Klassen, Pamela E.

English

Histoire sociale / Social History (E-Journal, York University)

Comptes rendus / Book Reviews 179Gloria Neufeld Redekop  The Work of Their Hands: Mennonite Women’s Socie-ties in Canada. Studies in Women and Religion, no. 2. Waterloo: Wilfrid LaurierUniversity Press, 1996. Pp. 172.The Work of Their Hands is a brief and straightforward account of the growth anddecline of Canadian Mennonite womens sewing circles from the beginning ofthis century until the early 1990s. Concentrating on womens missionary andfellowship societies in Mennonite churches founded between 1874 and 1952, GloriaNeufeld Redekop argues that, for Mennonite women, these societies acted as aparallel church. In a church where women were allowed few formal roles ofauthority, praying together, reading and reflecting on scripture with each other, andadministering the large sums of money acquired through fundraising were just someof the ways in which women developed their own versions of religious and admin-istrative leadership in women-only societies.Redekops choice of topic is fascinating, both for what it might disclose aboutMennonite womens own self-understanding and for what it might reveal about howMennonite women selectively drew from the wider society around them in creatingtheir own devotional culture. The first issue  Mennonite womens self-stated goalsand desires in meeting in women-only societies  is thoroughly presented in thisbook. The other more challenging task of showing how Mennonite women workedwithin the broader context of Canadian society in fashioning their versions ofreligious fellowship is not as well accomplished.Redekop bases her analysis on various written sources, including churchyearbooks, periodicals, and meeting minutes from the two Mennonite groups shestudied  the Conference of Mennonites in Canada (CMC) and the MennoniteBrethren (MB). Much of her study is also based on the results of a survey she sentout to 304 womens societies. With a return rate of over 60 per cent, Redekopssurvey data constitute a valuable written source for these small womens organiz-ations with relatively little documentation. While these sources provide the groundsfor writing a history of Mennonite womens societies, Redekop does not seem totake them far enough, for a number of reasons.First, the chapters in this book are remarkably short (one consisting of only twoand one-half pages) and left me wishing for more exploration of some complexissues. For example, how did the shift, beginning in the 1950s, from sewing circlesfocused on aid projects to fellowship-based societies centring on religious devo-tion relate to the religious revival percolating in Mennonite communities at thetime? In a related vein, how did a womens conference in the 1970s come to discussissues tied to therapeutic culture, such as dreams, bio-feedback [and] crying astherapy (p. 92)? In this shift to a focus on fellowship, did women start attendingnondenominational prayer groups, like Womens Aglow, thus contributing to thedemise of strictly Mennonite womens societies? Enthusiasm for revival and asometimes tentative embrace of therapeutic culture are themes that cut acrosstwentieth-century evangelicalism, and from hints within Redekops text it seemsMennonite womens societies may have shared an interest in such themes. Exploring180 Histoire sociale / Social Historythis further and paying attention to whether there were differences between CMC andMB Mennonites on these issues would have strengthened her analysis.A second reason that Redekops analysis falters is that she refrains from settingher discussion in what would be illuminating comparative contexts. Though sheoften draws helpful comparisons to other Canadian womens missionary societies,she does not pursue some of the most obvious comparisons, namely with AmericanMennonite womens societies. For example, among American Mennonites, conflictsbetween the women who led the financially prolific womens societies and the menwho eventually took them over have been clearly documented (Sharon Klingelsmith,Women in the Mennonite Church, 19001930, Mennonite Quarterly Review, vol.54, no. 3 [1980], pp. 163207). In contrast to the overt criticism of male-dominatedhierarchies that American Mennonite women voiced, Redekop describes CanadianRussian Mennonite women as pleased to follow mens guidance in their societies(p. 41). Using the American example as a foil might have allowed Redekop todevelop a more nuanced discussion of conflict or its absence amid Canadian Men-nonite womens societies and their church institutions. Overall, a certain hesitancyto discuss conflict characterizes Redekops analysis.The limited discussion of conflict is perhaps related to a third reason that Rede-kops analysis does not go far enough  the limitations of her sources. While hersurvey results are an important contribution to Mennonite womens history, shemight have been able to go further if she had devoted more time to oral history aswell. Women writing down their recollections for a scholarly project may feel moreintimidated and more self-censoring than had they been conversing in their kitchensabout the same topic. Eliciting some oral histories might have allowed Redekop toanswer some questions about the devotional culture and the presence or absence ofconflict within these womens societies.Redekops book left me wanting to know more about these and other issues. Forexample, how did pacifist Mennonite women feel about knitting for soldiers in thewar? How did European-Canadian Mennonite women conceive of the heathenthey were paying their missionaries to convert? How did Katie Funk Wiebe cometo review The Feminine Mystique in the Canadian Mennonite in 1966? (In general,more context for the life of Wiebe, a path-breaking Mennonite feminist whomRedekop frequently quotes, would have been welcome.) In some ways, thesequestions are a sign that Redekops book has the potential to inspire necessary andimportant work in the future. Her study is a useful first step in the history ofwomens societies among Mennonites, and it provokes intriguing questions aboutthe gendered basis of Mennonite devotional culture.Pamela E. KlassenUniversity of Toronto

Gloria Neufeld Redekop — The Work of Their Hands: Mennonite Women's Societies in Canada

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Gloria Neufeld Redekop — The Work of Their Hands: Mennonite Women's Societies in Canada

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Histoire sociale / Social History (E-Journal, York University)