76. Belk, Fred R. "The Emergence of Millennialism among the Russian Mennonites." Mennonite Quarterly Review 49, 1975: 217-25.

A historical sketch of millennial excitement among Russian Mennonites, influenced chiefly by the novels of Johann Heinrich Jung-Stilling which particularly affected Claas Epp, Jr., a Mennonite prophet.

[This article raises interesting sociological questions. The Mennonites at this phase of their career as a movement can scarcely be called deprived by any measure. Indeed, they had become quite rich during two hundred years of settlement in Prussia, and their Russian community, while no doubt a religious and perhaps a linguistic enclave, seems to have been a happy and definitely was a specially privileged place; they were under the special protection of the Czar. In fact, Jung-Stilling was in regular correspondence with him. However, it seems quite possible that their neighbors resented the foreigners in their midst, though there is no mention of any hostility in the article.

[The second interesting question is, how did the Mennonites contrive to keep their prosperous farms operating through all this millennial excitement, when typically such believers at least neglect if they do not actively destroy their former work in preparation for the end?]

[Another anomaly here is the career of Epp. As can be seen elsewhere (item 221, e. g.) prophets typically undergo a series of personal disasters and are in some sense outsiders to the communities they eventually lead. Epp was privileged from the start, being in fact a second-generation leader who appears to have inherited his charisma from his father (who does not seem to have been a visionary, however). Epp's vision had no ostensible divine source, so far as we can tell from the article, yet it apparently was quite convincing. His legitimation appears to have derived from his position, being acquired instead of ascribed. All of this reverses the usual pattern. This example contradicts some of the most fundamental assumptions about the sociology of these movements and calls out for more research. The article lists several primary sources which might be a good starting point.]

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