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

he inherent virtue of the peasant but argued that his education was the only means of revitalizing a stagnant and stratified society. All men had natural gifts and powers, provided the educator awakened them. It was not surprising that this interest in the life of the village struck a sympathetic cord on the Russian plains. The educational fervor which emerged during the first decade of the 20th century created a new constituency among the Russian Mennonites which cut across denominational lines. While not unrelated to the religious ecumenicalism which characterized the Allianz movement, the new mood also exhibited secular overtones. Instruction in reading, writing, arithmetic and Bible history was sanctioned by long standing practice. But what about adding the history of literature, poetry, and drawing to the curriculum? 16 The study of German and Russian was naturally imperative, but what of English and French? Heimatkunde naturally included the study of geography as well as local plant and animal life, but was it essential to know Russian and German fairy tales? Why did the Molotschna Mennonite School Society affirm that "more light folk songs were needed" in the music curriculum at its 12th annual meeting in 1911? 17 There was more. Young women should be sent to Germany in order to study Froebel Kindergartens and female teachers were to be allowed in the regular schools. 18 Was it the subversive effect of the books which began to accumulate on the shelves of the teacher societies? Some of these naturally focused on weighty themes like pedagogy, history and literature. Others seemed more frivolous — adventure, travel and fiction. 19 According to some educators there was even a need for something more — "fresh air, plenty of light and reasonable physical exercise." 20 Were the Mennonite peasants of the Russian steppes to be transformed into an educated elite? Where was the orthodox piety of old, the precisely defined ethic, the exacting division between the secular and the sacred? The mind-set of these new "humanists" frequently transcended the borders of their respec- tive group, but because their reforms were gradual and transpired in the context of community they did not threaten the prevailing equilibrium. Tremendous advances had occurred in business and agriculture and it seemed fitting to extend this to learning as well. Judging from the minutes of the various teacher societies there is one thing they did not do — engage in serious religious 85 dialogue. For that matter neither did the annual All-Mennonite conferences. Their agendas covered benevolent institutions, schools, missions and the forestry service, but there were no study conferences dealing with mutual views on the nature of salvation or the concept of the church. Similarly the sermons published in Friedensstimme and Der Botschafter were piously devotional, but carefully avoided any discussion of key theological matters