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COLONIAL GERMANTOWN MENNONITES

Leonard Gross and Jan Gleysteen

Summary: This is the only currently available volume that identifies the Colonial-era Mennonite and Brethren buildings and sites still in existence in the Germantown section of Philadelphia. Complete with photos and map, the book invites strolling through these historic neighborhoods. The Tour Guide section is couched within a short history of these Germantown Mennonites, describing in colorful fashion the life and faith of the first German immigrants to arrive in the “New World.”

Comment: “The authors offer vivid glimpses into a time in which newcomers to Pennsylvania holding various religious convictions sought to live their faith in harmony not only among themselves but also with Native Americans. Amid today’s religious fragmentation, this glimpse is refreshing.”
—Susan Biesecker-Mast, Professor of Communication; and Chair; Communication and Theatre Department, Bluffton University

“Part synthesis of primary and secondary sources, part walking-tour pamphlet, Colonial Germantown Mennonites can also be read in the context of current discussions of immigration and religious plurality.”
—Joyce Munro, Eastern University and Author

“An urge will well up in the reader of this slender, well-illustrated volume to include on one’s next trip East a walking tour of this enchanting, historic village.”
—Robert Kreider, Educator and Historian

“Colonial Philadelphia was a seedbed of American religious life. Here Quakers disdained military theocratic rule, German sectarians held that religious freedom could flourish only without a designated official religion, and denominational diversity had its beginning. This volume introduces the role of Germantown Mennonites in this formative epoch.”
—John A. Lapp, Executive Secretary Emeritus, Mennonite Central committee; Coordinator, Global Mennonite History Project of Mennonite World Conference

Market: Historians and any readers interested in an accessible history of the Colonial Germantown Mennonites as well as a guide in text and pictures to the historic sites from that era visitors to Germantown can still explore today.
Shelving: History—and Anabaptists, Mennonites, Colonial America, 1688 Anti-Slavery Petition, Revolutionary War, Historic Peace Churches, Penn’s Holy Experiment BISAC: History, Religion. RTM: 430 History/American; 690 Religion/Ethics

The Authors: Leonard Gross, Goshen, Indiana, was Executive Secretary of the Historical Committee of the Mennonite Church, editor of Mennonite Historical Bulletin, and director of the Mennonite denominational archives and historical research program located at Goshen from 1979-1990. Jan Gleysteen, Goshen, Indiana, has served the Mennonite church for 40 years as artist, writer, editor, and traveling lecturer. For the Germantown Mennonite Tricentennial, 1683-1983, Gleysteen created a series of pen-and-ink illustrations, plus texts, telling the Germantown story

Publisher: Cascadia Publishing House
Copublisher: Herald Press, Scottdale, PA
Publication date: January 2007
Approximate Pages: 80
Format: 6 x 9 trade paper, with color photos
Prices: $12.95 US, $14.95 Can.
ISBN 13: 978-1-931038-41-6; ISBN 10: 1-931038-41-4

Colonial Germantown Mennonites orders:

• Cascadia Publishing House Online Order Form
• Cascadia, Herald Press, and other order options
• Online shopping basket card orders through Colonial Germantown Mennonites page, MennoLink Online Bookstore