Mennonite Women in Canada: A History (review)

Marlene Epp opens her history of Mennonite women in Canada with a story about viewing an art exhibit on Old Order women in Ontario. The stereotypical Mennonite woman depicted by such images – she of bonnet, quilt, and horse and buggy – is challenged by Epp's exceptional book, which examines the lives of Mennonite women through a history of migration and settlement, household formation and family life, formal and informal labour, and religious faith. In a thorough and sensitive analysis of Mennonite women's lives, Epp argues that Mennonite women and communities are diverse in ethnicity, culture, and religious practice, and that this diversity is shaped by constant migration and resettlement and a community understanding rooted in diaspora (25–6). Epp also argues for the importance of taking seriously the value of faith and religion in women's history. Refusing to 'shy away from' (8) attending to religious structures and experiences allows her to develop a sustained analysis of institutions that were deeply important at the level of identity formation and community life. But Epp also challenges religious historians to take seriously the ways in which theology and religious precepts were gendered, arguing that key beliefs in the Mennonite faith, such as separation from the world, submission, and non-resistance, acted upon female bodies in ways fundamentally different from men's bodies.

Epp traces the prescribed roles of Mennonite womanhood as well as their lived reality, carefully tracing the delicate line walked by women as they grappled with contradictory theological traditions. A literal reading of scriptures led to a theology of female subordination, which was reflected in dictates on plain dress, head covering, and silence in church. Conversely, the Anabaptist theological tradition of spiritual equality between men and women in Christ created the possibility for women to increase their spiritual authority in the church. These two themes of oppression and empowerment played out in complicated, messy, and ambiguous ways in Mennonite women's lives. Some women embraced principles of submission, even publicly praising the value of submission to men. Others, while embracing the Mennonite faith, protested against restrictive clothing dictates (and the double standard that allowed men more flexibility in dress) or vocally demanded opportunities to vote and lead in the church. And while the emphasis on women's responsibility for children and family could restrict individual opportunities, many women were able to bring 'beauty to the mundane' (229), and their cooking, quilting, rug hooking, and embroidery expressed personal creativity as well as commitment to the skills of homemaking. Epp brings 'insider status' (xi) to the project, but she never assumes that she automatically understands the lives of her historical subjects, many of whom, by virtue of ethnicity, class, or culture, remain as 'strangers' to her (xi). The use of oral histories and occasionally her own memories and insights to supplement church records gives the book a richness that a straightforward denominational history would not have had.

As with any good book, Epp's work points to future research and raises some interesting and provocative questions that cross national boundaries. In just one example, Epp hints that authoritarian, separatist, and biblically literalist communities are more 'prone' to domestic violence (116), which suggests that comparative work across religious belief systems might help scholars understand the interaction among gender, religion, cultural patterns, patriarchy, and violence. And while the focus of this book is on women, her work opens up the possibility of connections between religion and masculinity. For example, the role that wives of ministers played in family formation and church politics is fascinating, and the fact that it was rare for ministers to remain unmarried suggests that marriage and family were crucial to men's sense of self, to their ability to perform religious labour, and to their understanding of their relationship with God (127). In addition, given that wives of ministers had a certain prominence within Mennonite communities, I wonder about competition between women, the role of jealousy or envy, and the place of judgment and...