Translation of values for the 21st century

Review of The New Anabaptists: Practices for Emerging Communities, Stuart Murray (MennoMedia, 2024)

There are about two million Anabaptists in the world today. Since you’re reading this, the odds are you’re one of them. At the very least, you’re knowledgeable of some aspects of Anabaptist values and beliefs. Congrats! You’re not just one in a million, you’re one in two million! But that also means Stuart Murray’s recent book The New Anabaptists isn’t really for you. Murray is writing to those just encountering and exploring Anabaptist viewpoints, those who are curious about what the Anabaptists are about in the 21st-century, de-Christianizing, North Atlantic world. That’s not to suggest, however, that Murray’s book doesn’t have anything to contribute to we “seasoned” Anabaptists, just that we might have to take a slightly different mindset into reading the book.

The New Anabaptists is a follow-up to Murray’s popular 2015 book The Naked Anabaptist. In this new contribution, Murray introduces the reader to a set of values and practices, six in total, drawn from core beliefs held in common among numerous Anabaptist communities. The list may not be extensive, and it may, at times, feel aspirational, but it’s nonetheless an honorable set of associations I think any Anabaptist would appreciate.

The six commonalities Murray highlights are what are typically associated with established Anabaptist communities. For instance, the centrality of Jesus is given prime position in the list and the book. Murray explores several significant facets of Anabaptist theology that ultimately derive from a Christo-centric approach to biblical interpretation and incarnational application. From there, Murray turns his focus in the second chapter to baptism and communion, which adds the community-centrism espoused in Palmer Becker’s three-fold centralizing description of Anabaptists. Becker also happens to provide the first of Murray’s endorsements on the inside cover. In the later listed practices, Murray also focuses on familiar Anabaptist themes, specifically simplicity and peace.

I was particularly drawn to and encouraged by Murray’s insightful focus on two themes gaining more primacy within Anabaptist communities: the desire for a diversity of voices, and a commitment to truth. As a counter-cultural movement, these two themes seem especially relevant for Anabaptists today. Of all the chapters I’d encourage you to read, it would be those.

Murray continues to write in an easy-to-read, easy-to-understand style – for that reason, the book is another helpful text for an introduction to Anabaptist thought and theology. It’s not perfect, though. The final three chapters, which do an admirable job of diversifying the voices and perspectives of the book overall, also leave a little to be desired. Three additional authors contribute their own stories to the book as a way of providing case studies for how Anabaptist communities exist in Murray’s contexts. Unfortunately, the stories just don’t quite connect or carry the same momentum as Murray’s other chapters. The stories don’t highlight any of Murray’s six core values in any specific way, but rather present a snapshot of three Anabaptist communities. Perhaps that is another way of introducing Anabaptism to interested parties, but the book then feels like two separate works.

And yet, every chapter felt familiar. In fact, all the chapters were as reassuring and uplifting as a heartfelt rendition of the “Doxology.” And that’s precisely where I think those of us from within the Anabaptist family might do well to check ourselves and understand what Murray is trying to do with his book.

It can be comforting when someone from outside the Anabaptist world, especially those in the post-Christian United Kingdom, find resonance with our deeply held convictions. Murray reminds us, and reinforces, that our values and beliefs are still relevant, still valid, and still growing. That’s no small service.

A thoughtful reader, however, would be wise to remember that Murray isn’t aiming this text at Anabaptist Christians, those who have already adopted Anabaptist worldviews and theologies. Rather, Murray writes to and for those who are encountering and exploring Anabaptism anew. Murray isn’t writing to pat Anabaptists on the back, despite the affirmation the book may provide to those of us who have already adopted our Anabaptist identities. Instead, Murray writes in the hopes of helping more people understand and join what we’re trying to do in the world. That’s an important distinction to keep in mind.

We who are already members of Anabaptist communities would do well to avoid the temptation to rest on the laurels Murray’s book awards us. It would be so easy, and such a shame, to finish the book feeling celebrated and affirmed. I don’t think that’s Murray’s goal or contribution. Instead, he is inviting us to consider how Anabaptist values and distinctives can usher a new world into being. How can our counter-cultural beliefs offer a hopeful alternative? We ought not to rest easier because of this book. Perhaps we could take it as a challenge to think more deeply about our Anabaptist navigation of the world, not less. Murray is translating Anabaptist values into his 2st1-century, post-Christian context in the UK. His book affords us a glimpse at how he does that. Perhaps we might benefit from paralleling his project in our own contexts.