A Pilgrimage Of Faith, J.B. Toews, 1993

Darbyistic move- ment. Another unhappy consequence was felt in the Mennonite Brethren peace witness. Pietism, with its emphasis on per- sonal salvation, the fellowship of all true believers, and escha- tology, remained rooted in the state church in Germany and the confessional church in England. The Anabaptist concepts of discipleship with lifestyle implications and love for enemies remained peripheral for them, despite their emphasis on sanc- tification. National patriotism and unconditional obedience to the state were part of their basic theological orientation. The German Pietists were said to have followed the slogan, "When it comes to war, then we shoot." Their loyalty to Kaiser and country took precedence to the love ethic of Jesus. 126 MENNQNTTE BRETHREN AT THE TURN OF THE CENTURY Jacob Reimer and Jacob Friesen (who received his theo- logical training in Germany) became important advocates of armed self-defense (the Selbstschutz) in 1918-1922. The cru- cial meeting at Ruekenau, in 1917, which led to the departure of the Russian Mennonites from their historic position of non- participation in war, must be recognized as one of the impacts of Pietism on basic Mennonite theology and ethics. It was the judgment of Benjamin B. Janz that the Mennonites in Russia would not have departed from their historic peace position had it not been for the leadership of Mennonite Brethren in- fluenced by the Alliance movement of Europe.23 It must also be recognized, however, that strong support for military self-defense came from other quarters as well. Some of the wealthy landowners who in the pre-revolution era had sponsored the Blankenburg Bible conferences now also supported the Selbstschutz. The German culture and ed- ucational programs of the Russian Mennonites offered them a broad sphere of compatibility and influence with the German occupation army in the Ukraine, 1917-1920. It also encour- aged military collaboration. The absence of any legal govern- ment following the Russian Revolution and the roaming hordes of lawless marauders who murdered, plundered and destroyed at will, offered circumstantial pressures for theologi- cal compromise.24 The theological openness of the Alliance movement laid a base for other tensions. The legalistic trend in the Mennonite Brethren fellowship was partially a reaction to the greater eth- ical liberty that the Pietistic Alliance movement left in its wake. According to B.B. Janz and A.H. Unruh, confusion also resulted from the Pietistic freedom for personal, individual in- terpretation of Scripture in contrast to the Anabaptis