Hutterite Beginnings: Communitarian Experiments during the Reformation

by Werner O. Packull

A detatailed and well written account of this group of Anabaptists. The oldest and largest communal society in North America, the Hutterites―Anabaptists of German origin, like the Amish, Mennonites, and Brethren―have long been the subject of scholarly study and popular curiosity. Werner Packull tells the comprehensive story of the Hutterite beginnings in their original homelands―particularly in Tyrol and Moravia―and discovers important relationships among early Anabaptist sects.

Paperback

First published January 1, 1996

Reviews

[Michael Atnip · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent overview of early Hutterite history. Well researched and written. Probably the best book available for a thorough overview of Hutterite beginnings.

[Rob · Rating 3 out of 5]

Quite a thorough account of the formation of the proto-Hutterite communities - from Zwingli, to the early Anabaptist communities in the Tyrol and Moravia, to the persecutions meted out by Ferdinand I and the emergence of the Hutterites as a distinctive group in the 1530s. It was not exactly a page-turner, however, and took more than a little perseverance to slog my way through, but I managed to do it.