Conservative Mennonite Storybooks and the Construction of Evangelical Separatism
Journal of Amish and Plain Anabaptist Studies
Anderson, Jennifer, and Cory Anderson. 2014.
2(2):245-77.
The Amish Settlement in Honduras, 1968-1978: A (Half) Failed Attempt to Develop an Amish Understanding of Mission
Journal of Amish and Plain Anabaptist Studies
Anderson, Cory, and Jennifer Anderson. 2016.
4(1):1-50.
Research Points
- In 1968, an Amish settlement was established in Guaimaca, Honduras, led by Peter Stoll. Motivations included fleeing rising Canadian government interference, providing agricultural aid, and conducting missionary work.
- The settlement grew to 20 families by 1974, drawing pioneers from Ontario and Indiana. However, tensions emerged between Old Order- and evangelical-minded factions over technology use and changes in religious practices.
- The settlement’s fascinating socio-economic profile included large families, adoption of Honduran children, establishment of farms and commerce, and provision of local aid through schools, employment, and charity.
- Members failed to agree on a distinct Amish mission approach. Some felt the distinctive Amish lifestyle could model area-appropriate religious and economic developments, including tractorless farming, off-grid living, and strong family life.
- Others, frustrated by the awkwardness of Amish practices in the Honduran context, adopted an evangelical outlook, undercutting traditional Amish practices in favor of stressing “born againism.” By 1978, the one-third who had not migrated back to North America adopted automobiles and trucks, severing ties with North America’s Amish and realigning with Amish-Mennonites.
- The case reveals how the cultural logic of traditional practices are partly disrupted in a foreign environment. Without reinforcement from broader Amish networks, these disruptions made Amish practices susceptible to evangelical logics that rationalize away church lifestyle practices with the more abstract mission purpose “winning souls to the Lord.”
Access Related Content From The Project: "An American System of Separatism in Non-American Contexts"
Sanctifying Leisure: International Tourism among America’s Amish-Mennonites
American Studies Journal
Anderson, Cory, and Jennifer Anderson. 2017.
63(1):e1-e37.
The Amish-Mennonites across the Globe
Amish-Mennonite Heritage Series Vol. 2.
Anderson, Cory, and Jennifer Anderson. 2019.
The ‘Evangelization by Colonization’ Movement and the Amish-Mennonite Migration to Costa Rica
Mennonite Quarterly Review
Anderson, Cory, and Jennifer Anderson. 2020.
94(2):149-94.
North America’s Amish-Mennonites Adopt Abroad: The Ideologies and Institutional Conditions That Cracked the Homogeneity of an Ethnic Religion
Social Compass
Anderson, Cory, and Jennifer Anderson. 2023.
70(3):403-27.
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