Journal of Plain Anabaptist Communities (JPAC) Issue #3

I’m happy to share that the new issue of the Journal of Plain Anabaptist Communities (JPAC) is out. Here’s journal co-editor Joe Donnermeyer on what you’ll find inside the latest edition of this freely available online publication.

The third issue of the Journal of Plain Anabaptist Communities was released this past week. On the cover of Volume 2, Issue 1 is a photo showing an arrangement of the head table used by church leaders at a gathering of Old German Baptist Brethren. Appropriately, this issue begins with an article by Tony Walsh, National University of Ireland at Maynooth analyzing the love feast tradition among the Old German Baptists. The article offers a great opportunity for readers to learn more about this Plain group that combines the twin heritages of the Anabaptist and Pietist traditions.

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This issue also includes two timely articles about the Amish and COVID-19. Melissa Thomas of Ohio University and her colleagues examine attitudes and beliefs about COVID-19 and vaccination, based on a survey of over 250 Amish women in the Greater Holmes County community, while Joseph M. Harasta from Kutztown University looks at the early effects of the virus on Amish in Lancaster County. Rachel Stein of West Virginia and colleagues report on the relationship between reproductive history and post-reproductive mortality among Amish women from the Greater Holmes County community. External perspectives on Plain communities are at the heart of an article on public attitudes and prejudice toward the Amish by Bryan D. Byers of Ball State University in Indiana. 

JPAC is pleased to include the work of Benjamin Beachy, a promising young scholar, who provides a quantitative analysis of widowhood and remarriage in Amish-Mennonite and Amish communities. Finally, Volume 2, Number 1 includes a review symposium featuring three responses, representing three different disciplinary and situational perspectives on Karen Johnson-Weiner’s book The Lives of Amish Women, and including a response from Johnson-Weiner. 

JPAC is dedicated to publishing both empirical and theoretical work related to Plain Anabaptist communities, including, among others, the Amish, conservative Mennonites, Amish-Mennonites, Apostolic Christians, Brethren, Bruderhof, and Hutterites. To register for JPAC, go to https://plainanabaptistjournal.org/login. On the menu bar (about in the center), click on “register” and then follow the instructions. 

JPAC 1st Issue Full Contents

JPAC 2nd Issue Full Contents

JPAC 3rd Issue Full Contents

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