Perilous Journey: The Mennonite Brethren in Russia 1860-1910, John B. Toews, 1988

pressure basically squelched the potential of their religious revolution. By committing their ideas to paper in letters and official declarations the dissidents formalized their spiritual journey while it was still in its infancy. The ideas and experiences contributing to their liberation became less evolving and dynamic. In a sense they replaced a gospel with a creed. The secession document was almost a preamble to a confession of faith: a nonconformity born put of a dynamic renewal institutionalized prematurely. The legal-bureaucratic confrontation at an early stage of the Brethren secession not only narrowed the scope of the spiritual quest but terminated further dialogue. In its absence the larger community remained ignorant of the reformers' concerns. As hearsay replaced open communication it constructed its own image of the dissidents in the public mind. Meanwhile a few protagonists generated a series of administrative documents in which the minority proclaimed its innocence and cried persecution while orthodox leaders expressed concern about the collapse of the old order caused by seditious religious attitudes and practices. The protesters now stood alone. They were no longer a part of the old Bruederschaft (brotherhood). In part their new sense of identity was forged by the rejection of the larger community. They had only each other. There was also a common memory — some had once belonged to the "Wuest brotherhood." Here was a continuation of those ideals. After all the German language connotation of "brother" was especially intimate. Where was its meaning more significant and more applicable than in a new church of the truly committed? Little wonder that the dissidents soon spoke of themselves as die Brueder (the Brethren). It would be some time before others in the community used the term so positively. Brethren dissent was not only a search for revitalized religion but a quest for a broader world view (Weltanschauung) as 39 well. By reading the books and periodicals of spiritually akin groups in Germany the dissidents broadened their cultural- intellectual horizons. As Christian pilgrims, they looked west for their nurture. In the process of fulfilling their religious aspirations they not only affirmed German as their primary devotional language but absorbed some of the cross currents in contemporary German theology. In this context the Brethren were subjected to pietist and baptist influences which frequently related religious vitality to an ongoing, subjective religious experience. Was the Brethren protest also a revolution of the poor? Could the landless now find a religious outlet for their frustration? Did they use the prevailing dissent as a means of curbing the power of the wealthy and influential? Unfortunately no surviving registers clearly designate occupations of the early Brethren. Some inferences can be made from other sources. The radicals mentioned in Jacob E