Vienna 1965.
- Bernd G. Längin : The Hutterites. Prisoners of the past, pilgrims of the present, prophets of the future . Hamburg 1986, ISBN 3-442-11686-4 .
- Michael Holzach : The forgotten people. One year with the German Hutterites in Canada . Munich 1980, ISBN 3455088449 , ISBN 9783455088441 .
Notes and individual references
- ↑ The term of office of the named persons is given in brackets
- ↑ Rudolf Wolkan: History book of the Hutterite brothers . Standoff Colony near Macleod, Alberta (Canada) 1923, p. 28ff.
- ↑ Rudolf Wolkan: History book of the Hutterite brothers . Standoff Colony near Macleod, Alberta (Canada) 1923, p. 27f.
- ↑ Rudolf Wolkan: History book of the Hutterite brothers . Standoff Colony near Macleod, Alberta (Canada) 1923, p. 27.
- ↑ Rudolf Wolkan: History book of the Hutterite brothers . Standoff Colony near Macleod, Alberta (Canada) 1923, p. 32f.
- ↑ Rudolf Wolkan: History book of the Hutterite brothers . Standoff Colony near Macleod, Alberta (Canada) 1923, p. 34.
- ↑ Rudolf Wolkan: History book of the Hutterite brothers . Standoff Colony near Macleod, Alberta (Canada) 1923, p. 672.
- ↑ Rudolf Wolkan: History book of the Hutterite brothers . Standoff Colony near Macleod, Alberta (Canada) 1923, p. IX.
- ↑ Rudolf Wolkan: History book of the Hutterite brothers . Standoff Colony near Macleod, Alberta (Canada) 1923, p. XXXII.
- ↑ Rudolf Wolkan: History book of the Hutterite brothers . Standoff Colony at Macleod, Alberta (Canada) 1923, pp. 673-685.
- ↑ Rudolf Wolkan: History book of the Hutterite brothers . Standoff Colony near Macleod, Alberta (Canada) 1923, p. 686ff.
