- Hutterite
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—Hutterian /heuh tear"ee euhn, hoo-/, adj./hut"euh ruyt', hoot"-/, n.a member of an Anabaptist sect following the principles of Jacob Hutter (d. 1536) of Moravia and practicing community of goods and nonconformity.[1635-45; Jacob Hutter + -ITE1]
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Member of the Hutterite Brethren, an Anabaptist sect that takes its name from its Austrian founder, Jakob Hutter, who was burned as a heretic in 1536.His followers modeled themselves on the early church in Jerusalem by holding their goods in common. Persecuted in Moravia and the Tirol, they moved eastward to Hungary and the Ukraine. In the 1870s many emigrated to the U.S. and settled in South Dakota. The society still exists in the western U.S. and Canada, where it has colonies of 60–150 members, who operate collective farms. Hutterites are pacifists who take no part in politics and remain separate from outside society.* * *
▪ religious groupmember of the Hutterian Brethren, a branch of the Anabaptist movement, originally from Austria and South Germany, whose members found refuge from persecution in Moravia. It stressed community of goods on the model of the primitive church in Jerusalem. The community, which acquired the name of its charismatic leader, Jakob Hutter (tortured and burned as a heretic in 1536), still survives, mostly in the western sections of the United States and Canada, and has a population of about 20,000. In colonies of 60 to 150 persons, they operate collective farms (Bruderhof) and, not unlike the Old Order Amish, remain aloof from outside society, taking no part in politics. Children are educated inside the colony until age 14 or until a minimum age decreed by state or province.Persecutions drove the Hutterites to Hungary and Ukrainein the 17th century and to South Dakota in the 1870s; during World War I, because of persecution inspired by their pacifism, they migrated to Canada. After the war many returned to the United States. Their high annual birth rate (45.9 per 1,000) has necessitated new colonies, sometimes to the displeasure of neighbours who distrust their communal life, object to their pacifism, and generally misunderstand their unorthodox way of life. Some areas have passed legislation to hinder the growth of Hutterite colonies.Additional ReadingJohn A. Hostetler, Hutterite Society (1975), provides a history and ethnography.* * *
Universalium. 2010.
