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Holy Experiment

Holy Experiment

The Warwick River Mennonite Colony, 1897–1970

by Jo Anne Kraus

Published by: MennoMedia

Imprint: Herald Press

400 Pages, 6.00 x 9.00 in

Paperback
9781513807621
Published: February 2021

$34.99 / CAD $47.59

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Description
Contents
Authors
Praise

In 1897, Mennonite and Amish families from northern and western states began to relocate to former plantation land in Southeastern Virginia along the banks of the Warwick River. Their move to these 1,000 acres was part of a larger, though little known, movement in the Mennonite Church in the late nineteenth century to settle church colonies in the post-Civil War South.
By developing the depleted soils of former plantations into successful farms and creating new Mennonite congregations, Mennonite leaders hoped to keep their church vital and growing in a time of shrinking membership. They also hoped to find a strategy for mission work in keeping with their faith. Holy Experiment: The Warwick River Mennonite Colony, 1897–1970 explores a critical period of church history through the story of the only Mennonite colony planted in the American South to survive this experiment and eventually thrive.

Foreword
Author’s Preface: The Warwick River Colony Reconsidered
Introduction: Holy Experiment

Mennonites on the Move (1897)
Life on the Denbigh Plantation (1607–1898)
Seasoning and Settling (1898–1900)
Cooperation and Consolidation (1900–1910)
Portrait of a Bishop (1910–1916)
Youth at War (1917–1922)
Meeting the World—Markets and Missions (1923–1935)
Accommodations for a New Age (1930–1945)
New Furrows (1945–1954)
From Colony to City (1950–1970)

Afterword: What Remains
Notes
Selected Bibliography
Index
Studies in Anabaptist and Mennonite History Series
The Author

Jo Anne Kraus is an independent scholar, teacher, and naturalist born in Newport News, Virginia, and based in the New York City area for 50 years. She holds an MA in medieval studies and a PhD in comparative literature from CUNY. Krauss helped develop an earth ministry at Christ Church Riverdale in the Bronx, founded and directed a literacy program for women and children in transitional housing in New York City, and has taught remedial reading skills to children since 2006. She currently lives in Baltimore, Maryland.

“A fascinating account of the Warwick River Mennonite Colony. These wonderful stories make history sing and lure us into the past.”

~Donald B. Kraybill, distinguished professor and senior fellow emeritus at Elizabethtown College

“A detailed and refreshing review of early history of our Mennonite colony.”

~Nelson Baer, church historian at Warwick River Mennonite Church and co-editor of The Warwick River Tide newsletter

“A valuable lens through which to better understand the larger unfolding story of the Mennonite church in North America.”

~Gerald J. Mast, professor of communication at Bluffton University and series editor for Studies in Anabaptist and Mennonite History

Holy Experiment

The Warwick River Mennonite Colony, 1897–1970

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