2016/06/13

Intentional community - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Intentional community

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

An intentional community is a planned residential community designed from the start to have a high degree of social cohesion and teamwork. The members of an intentional community typically hold a common social, political, religious, or spiritualvision and often follow an alternative lifestyle. They typically share responsibilities and resources. Intentional communities include collectivehouseholds, cohousing communities, ecovillages,monasteries, communes, survivalist retreats,kibbutzim, ashrams, and housing cooperatives.

New members of an intentional community are generally selected by the community's existing membership, rather than by real-estate agents or land owners (if the land is not owned collectively by the community).

[hide]

Characteristics

Purpose

The purposes of intentional communities vary in different communities. They may include sharing resources, creating family-oriented neighborhoods, and living ecologically sustainable lifestyles, such as in ecovillages.

Types of communities

Some communities are secular; others have a spiritual basis. One common practice, particularly in spiritual communities, is communal meals. Typically, there is a focus onegalitarian values. Other themes are voluntary simplicity, interpersonal growth, andself-sufficiency.

Some communities provide services to disadvantaged populations, for example, war refugees, the homeless, or people with developmental disabilities.
Some communities operate learning or health centers. Other communities, such as Castanea of Nashville, Tennessee, offer a safe neighborhood for those exiting rehab programs to live in. Some communities also act as a mixed-income neighborhood, so as to alleviate the damages of one demographic assigned to one area. Many intentional communities attempt to alleviate social injustices that are being practiced within the area of residence. Some intentional communities are also micronations, such as Freetown Christiania.

Types of memberships

Many communities have different types or levels of membership. Typically, intentional communities have a selection process which starts with someone interested in the community coming for a visit. Often prospective community members are interviewed by a selection committee of the community or in some cases by everyone in the community. Many communities have a "provisional membership" period. After a visitor has been accepted, a new member is "provisional" until they have stayed for some period (often six months or a year) and then the community re-evaluates their membership. Generally, after the provisional member has been accepted, they become a full member. In many communities, the voting privileges or community benefits for provisional members are less than those for full members.

Christian intentional communities are usually composed of those wanting to emulate the practices of the earliest believers. Using the biblical book of Acts (and, often, theSermon on the Mount) as a model, members of these communities strive for a practical working out of their individual faith in a corporate context. These Christian intentional communities try to live out the teachings of the New Testament and practice lives of compassion and hospitality.

A survey in the 1995 edition of the Communities Directory, published by Fellowship for Intentional Community (FIC), reported that 54 percent of the communities choosing to list themselves were rural, 28 percent were urban, 10 percent had both rural and urban sites, and 8 percent did not specify.^[1]

Type of governance

The most common form of governance in intentional communities is democratic (64 percent), with decisions made by some form of consensus decision-making or voting. A hierarchical or authoritarian structure governs 9 percent of communities, 11 percent are a combination of democratic and hierarchical structure, and 16 percent do not specify.^[2] Many communities which were initially led by an individual or small group have changed in recent years to a more democratic form of governance.

References

Fellowship for Intentional Community. 1995. Communities Directory. 2nd Edition. Rutledge, Missouri, USA. ISBN 0-9602714-4-9.
Fellowship for Intentional Community. 2005. Communities Directory. 4th Edition. Rutledge, Missouri, USA. ISBN 0-9718264-2-0.

External links

Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Intentional_community&oldid=722057568"

Categories:

2016/06/11

Encounter with Silence: Reflections from the Quaker Tradition: John Punshon: 9780913408964: Amazon.com: Books

Top Customer Reviews

Inspiring

By Amazon Customer on May 30, 2000

Format: Paperback

An excellent apologetic for the Quaker approach to faith. Although Punshon is not well known, he is an outstanding and eloquent writer -- one of the best writers on religious issues I've encountered since Thomas Merton. He makes a strong case for an approach to faith that is grounded both in contemplation and prophetic action; two areas that are often seen as mutually exclusive.
The book is succinct and to the point and will enhance your understanding of Christianity even if Quakerism is not your interest. Punshon takes a common sense approach to much of much of Christian doctrine and even manages to make sense of the sometimes mystifying (to the nonChristian) belief in the divinity of Christ. Especially recommended to agnostics or struggling Christians although it should be noted that Punshon is equally critical of the liberal and conservative wings of the Quaker movement. END

----

An excellent read, if not original

By mianfei on February 20, 2003

Format: Paperback Verified Purchase

"Encounter With Silence" is a most impressive, if not original, outline of the Quaker tradition which dates back to the middle seventeenth century.

The book, written by Quaker John Punshon and controversial theologian Matthew Fox (who gives a useful introduction from his experience of Quakers), aims to outline the distinctive practices involved in Quakerism and does so most effectively because Punshon is able to write so well from the experience of his own life. He shows how silence aims to produce recollection in those who encounter it and the existence of historical precendents for the Quakers before the seventeeth century. Punshon understands effectively how the first Friends saw convincement (being reborn as a Quaker).

Punshon then focuses on unprogrammed Quaker worship and the manner in which it occurs through believers coming together in silence to pray. He is very effective in focusing on the enviroment created by the simplicity of worship so evident in Quakerism, and he does a useful job of understanding the way in which Quakerism has evolved into the present.

The next part of the book looks at the Quaker testimony and the way in which Punshon was attracted to Quakerism and the meaning of this "Testimony" which is expressed, Punshon feels, through one's life rather than though the Testimony's words.

The remainder of the book aims to deal with the way in which Quaker ethics can be expressed in everyday life. Punshon shows very well who a Quaker meeting can be used to avoid distractions from everyday life, but he spends a lot of the book explaining how one still has to "know how to feel". The book then turns to the meaning of ministry and the rhythm of the unprogrammed meeting.

Punshon does an effective job at remembering what he has learnt throughout the book, especially with repect to the various pieces of Quaker ministry. He does a very good job about explaining how ministry comes to people, and how harmony comes to a religious community.

The next piece focuses on the way in which Quaker principles are applied outside of worship, with examples relating to decision making and being faithful ("if you are faithful in little you will be faithful in much"), and how Friends do not seek to avoid conflict in their opinions. The last few chapters of the book are focused on how Quaker principles are applied in daily life.

Whilst none of Punshon's these are original, they are still a very good read.

Becoming a Mennonite Quaker

M:\My Documents\MQRARCHI\april2003\10mqrapr03.HTM

Becoming a Mennonite Quaker

LOIS FREY*

     Ten years ago when I was first becoming Quaker and told my older son about what I was doing, he said, ?Oh, Mom, you?ll always be a Mennonite.? In some ways, he was right. Being Mennonite has a very strong cultural as well as religious basis. Many of my closest friends have Mennonite roots like my own. In some ways by becoming Quaker I feel as though I am truly Anabaptist because out of my own study and experience, I?ve found the way that seems to most genuinely express my relationship to God and others.

     As a young child in a Mennonite home, I was taught about caring for those beyond my immediate community. I remember going to see slides of Germany and relief work by Peter Dick there when I was five. Each year, I made a Christmas bundle for a child my age in Europe and sometimes developed a correspondence with the recipient. When I visited in Germany many years later, the host of a family where I stayed for a month told me the story of his father preaching against the Nazis and being sent to prison while he and his mother escaped on foot. His first clothes came from a Christmas bundle. With his hospitality he tried to express his appreciation for how Mennonites had helped his family. Three of my sisters served in home missions, international missions and relief work under Mennonite organizations and we sometimes entertained persons from other states or countries in our home. Despite our provincial life, I had a sense of an international community.

     Growing up Mennonite meant being different, marginal within the larger culture. Julia Kasdorf has spoken of it as ?a doctrine of difference,? which sometimes means feeling inferior to others. My grade school teacher spoke of Amish as smelling bad, and I figured that Mennonites were close enough to the Amish to be seen in the same way. I also felt fiercely protective of having a secret identity when relating to the larger world. When I lived in New York City and no longer dressed plain, people recognized that I was different but did not know how to define me. When I attended a two-week seminar in Chicago with Madeleine L?Engle, people again puzzled over categorizing me. They guessed I was Jewish, American Indian or Italian. No one guessed my true Swiss-German identity.

     While teaching a class in a social work program, I came across an article that spoke about ?positive marginality.? This clarified for me my own position in the world and how I can be a bridge between two cultures when I?m on the edge of each and can see each from the outsider perspective. Because I was curious about how the roots of creativity are nurtured, I brought together a group of highly creative persons who had similar backgrounds to my own. The group included an anthropologist, a botanist, a fashion designer, a painter, a poet and a writer/historian/film maker. For several years, we met twice a year and spent a day together talking and making peace with our identities, forged out of growing up Mennonite. In the years since than, we have supported each other in our creative work. The bond of similar developmental experiences and feeling challenged as we moved beyond familiar boundaries created a spirit of mutuality.

     My father was an astute businessman who believed that quality, integrity and biblical compassion were more important than making money. As a self-taught Bible scholar he especially enjoyed studying eschatology and practiced his faith in the everyday. He loved the beauty of the natural world and enjoyed diversity in people. His example greatly influences how I live my life.

     I enjoyed attending Lancaster Mennonite School as a dormitory student for four years. A number of teachers had a significant influence on me, especially A. Grace Wenger, who mesmerized me with her readings, taught me how to present readings and encouraged me in writing. My teachers modeled committed Christian living. They taught me how to think, which was very different from being told what to think as when I attended an independent Bible college for one semester.

     Eastern Mennonite College also significantly influenced me. I remember taking ?Mennonite History and Thought? and, for the first time, feeling proud of being a Mennonite. The early Anabaptists were heroes of faith to me. This was different from the self-effacement I had felt among contemporary Mennonites.

     When I spent two months in Germany as part of a team from Mount Joy Mennonite Church, we went to see a cave in Switzerland where the Anabaptists had worshipped. I felt a visceral connection to my roots for the first time. I knew how strong the early Anabaptists? faith must have been to want to risk so much to follow their leadings, and I wanted to claim that heritage.

     I studied the life of Andre Trocm‚, a charismatic leader in a small French village who had helped save 5000 Jews during the Nazi regime. As a twentieth-century man, he exemplified for me Anabaptist beliefs of each life being precious. A Quaker had mentored him.

     During many of my years as a Mennonite, I was in leadership positions. I had learned very well from my father how not to express all of my understanding of the spiritual life, lest I offend more traditional believers. When I taught Sunday School, I would challenge people?s beliefs enough to stretch but not disorient them. Eventually, too much of myself felt unexpressed, and I knew I needed to leave. I found a maverick Mennonite church where I could express my more complex beliefs. However, my mystical side lacked a home. The congregation often felt more social than spiritual, and even the social aspect felt too limited for me as a middle-aged divorced single among mostly young families.

     Disillusioned, I decided to visit Lancaster Meeting of the Religious Society of Friends. The first Sunday I visited, I was experiencing a very difficult time in my life. Unforeseen circumstances meant I needed to make a temporary move and I was feeling overwhelmed. In the Meeting for Worship, a young woman gave a message that felt as though it was just for me. The gist of the message was ?All will be well.? That message comforted me all week, and I was hooked on the Friends style of worship. For just a bit, I went back and forth between Mennonite and Quaker services. I thought I couldn?t give up music, but I came to feel that I missed the quiet of Quaker meeting more than I missed the music of a Mennonite service.

     I continue to prefer the quiet of Quaker worship and find programmed services too busy. I felt as though I?d ?come home? when I joined Friends Meeting. Some aspects of Quaker life now seem more like the Mennonite church I grew up in than does the contemporary Mennonite church. Simplicity is a strong principle for Quakers, and the meetinghouse with its simple benches reminds me of the Mennonite meetinghouse of my childhood.

     As a book reviewer for Provident Books, I reviewed John Punshon?s Encounter with Silence several years before I became a Quaker. I was very impressed by the Quaker practice of Meeting for Business as a worship experience. Decisions are not made by majority vote. In fact, there is no voting. The minority viewpoint is listened to with the belief that the minority may have the truth. Each person?s opinion is to be valued and respected. This process goes beyond consensus and, although it takes a long time, when a decision is made it is then well supported.

     By the end of my first year as an attender at Friends Meeting, I was invited to be on the Worship and Ministry Committee. After two years, I became a member of the Meeting, a sign of wanting to be fully invested. Our particular meeting has a healthy spirit of community, so most of my social activities are with those from meeting, just as in childhood the church was the center of our social life. Probably one-third of the people at my meeting have some Anabaptist background; only a handful of people are birthright Quakers.

     My Mennonite background has influenced me to feel comfortable with being different, out of the mainstream. I expect to have a minority viewpoint and am comfortable stating my position. Probably the strongest theme that joins Mennonites and Quakers is the peace position. I find it impossible to understand how violence and war can be justified.

     As a peace issues coordinator at Pendle Hill, a Quaker Center for Study and Contemplation, I organized an international conference on peace. Through this job, I came to understand the differences between Anabaptists and Quakers regarding the peace position. There seems to be less unanimity among Quakers regarding what to do. Some Quakers were not supported by their meetings when they took a conscientious objector position during the Vietnam War. Mennonites had a more established system for alternate service at that time. Quakers in the past have been more activist and challenging of government than have Mennonites. They believed in ?speaking the truth to power.? An article that helped me understand the differences is ?A Journalist?s Private Reflections on the Mennonites,? edited by Robert S. Kreider and appearing in Mennonite Life (December 1990). It contrasts Paul French, a Quaker, with Orie Miller, a Mennonite.

     Mennonites can create very caring communities that quickly go into action to respond to disasters or individual physical needs of families. This ethic continues to inform how I live. With Quakers I also find the support to address more complex emotional and spiritual difficulties through the practice of clearness committees, in which a group of people sit with a person needing direction and help the person to ?get clear? by asking questions. It is a truly wonderful process.

     My experience with unprogrammed Quakers is that they focus more on the Spirit than on Jesus. This fits with my own experience of understanding Jesus through my inner experience of God rather than experiencing God through Jesus. Quakers speak of ?that of God in everyone? rather than speaking of accepting Jesus. The understanding of the Bible is more symbolic than literal, which also fits with my own perceptions.^[1]

     At present, I have little access to what is happening in the Mennonite church except for what I hear from friends and family who remain Mennonites. There seems to be enormous diversity in terms of ethnicity and theology. Some Mennonites seem to have become mainstream, more right wing politically and fundamentalist religiously. Some become more materialistic and embrace the theology of financial success as a sign of God?s blessing. That does not feel like the Mennonite church I grew up in; I feel more comfortable with the Quaker focus on acceptance of diverse beliefs and integrity in practicing simplicity.

     Perhaps in becoming Quaker, I am very Anabaptist. Assuming personal responsibility for one?s beliefs is the core of Anabaptism. Out of my Mennonite religious education and my personal pursuit of spirituality, I have come to Quaker faith and practice as the best way for me to express my own understanding and experience.

^[1] . The unprogrammed meeting I attend is part of the Philadelphia Yearly Meeting. This branch of Quakerism predominates in the northeast. In other parts of the country and around the world, there are also programmed meetings, which are more like regular Protestant churches. 328 The Mennonite Quarterly Review 329 Becoming a Mennonite Quaker *Lois Frey is a clinical therapist at Ephrata Community Hospital, Ephrata, PA. 323

The Mennonite Quarterly Review Past Issues

Past Issues

://www.goshen.edu/mqr/pastissues/

+January 2015

+January 2014
+October 2013
+July 2013
+April 2013
+January 2013
+October 2012
+July2012
+April 2012
+January 2012
+October 2011
+July 2011
+April 2011
+January 2011
+October 2010
+July 2010 +April 2010
+January 2010
+October 2009
+July 2009
+April 2009
+January 2009
+October 2008
July 2008
January 2008
April 2008
October 2007
July 2007 April 2007
January 2007
October 2006 July 2006April 2006
January 2006 October 2005 July 2005April 2005
January 2005
October 2004
July 2004
April 2004
* January 2004
* October 2003
July 2003
April 2003
January 2003
October 2002
July 2002
April 2002
January 2002
October 2001
July 2001
April 2001January 2001
October 2000
July 2000 April 2000
January 2000
October 1999
July 1999
April 1999
January 1999
+October 1998
October 1997
July 1997
*April 1997
January 1997

(* - link contains sample article)
(+ - link contains PDF file format. Click to downloadAcrobat Reader)

Plain people - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Plain people

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

An Amish family.

Plain people are Christian groups characterized byseparation from the world and simple living, including plain dress. Most Plain people have an Anabaptist background with the exception of the Old German Baptist Brethren and Old Order River Brethren. All but the Old Order River Brethren are of German, Swiss German and Dutch ancestry.

[hide]

Plain groups

Notable Plain groups are:

A small number of Quakers still practice plain dress.^[2]^[3]^[4] The Shakers also dressed plain, but today there are almost no Shakers left.^[5]

Plain customs

Customs of Plain people include:

Plain clothes, usually in solid, normally dark colors.
Plain church buildings, or no church buildings whatsoever.
A utilitarian view of technology, similar to the precautionary principle of technology in that unknowns should be avoided, but the emphasis was on the results in the eyes of God. If they were unsure of how God would look upon a technology, the leaders of the church would determine whether it was to be avoided or not.^[6] The degree to which this principle was supported varied among the congregations, but in general, the Amish people believed that the Mennonites had not done enough to separate themselves from the rest of the world.

Origins

The Mennonite movement was a reform movement of Anabaptist origins begun bySwiss Brethren and soon thereafter finding greater cohesion based on the teachings ofMenno Simons 1496–1561, and the 1632 Dordrecht Confession of Faith. The Amish movement was a reform movement within the Mennonite movement, based on the teachings of Jacob Ammann, who perceived a lack of discipline within the Mennonites movement by those trying to avoid prosecution. Ammann argued that Romans 12:2prohibited that.

William Penn, having experienced religious persecution as a Quaker, offered asylum to others who were suffering religious persecution, an offer that many followers of Jacob Ammann accepted, starting with the Detweiler and Sieber families, who settled inBerks County, Pennsylvania, in 1736. Many of them settled near Lancaster, Pennsylvania, which offered some of the most productive non-irrigated farmland in the world. By 1770, the Amish migration had largely ceased.

Religious practices

Plain groups typically have a bishop presiding over one congregation (Amish) or over a district (group of congregations) (Old Order Mennonites). Mennonites mostly meet in church buildings, but most Amish meet in members' homes. Services among Amish and Plain Mennonites are mostly held in Pennsylvania German, a language closely related to Palatinate German, with extra vocabulary. Bishops are commonly chosen by lot as a reflection of God's will. While the Bishop tends to be influential, he tends to rule by building consensus rather than by issuing edicts.

Most Plain groups have an Ordnung that among other things regulates clothing. TheOrdnung is a largely unwritten code of behavior, covering such items as clothing, vehicles, and the use of technology. The Ordnung varies slightly from congregation to congregation, though is in essence the same. Violations are not considered sins, although wilfulness is considered to be a serious violation of the faith. The congregation can change the Ordnung if there is a majority to do so. Exemptions to the Ordnung can be provided. In one instance, one farmer was granted permission to buy a modern tractor since he had arthritis and no children to help him harness horses.

Trends

Amish women at the beach,Chincoteague, Virginia.

The Old Order Amish are among the fastest-growing populations in the world. They prohibit the use of contraception and have low infant mortality rates. The average Amish woman can expect to have at least seven live births.^[7] Other Plain sects with the same or similar doctrines can be expected to have similarly explosive growth.

Despite this, the Pennsylvania Dutch, which includes Amish, Old Order Mennonite, and Conservative Mennonites are expected to become a smaller percentage of the population as the sects respond to high prices of farmland by spreading out all over the United States and internationally, and the English (the Amish exonym for non-Amish persons regardless of ancestry) population spreads out from Philadelphia into suburban and rural areas. Donald Kraybill believes there are Plain sect communities in 47 states.

Among people at least five years old living in Lancaster County in 2000,

89% spoke English at home;
7% spoke Pennsylvania Dutch;
4% spoke Spanish.^[8]

Most Plain sects do not admit children to their church, and impose no sanctions on those who do not join, but shun those who fall away from the church once becoming a member. Among some groups of Old Order Amish, teenagers who are not yet baptized are not bound by the rules and go through a period of rumspringa, often with a certain amount of misbehavior that would not otherwise be tolerated.

Health

The Pennsylvania Dutch generally do not proselytize and discourage intermarriage. Because of close consanguinity, certain genetic problems occur more frequently. Dr. D. Holmes Morton has established the Clinic for Special Children to study and treat families with these problems.^[9]

The Plain sects typically prohibit insurance, and they assist each other charitably in case of sickness, accident, or property damage. Internal Revenue Service Form 4029^[10] allows one to claim exemption to Social Security taxes under certain very restrictive conditions, and members of the Plain groups neither pay these taxes nor receive death, disability, or retirement benefits from social security.

References

Hostetler, John (1997). Hutterite Society. The Johns Hopkins University Press. p. 105.ISBN 0-8018-5639-6.
Savage, Scott (2000). A Plain Life: Walking My Belief. Ballantine Books. ISBN 0-345-43803-5.
Cooper, Wilmer (1999). Growing Up Plain Among Conservative Wilburite Quakers: The Journey of a Public Friend. Friends United Press. ISBN 0-944350-44-5.
Quaker Jane website
The Shaker Manifesto. N. A. Briggs, Publisher. 1878.
Zimmerman, Diane (2000). Holding the Line: The Telephone in Old Order Mennonite and Amish Life. Johns Hopkins University Press. ISBN 0-8018-6375-9.
Meyers, Thomas J. (1990). "Amish". Global Anabaptist Mennonite Encyclopedia Online. Retrieved 2008-07-20.
United States Censues, 2000, Population and Housing Profile: Lancaster County, Pennsylvania
Kate Ruder, Genomics in Amish Country Genome News Network, July 23 2004
Internal Revenue Service Form 4029; Application for Exemption From Social Security and Medicare Taxes and Waiver of Benefits

External links

GAMEO: Plain People

Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Plain_people&oldid=689347623"

Categories:

2016/06/13