Soviet Evangelicals Since World War II, Walter Sawatsky, 1981

that can eventually also lead to a better book. I have also introduced my own Anabaptist-Mennonite viewpoints rather specifically along the way. These viewpoints differ from “established evangelicalism” in emphasis—noticeable in such areas as discipleship, con- cept of the church and nonviolence.!8 I feel close kinship with the “New Evangelicals,” one of whom in particular has helped me see the potential value of applying an Anabaptist theological grid to the Soviet evangelicals. 4 This book is based on a broad spectrum of primary printed materials, personal information and experience, and unprinted materials. I have combed through the official Baptist journal Bratskii Vestnik (Fraternal Messenger) carefully for informational tidbits that gradually assumed a more composite character. The uncensored writings of Soviet Reform Baptists and others, which are now widely referred to as Samizdat, provided different and detailed information. Both Bratskii Vestnik and the Samizdat writers tend to stick to the facts but they perceive them differently. I have also utilized collections of newspaper clippings at Keston College and elsewhere for supplementary information. Keston College, where I began this study, also has a good collection of literature from the Soviet atheist press, which proved helpful in corroborating facts and in reflecting official state attitudes. Although it was not always deemed prudent to cite chapter and verse, information and understanding gained from examining the files of the Baptist World Alliance and the Mennonite Introduction 19 Central Committee were of great importance, Even more valuable was the information obtained through systematic interviews which I have been con- ducting since 1974 with Soviet Germans who have immigrated to West Germany in recent years. Often this material could not be quoted in order not to betray a confidence. The usual secondary literature has been listed in the bibliography. The Soviet evangelical story will evoke many emotions in the sym- pathetic reader. Often the story is sad. There is conflict. Sometimes there are heroes, other individuals (including Christians) could be designated villains, but the majority are “the meek’ whom Jesus promised the earth. That promise seems to have suffered a long-delayed fulfillment in the So- viet Union. But if I were to highlight one emotion dominating this story, it is that of a triumphalism because the church (of which the evangelicals are a part) is God’s movement. Negatively stated, one notes a growing exas- peration and de facto surrender by atheist leaders to this reality. Walter Sawatsky East/West Research Office Neuwied, West Germany Notes to Introduction 1. Similarly, in Reform Baptist literature, references about the nature of obedience to state authority according to Romans 13 seldom appear, while Acts 5— “We ought to obey God rather than men” —has become their slogan. 2. John Lawren