Saints into citizens: Mennonite discipline, social control, and religious toleration in the Dutch Golden Age

This dissertation analyzes the interconnection between Doopsgezinde (Mennonite) boundary maintenance and the greater social order of Amsterdam from 1610 to 1740. The dissertation uses over one hundred and thirty years of Doopsgezinde discipline cases in addition to their correspondence with the States General and William III. After 1535, the relationship of the descendents of the Anabaptists to the world quickly changed from violent revolution to quiet accommodation and assimilation. In order to separate themselves from the sinful world, the Doopsgezinden implemented a rigorous discipline to preserve their congregations 'without spot or wrinkle.' The dissertation emphasizes the importance of horizontal forces---self-discipline and honor---in the functioning of the congregations' social discipline. By the 1740s, the Doopsgezinden had become a wealthy congregation of well-respected burghers that rarely exercised its congregational discipline. The practice of a strict social control had become unnecessary, impractical, and undesirable in a congregation that had grown into wealthy and respectable members of society. The process of assimilation among the Doopsgezinden, the study argues, was aided by the decision of Amsterdam's magistrates to organize the city along religious lines, thereby creating distinct confessional pillars. Toleration in the Dutch Republic depended on the boundary maintenance and discipline of the dissenting groups. The Doopsgezinden cooperated with the local and national magistrates, and, in return, they expected the authorities to protect Doopsgezinde interests in domestic and international affairs. The overarching argument of this dissertation is for greater integration of the Doopsgezinden into the history of the Dutch Republic. Because it aided the disciplining of the entire country, the internal discipline of the Doopsgezinden (and all dissenters) was crucial to the miracle of the Dutch Republic. The study shows how religious toleration in the Dutch Republic contributed to the process of social control through the negotiations between the authorities and the Doopsgezinden. It thereby contributes to the histories of confessionalization, toleration, and Anabaptism/Mennonitism.