STUART MURRAY. The New Anabaptists: Practices for Emerging Communities. Harrisonburg, VA: Herald Press, 2024. Pp. 252. $18.99 (US).
From the author of The Naked Anabaptist, this sequel work is a valuable addition to Murray’s contributions to post-Christendom studies and to the task of uncovering what Anabaptism means in our time. The New Anabaptists helpfully introduces and provides examples of core practices that root Anabaptist communities as we journey farther into the post-Christendom era, when Christianity is not the assumed or dominant religion in the West.
Murray insists that his work is not primarily for North American Anabaptists, and his European context shines through clearly, but as a cradle Mennonite I find his perspective as a convinced Anabaptist extremely valuable to my own faith journey. Stripping away cultural trappings that so often entangle our communities, Murray walks through distinctive practices of the Anabaptist tradition—a refreshing emphasis on action rather than remaining in the theological weeds. This in and of itself feels like an Anabaptist task, reminding us that our actions speak louder than our words in our witness to Jesus’s way.
While this is still a fairly theological book—Murray tends to highlight the reasoning and impact of practices and then share examples, rather than spelling out exactly how these things could be implemented—its focus on practices rather than beliefs remains stimulating. Murray’s stories and comments on each practice provide practical insights from the Anabaptist Mennonite Network (AMN) that connects Anabaptists across the British Isles and all of Europe to some degree.
The book centers on twelve common practices of Anabaptist communities, practices identified collaboratively over time by the AMN. They are: interpreting and following the way of Jesus, living simply, multi-voiced worship and biblical interpretation, baptizing would-be disciples, communion as a peace meal, nonhierarchical leadership, consensual decision-making, practicing mutual accountability, practicing peacemaking, practicing mutual aid, telling the truth, and witness in word and lifestyle.
Among Murray’s many insightful comments, one worth sharing—and which has been borne out in my own life and ministry so far—relates to why it remains important for Anabaptist-Christians to be able to articulate our distinctives. Murray reminds readers that
my experience of British Christianity . . . in at least thirty-five different denominations, is that the theology, values, and ethos of the Anabaptist core convictions are by no means as widely known and embraced [as some people think]. Many continue to baptize infants. Very few acknowledge that “peace is at the heart of the gospel” or prioritize peacemaking within their understanding of mission. Mutual accountability is rarely discussed or taught, let alone practiced, and consensual approaches to decision-making are not common. The implications of post-Christendom are becoming more familiar . . . but the Anabaptist tradition has explored these implications in much greater depth than most others. And most churches do not operate with a consistent Christ-centered hermeneutic that influences their approach to ecclesial and ethical issues. The core convictions, it seems are not “simply Christian,” if by this is meant they are widely understood and embraced (17).
While the above twelve practices and the seven core convictions of Anabaptism that The Naked Anabaptist was based on may feel simple or even obvious to Anabaptists, we must remember that they remain significant challenges to assumptions about Christianity held by both Christians and non-Christians. Murray’s experience as a practitioner of these rituals provides ample real-world examples of communities discovering, adopting, and adapting these practices so that they may better follow Jesus and serve the least of these in their communities.
Murray walks through each of the twelve practices, often covering two or three per chapter, and then concludes by practicing what he preaches about multi-voiced leadership; the book ends with a chapter each from three emerging Anabaptist communities—Incarnate (a church-planting network working across the British Isles), Soul Space Belfast (an innovative Anabaptist faith community oriented around reconciliation in a still-divided Ireland), and Peaceful Borders (an immigration advocacy and humanitarian organization relating to recent immigrants and those hoping to reach the UK). These chapters are contributed by Alexandra Ellish, Karen Sethuraman, and Juliet Kilpin, respectively. These stories of active faith communities were an inspiring way to close the work, reminding readers of the many places Christians are called to be salt and light in a world in need.
The book is well edited; I did not catch any typographical errors, and its layout, tone, and register make it a valuable resource for both the casual reader and the Anabaptist scholar. Helpful appendices make the book’s core points easily accessible; they are also available online, along with additional resources, atamnetwork.uk
This book would be an invaluable resource for the Anabaptist-curious reader and for emerging faith communities; still, I hope it makes inroads in established North American Anabaptist communities even if we are not among Murray’s primary audience. Murray’s critique of where older Anabaptist traditions have fallen away from the initial Anabaptist vision remains as important as it was with the publication of The Naked Anabaptist in 2010. Reminding us of practices that we can invest in to tangibly connect to our theological heritage—while at the same time being more inviting to newer Anabaptists and keeping us relevant to a world in need of Christian witness—is a tall bar that Murray easily clears, though perhaps it breaks less new ground from The Naked Anabaptist than I had initially hoped. Still, Murray’s call to modern Christians to understand Christendom and post-Christendom remains extremely prescient, as questions around the separation of church and state are front of mind due to the current political climate in the United States and around the world.