Hutterites
Hutterites (German: Hutterer), also called Hutterian Brethren (German: Hutterische Brüder), are a communal ethnoreligious branch of Anabaptists, who, like the Amish and Mennonites, trace their roots to the Radical Reformation of the early 16th century and have formed intentional communities.[1]
The founder of the Hutterites, Jakob Hutter, "established the Hutterite colonies on the basis of the Schleitheim Confession, a classic Anabaptist statement of faith" of 1527, and the first communes were formed in 1528.[2][3][4] Since the death of Hutter in 1536, the beliefs of the Hutterites, especially those espousing a community of goods and nonresistance, have resulted in hundreds of years of diaspora in many countries.[3] The Hutterites embarked on a series of migrations through central and eastern Europe. Nearly extinct by the 18th century, they migrated to Russia in 1770 and about a hundred years later to North America. Over the course of 140 years, their population living in community of goods recovered from about 400 to around 50,000 at present. Today, almost all Hutterites live in Western Canada and the upper Great Plains of the United States.
Theology[edit]
Contrary to other traditional Anabaptist groups like the Amish, the Old Order Mennonites and the Old Colony Mennonites, who have almost no written books about Anabaptist theology, the Hutterites possess an account of their beliefs, Account of Our Religion, Doctrine and Faith, of the brethren who are called Hutterites (original German title Rechenschafft unserer Religion, Leer und Glaubens), written by Peter Riedemann in 1540–1541. There are also extant theological tracts and letters by Hans Schlaffer, Leonhard Schiemer, and Ambrosius Spittelmaier.[44]
The founder of the Hutterite tradition, Jakob Hutter, "established the Hutterite colonies on the basis of the Schleitheim Confession, a classic Anabaptist statement of faith".[2][3] In accordance with this confession of faith, Hutterite theology emphasizes credobaptism, a belief in the Church invisible, Christian pacifism, and the rejection of oaths.[3] The Hutterite Churches also believe in "a set of community rules for Christian living and the principle of worldly separation".[3] Former members are shunned and are not to be spoken to.[45]
In the last 150 years several subgroups of Hutterites emerged. When the Hutterites migrated to the United States in 1874 and during the following years, there was a division between those who settled in colonies and lived with community of goods, and those who settled on private farms according to the conditions of the Homestead Act of 1862. The homesteaders were called Prärieleut, while the ones who settled on the three communal colonies developed into three branches: Schmiedeleut, Dariusleut and Lehrerleut; in the 1990s the Schmiedeleut split into two subgroups.
During the 20th century three groups joined the Hutterites, two of them only temporarily:
Starting in 1999, three Hutterite colonies separated from their original "Leut" affiliation and became independent. For these three colonies spiritual renewal became a major concern. One of them, Elmendorf, branched out two times, so that there are now five colonies of that kind, which co-operate closely, thus forming a new affiliation of Hutterite Christian Communities.
Depiction in media[edit]
49th Parallel (1941) has a segment that takes place at a Hutterite community in Manitoba, Canada.
The Hutterites[89] is a documentary filmed by Colin Law in 1964 with the following synopsis: "The followers of religious leader Jakob Hutter live in farm communities, devoutly holding to the rules their founder laid down four centuries ago. Through the kindness of a Hutterite colony in Alberta, this film, in black and white, was made inside the community and shows all aspects of the Hutterites' daily life."
In the Kung Fu episode "The Hoots" (December 13, 1973), the sheepherder members of a Hutterite religious sect offer no resistance to persecution by bigoted cattlemen until they learn from Kwai Chang Caine that, like the chameleon, they can change and yet remain the same in the American Southwest.[90]
In Season 1, Episode 9 of the TV series Movin' On, "Hoots" (November 21, 1974), gypsy truckers Sonny Pruitt (Claude Akins) and Will Chandler (Frank Converse) make a delivery to a Hutterite colony and soon find themselves embroiled in a violent conflict between the pacifists and rival farmers who are angry about the colony outcompeting them.
In the 1994 Leonard Nimoy film Holy Matrimony, Havana (Patricia Arquette) is on the run from the law and hides in a Hutterite community in Alberta, Canada, led by Wilhelm (Armin Mueller-Stahl).
On May 29, 2012, the first episode of American Colony: Meet the Hutterites aired on the National Geographic Channel. Filmed primarily at King Ranch Colony near Lewistown, Montana, with Jeff Collins as executive producer, the colony was paid $100,000 for permission to produce a documentary of Hutterite life. Immediately after the first airing, many Hutterites began to complain that the show did not represent a true picture of typical colony life and ended up being a reality show or "soap opera" rather than a documentary.[91][92] Some of the Hutterite cast later said that some of the scenes were scripted and that they were not aware of how the final version would portray the Hutterites.[93] Jeff Collins stated that he believes King Colony members were coerced to write retractions, under threat of excommunication from Hutterite leaders.[94] Colony leaders from King Ranch Colony wrote a letter to the National Geographic Society asking for an apology and that the show be discontinued, citing a false portrayal of Hutterites and a "breach of contract and defamation of our life and our character" as the reason.[95]
In 2013, How to Get to Heaven with the Hutterites was broadcast on BBC2 and looked at the lives of the people within the community.[96]
Another film about the Hutterites is The Valley of All Utopias (2012), a documentary about a Hutterite colony in Saskatchewan directed by Thomas Risch.
Hutterites were featured in the CBC TV series Heartland in Season 8, Episode 7, "Walk a Mile" (2014).[97]
Queer Hutterite (2016) is a self-produced documentary by a young gay man who left his home in a Manitoba colony to come out of the closet in Calgary.
Hutterites are also often depicted on the satire website The Daily Bonnet, alongside Mennonites, Amish, and other Anabaptist groups.[98]