Community and Catastrophe

A rich and constructive engagement with the Schleitheim Confession, Community and Catastrophe breathes life into the founding document of early Anabaptism. Van Hoogstraten invites a new generation to encounter the Anabaptist tradition by engaging a familiar 16th century text in the company of contemporary voices like Hannah Arendt, Catherine Keller, and Giorgio Agamben. As a pastor and theologian, I have been waiting for a book like this, one that will enrich readers both in the classroom and in the pew. * Melissa Florer-Bixler, Duke Divinity School, USA *Ever since a controversial baptism ceremony in Zurich amidst the Protestant Reformation five centuries ago, Anabaptist communities have been distinguished for dividing and starting anew amidst failure and schism. In this deeply informed rereading of the oldest church order of the Anabaptists, Marius van Hoogstraten shows how the radical reformation habit of beginning again—without sword or sovereignty—opened a new path of resilient and renewable community life amidst the disintegration of imperial Christendom in early modernity. The book explores the problems and possibilities of this peaceable path with a view to the looming catastrophes threatening the present global order, while maintaining a fluent conversation with current social theory and theology, including the work of Giorgio Agamben, Catherine Keller, Judith Butler, and John Caputo. The result is a contemplative and imaginative meditation on the political potential of highly localized communities of faith and resistance along with emerging forms of sustainable shared life that may thrive amidst the end of the world as we know it. * Gerald J. Mast, Bluffton University, USA *In this remarkable commentary on that early summary of Anabaptist convictions, van Hoogstraten offers a sustained meditation on Christian faithfulness in a world marked by crisis, catastrophe, and collapse. Drawing on the insights of a wide range of contemporary historians, philosophers, theologians, and political theorists, van Hoogstraten challenges standard readings of Schleitheim as a defense of sectarian retreat. This is a book to be savored and pondered. I highly recommend it. * John D. Roth, Goshen College, USA *This book is as accessible as it is inviting and inventive! I am definitely going to lead a book study of it at my church. Its delicious potential to crack open how we as Anabaptists read our history and future oozes from the pages. It animated my spirit as I read it, not producing a nostalgic hope for the future—or even these apocalyptic times—rather a catalyst for courage if I am to continue to choose participation in this nonsovereign, entangled, and wild collective faith practice in the midst of catastrophe. * Sarah Nahar, Community Peacemaker Teams *

Marius van Hoogstraten is a Lecturer at the Mennonite Seminary at VU Amsterdam, The Netherlands.