Brethren, slavery and Hutterite colonies subject of February talks at Elizabethtown College's Young Center

Center director, E-town grad featured speakers

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Jeff Bach

ELIZABETHTOWN, PA (01/11/2012)(readMedia)-- Though the Brethren were strong opponents of slave holding, with some even paying to free slaves, a few rare individuals kept slaves. Jeff Bach, director of the Young Center for Pietist and Anabaptist Studies at Elizabethtown College, explores these cases of slaveholding as he speaks on "The Unchristian Slave Trade: Brethren and Slavery," at 7 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 2, in the Center's Bucher Meetinghouse.

The free lecture will examine slavery-related tensions among Brethren, especially in the period just prior to the Civil War.

Bach, director of the Young Center and associate professor of religious studies at Elizabethtown College, is author of Voices of the Turtledoves: The Sacred World of Ephrata and co-author of Genius of the Transcendent: Mystical Writings of Jakob Boehme.

At 7 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 23, in Bucher Meetinghouse, E-town College graduate Ryan Long will discuss the challenges facing Hutterite colonies during World War I. In his free lecture, "Communal Peace during World War I," the 2011 religious studies graduate will talk about how the Hutterites used war events to strengthen their identity and reconnect to their history. These actions secured their future as a separate communal society in North America.

Contact: the Young Center at 717-361-1470 or youngctr@etown.edu.

Visit www.etown.edu/youngctr.

Elizabethtown College, in south-central Pennsylvania, is a private coed institution offering more than four dozen liberal arts, fine and performing arts, science and engineering, business, communications and education degrees. Through personal attention, creative inspiration and academic challenge, Elizabethtown College students are encouraged to expand their intellectual curiosity and are given the opportunity to become a bigger part of the world through experiential learning-research, internships and study abroad. Elizabethtown College's overall commitment to Educate for Service is fulfilled as students are taught intellectually, socially, aesthetically and ethically for lives of service and leadership.

Visit www.etown.edu for more information about Elizabethtown College.