Mennonite Entrepreneurs

Calvin W. Redekop is a professor of sociology emeritus at Conrad Grebel College, University of Waterloo, Ontario. His many books include The Old Colony Mennonites, Mennonite Society, Anabaptist-Mennonite Faith and Economics, and Mennonite Entrepreneurs, the last available from Johns Hopkins.

Books about these smallish religious groups are also about large human themes such as how traditionalism intersects with modernity, the ancient tension between individualism and communalism, clashes of deeply held cultures and values, and how religious ideology may impact the secular... Instructive and intriguing. Journal of American History An impressively wide-ranging exploration of religious commitment and entrepreneurial activity of potential interest to nearly anyone whose preoccupations touch on religion and economics... Of greater interest to sociologists will be the ways in which the discussion illuminates the process of an historically sectarian religious group struggling to find an appropriate balance between separation/resistance and cultural assimilation. Mennonite Entrepreneurs is a well-written and fascinating book and is a fine addition to Johns Hopkins's excellent collection in Anabaptist studies. American Journal of Sociology Mennonite Entrepreneurs is perhaps the most important current book about the contemporary North American Mennonite situation. The primary topic deals with Mennonites who are creative business leaders. The authors also trace 'the ways in which Anabaptist Mennonites have interpreted the role of economics in their society.' No other work has addressed these issues so comprehensively or analytically. The authors also deal with the churchly context of entrepreneurship. This work includes some of the most courageous commentary on the state of Mennonite society at the end of the twentieth century. Pennsylvania Mennonite Heritage, April 1996

• Preface and AcknowledgmentsPart I. Mennonites and Entrepreneurial ActivityChapter 1. Historical and Theological PerspectivesChapter 2. Religion and Entrepreneurial Activity: Congruous, Contradictory, or Paradoxical?Part II. The Ethos and Experience of the Mennonite EntrepreneurChapter 3. The Ethos of the North American Mennonite EntrepreneurChapter 4. The Entrepreneur and Work: Community or Self-Advancement?Chapter 5. Entrepreneurial Upward Mobility and the Dilemmas of SuccessChapter 6. Herioc Conformity and Community AlienationChapter 7. Rationalizing Faith and BusinessChapter 8. Mennonite Faith and Economic IdeologiesPart III. Theoretical ReflectionsChapter 9. Sociological Paradigms and Mennonite Economic SociologyChapter 10. The Cultural Contradictions of Memmonite Life and Utopian EconomicsAppendix. Methodological NotesNotesBibliographyIndex