A Bibliography of Authority, Power and Leadership in Anabaptism (in process and
not for reproduction), fourth revision, 11-28-15
Bender, H.S. “Church” in Mennonite Encyclopedia. Vol 1, pp. 594-497. Very important
statement by HSB maintaining Anabaptism is congregational, which he later almost
totally rejected because power and leadership were the underlying realities which he
could not evade .
Burkholder, J. Lawrence. The Problem of Social Responsibility from the Perspective of
the Mennonite Church. (Elkhart,: IMS, 1989).
Burkholder, J. Richard, and Calvin Redekop. Kingdom, Cross and Community
(Scottdale:Herald Press, 1976). All chapters, but see esp. Redekop, Calvin, “Institutions,
Power, and the Gospel.”
Encyclopedias. There are many major encyclopedias, see especially the Encyclopedia of
Religion and Ethics, and the Encyclopedia of Religion.
Driedger, Leo. Mennonites in the Global Village. (Toronto:University of Toronto Press,
2000) esp. chapter 9, “The Emergence of Women as New Leaders,” pp 187 ff.
Driedger, Leo and Dorothy Nickel Friesen, “Mennonite Women in pastoral leadership.”
Mennonite Quarterly Review,(hereafter MQR) 69,O-1995, 487-504.
Durnbaugh, Donald. The believers church: The history and character of radical
Protestantism. (McMillian, 1968)
Kraybill, Donald B. and Phyllis Pellman Good. Perils of Professionalism (Scottdale:
Herald Press, 1982). All chapters, esp. Calvin Redekop, “Can I be a Creative
Subversive?” See also bibliography.
Hamm, Peter M. Continuity and Change among Canadian Mennonite Brethren.
(Waterloo: Wilfred Laurier University Press.1987) See especially page 104 ff. on
charisma and leadership.
Handbook of Christian Theology. ((New York: Living Age books, 1958) Articles on
authority etc .
Harrison, Paul M. Authority and Power in the Free Church Tradition. (Princeton:
Princeton University Press, 1959.) Even though it studies the Baptists as case study, if is
very significant for the major variables of leadership, especially chapters 5 following.
Hecht, Linda A. “A Brief Moment in Time: Informal Leadership and Shared Authority
Among Sixteenth Century Anabaptist Women” Journal of Mennonite Studies. 17, 1999,
52-74.
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Hostetler, John A. Amish Society. (Baltimore, Johns Hopkins University Press, 1993 ed.)
“Leadership”, 105 ff. et. al.
Hostetler, Beulah. “Defensive Structuring and codification of practice. Franconia
Mennonite Conference.,” MQR, 60:429-444. Jl, 1986.
Klassen, William. “Another Perspective on ‘Leadership, Authority and Power.” MQR,
Vol. 72, 96-102 January, 1998. Very interesting argument.
Kniss, Fred. Disquiet in the Land. (New Brunswick:Rutgers University Press, 1997)
especially . “Challenging Established Authority,1907-1934” pp. 40-62.
Kraus, C. Norman God Our Savior, (Scottdale:”Herald Press,1991), esp.chg,6.
Lebold, Ralph. “Leadership and authority in the Life of the Church” (Mennonite Church,
1981) A task force led by Ralph Lebold produced a huge report, but it has not made much
impact. See at http://www.gameo.org/encyclopedia/contents.
____________“Decision Making.” ME, V, 219-221.
Loewen, Jacob, and Wesley Prieb, Only the Sword of the Spirit (Winnipeg: Kindred
Press, 1997). A scathing but sound analysis of authority and power among Mennonites
in Russia and in America. The index has dozens of entries on the uses and misuses of
leadership. Loewen was an anthropologist, Prieb was VP at Tabor.
Miller, John W. “Organization and Church” Concern. Vol.4, 1957; and in Virgil Vogt,
The Roots of Concern. (Eugene, OR. Cascade Books, 2009) pp 177-184. This reflects the
Concern stance from biblical and theological grounds.
Niebuhr, Reinhold. Moral Man and Immoral Society. (New York. Scribners, 1960)
Especially chapter 10.
Peters, Jacob, “Changing Leadership Patterns: Conference of Mennonites in Canada.”
Journal of Mennonite Studies, 7, 1989, 167-182.
Redekop, Ben and Calvin Redekop, eds. Power, Authority, and the Anabaptist Tradition
(Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2001) All chapters and, index, and
bibliography for extensive bibliography.
Redekop, Ben. Leadership for Environmental Sustainability. (New York: Routledge,
2010). Though Anabaptism is not directly referenced, obviously Ben and I speak from a
Mennonite perspective on leadership. In any case, it is a recent study of leadership in
various social and cultural contexts..
Redekop, Calvin. Mennonite Society. (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press. 1989)
see index for references to authority probably the most extensive overview for Mennos.
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_____________. The Church Functions with Purpose. (Scottdale, Herald Press, 1967).
____________, The Free Church and Seductive Culture, (Scottdale:Herald Press. 1970).
____________, “Social Stratification, Power and Domination: A Christian Perspective.”
443-447 in Charles P. De Santo, Calvin Redekop and William L Smith- Hinds. Hinds, A
Reader in Sociology: Christian Perspectives. (Scottdale: Herald Press, 1980) “Servant
leadership” is the premise.
Redekop, Calvin and Samuel J. Steiner. Mennonite Identity: Historical and
Contemporary Perspectives (Lanham: University Press of America, 1988). See index
for the many references to authority.
Regier, John. “Hearing the Word: Democracy, Brotherhood and Leadership” Direction.
V, 4, Oct. 1976.
Sawatsky, Rodney. Authority and Identity (North Newton, KS. Bethel College, 1987)
Says “Concern movement” undermined authority and leadership.
__________, “Leadership, Authority and Power,” MQR, 71 , 439-451, July, 1997.
__________, “Authority,” in Mennonite Encyclopedia, V, pp. 45-47.
Schlabach, Theron. Gospel versus Gospel (Scottdale: Herald Press,1980). See Chapter 4,
Story of how Fundamentalism was used as a way of holding power, authority and
leadership in the OM church. esp. Daniel Kauffman and other very powerful leaders.
Study Commission on Church Organization. 1965-1972 The major work on authority,
power and leadership in the (OM) Church. Final Report, released in 1972. The results
were lost in the merger process with the GCs. Online by above title.
Tillich, Paul. Systemic Theology. Vol. 3 (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1963),
this is very comprehensive and philosophical analysis of power and leadership, Pp. 81ff.
208 ff/ 205 ff, 263ff and especially 342ff.
Wach, Joachim. Sociology of Religion. (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1944)
Classic and still authoritative anthropological analysis of authority and leadership. Read
especially chapters 6 and 8.
Warkentin, Marvin. “The Roles of the Elders in Church Leadership.” Direction. V. 5,
#4, Oct. 1976.
Weber, Max. From Max Weber: Essays in Sociology. (News York: Oxford University
Press, 1946), see “The Sociology of Charismatic Authority” 245-252. Classic discussion
of Charisma and authority .
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___________ The Theory of Social and Economic Organization. (Glencoe: The Free
Press,1947) “The Types of Authority and Imperative Co-ordination,” pp. 346-406.
Yoder, John. Body Politics: Five practices of the Christian community before the
watching world. (Scottdale:Herald Press. 1992).
This not to be copied without permission from Jim Smucker or Calvin Redekop
Revised, November, 28, 2015
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