In Search of Promised Lands

A Religious History of Mennonites in Ontario

Samuel J. Steiner

• Publisher: Herald Press
• Year: 2015
• ISBN:
  9780836199802
• Topic: Theology & Religion
• Subtopic: History of Christianity

The wide-ranging story of Mennonite migration, theological diversity, and interaction with other Christian streams is distilled in this engaging volume, which tracks the history of Ontario Mennonites.

Author Samuel J. Steiner writes that Ontario Mennonites and Amish are among the most diverse in the world—in their historical migrations and cultural roots, in their theological responses to the world around them, and in the various ways they have pursued their personal and communal salvation.

In Search of Promised Lands describes the emergence and evolution of today's 30-plus streams of Ontarians who have identified themselves as Mennonite or Amish from their arrival in Canada to the last decade. In Search of Promised Lands also considers how various Mennonite groups have adapted to or resisted evangelical fundamentalism and mainline Protestantism, and it identifies the nineteenth- and twentieth-century shifts toward personal salvation and away from submission to the church community.

Volume 48 in the Studies in Anabaptist and Mennonite History series.

Find out more about Ontario Mennonite and Amish history at the author's blog.

Table of contents

• Front Cover
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Dedication
• Contents
• Maps and Tables
• Foreword
• Author’s Preface
• Acknowledgments
• 1: European Mennonites and Amish Venture to North America, 1680s–1790s
• 2: Settling on the Canadian Frontier, 1780s–1830s
• 3: Religious Renewal Divides Canada West’s Mennonites, 1830s–1870s
• 4: Assurance of Salvation versus Faithful Living: Diverse Theological Lands, 1870s–1890s
• 5: New Frontiers in Missions and Service, 1890s–1910s
• 6: World War I Unites, Theology and Nonconformity Divide, 1910s–1920s
• 7: Mennonites from the Soviet Union Enrich Ontario Mennonite Culture, 1920s–1930s
• 8: Maintaining Separation from the World, 1920s–1930s
• 9: Ontario Mennonites in Wartime, 1939–1950
• 10: Reshaping and Preserving the Mennonite Promised Lands, 1945–1960s
• 11: Faithfulness as Assimilation, Faithfulness as Nonconformity, 1950–1970
• 12: Identity Preservation through Institutions, 1945–1970
• 13: New Participants in the Promised Lands, 1950s–1990s
• 14: Nonconformity Leads to Growth, 1970 into the Twenty-First Century
• 15: Assimilated Mennonites Join the Mainstream, 1970 into the Twenty-First Century
• 16: Looking Back, Looking Forward
• Appendix: The Four Types of Ontario Mennonites and Reflections on Their Futures
• Notes
• Glossary
• Bibliography
• Index
• Studies in Anabaptist and Mennonite History Series
• The Author