Irvin B. Horst, 94, currently resides at Oak Lea at Virginia Mennonite Retirement Community. The Anabaptist scholar’s professional career took him to several European countries and lengthy teaching stints in Holland and at EMU. His spouse, Ava Rohrer Horst, died in 1994 at age 77.

Dr. Horst, professor emeritus of church history at EMU, devoted much time and energy to acquiring both rare and contemporary books to enrich the collections in the Menno Simons Historical Library in Hartzler Library. The library is named for the late Sadie A. Hartzler, head librarian at the former Eastern Mennonite College, 1926-1962.

Irvin B. Horst: “(The late) Sadie Hartzler helped instill in me a passion for books and for Mennonite history.” Photo by Jim Bishop

“I was a poor Mennonite farm boy from Berks County (PA) who wanted to go on in school but lacked the means,” Horst said. In 1936, the late Daniel W. Lehman was in the area soliciting students and told young Horst that “I think we can find a way to get you to Harrisonburg.”

Horst wound up working in the library under Sadie Hartzler, while “enjoying biology classes under D. Ralph Hostetter and studying Latin with Dorothy Kemrer.

“Sadie Hartzler not only encouraged my interest in books, but also helped kindle a passion for Mennonite history,” he said.

Horst was president of his class when he graduated in 1939 with a degree in biblical studies and theology. In 1946, he went to Europe to do post-war relief work while searching far and wide for books in Dutch, German and English to give or sell to the historical library.

Horst recalled a directive he received at that time from then academic dean Ira E. Miller: “Send us all the books you can!”

Horst joined the EMU faculty in 1955 to teach church history, but in those days, he noted, “we found ourselves teaching other courses that we weren’t necessarily trained for. We had large classes and heavy teaching loads.”

Along with teaching, Horst did major research on European and American Mennonite and Amish history and continued his efforts to build up the school’s historical library, which became the Menno Simons Historical Library and Archives, housed in the basement of Northlawn residence hall until moving to its present location on third floor of EMU’s Hartzler Library when that facility opened in 1971.

In 1967, Horst accepted an appointment from the queen of the Netherlands as professor of church history on the theological faculty of the University of Amsterdam. During his distinguished tenure, he continued to actively peruse book catalogs and visit antiquarian book shops, seeking additional items for the historical library.

When Horst left for his new assignment in Europe, colleague J.P. Jacobszoon wrote, “America will miss him, but the Netherlands is extremely glad to receive him, especially the Dutch Mennonite Church. There will be a gap in the United States and among American Mennonites. It may be, however, that he will create a new relationship between the churches on both shores of the Atlantic.”

“Irvin’s contribution to the Historical Library lay in his knowledge of the field of Mennonite and Reformation history and knowing what books and authors were important for us to collect,” said Lois B. Bowman, director of the Menno Simons Historical Library since 1990 and a faculty member since 1963.

Among the most significant acquisitions from Horst, according to Bowman, are two Jan Luiken collections of 100 and 35 items, respectively, including the 1685 illustrated Dutch “Martyrs’ Mirror,” the Menno Simons collection (66 items) of materials from the 16th to the 20th centuries both by and about Menno Simons and an Annuity Book collection of 197 items, a “gift” for which Horst receives an annual payment of a percentage of the appraised value.

In April, 1987, Horst was named scholar-in-residence at the place near and dear to him, the Menno Simons Historical Library at EMU.

The university released a book, “Menno Simons: A Reappraisal,” in January 1992 and dedicated to Horst as a “festschrift,” a book published in honor of a scholar. The 225-page hardback was a compilation of the addresses given at a Conference on Menno Simons held at EMU in 1990 and edited by Gerald R. Brunk, professor emeritus of history.

Menno Simons, a Dutch Catholic priest who converted to the Anabaptist movement in 1536, soon became one of the fledgling church’s leaders.

“I wanted to make these books available to EMU not only to expand the library resources but so that persons would be positively influenced by these important works in the life of the Anabaptist-Mennonite movement,” Horst said.

A feature article on the Menno Simons Historical Library and the many services it offers can be accessed at www.emu.edu/library/historical-library/

For 50 minutes on Friday morning, Feb. 18, in the President’s Room of Hartzler Library, it was something of a time warp.

Three scholars, part of a seven-member group who assembled in 1952 in Amsterdam, the Netherlands, to critique the status and direction of the Anabaptist movement, interacted with students in a "Mennonite History and Thought" class.

Irvin B. Horst, 89; Paul Peachey, 86; and Calvin Redekop, 79, outlined their involvement in what proved to be a landmark 12-day meeting that also included John W. Miller, A. Orley Swartzendruber, David A. Shank and the late John Howard Yoder. All were living in Europe at the time, doing graduate study or post-war work with Mennonite Church agencies.

"Dr. Al Keim, professor emeritus of history at EMU and author of a major biography of the late Mennonite theologian and educator H.S. Bender, called that gathering "the most creative event in Mennonite history," Mary S. Sprunger, professor of history, told the class in introducing the speakers. "This ‘reunion’ today of three of those original group members is also an historic event."

Dr. Horst, a one-time professor of church history at EMU who later taught 18 years at a Mennonite seminary in Amsterdam, was instrumental in bringing the original group together and in providing insight into similarities and differences between American and Dutch Mennonite faith and practice.

"American Mennonites were becoming more and more acculturated, especially after World War II, just as Dutch Mennonites had generations before," Horst said.

Dr. Redekop, a sociologist and author, is the only "Concern" member not of "Old Mennonite" background. Of Russian Mennonite descent, Redekop said he was raised "a fundamentalist" and was "quite taken back" upon enrolling at Goshen (Ind.) College in 1946.

"Although at first I felt like an alien [at Goshen] my experience there made me appreciate my Anabaptist heritage, and I quickly found myself stimulated and encouraged by the interaction in that European group meeting," he told the students.

The gathering became known as the "Concern" movement, and from this initial meeting came subsequent gatherings and the issuing of a series of widely-distributed "Concern" pamphlets addressing several key issues they felt the Mennonite Church needed to squarely face.

"Even though we all had done graduate study in church-related areas, our group didn’t focus as much on theological issues as on polity – the question of power and authority in the church and are we congregationally structured or more of an authoritarian body," Dr. Redekop said.

"Our aim was to ‘critique’ the Mennonite Church, not to set it off in a new direction," Redekop stated. "We all were influenced by the thought and writings of Harold S. Bender, the most prominent Mennonite leader of the 1940s and 1950s."

"Unfortunately, Bender felt threatened by our efforts, when really what we wanted was to take his work a step farther," Peachey said. "However, a number of the younger generation of Mennonites appreciated what we were trying to do."

"Our desire was to work at reform and revival as an Anabaptist people and not to promote divisiveness and schism," Redekop said. "I think we achieved that goal."

He noted that an intentional church community, Reba Place Fellowship in Evanston, Ill., evolved from the "Concern" movement with one of the group members, John W. Miller, giving leadership.

"I wanted to introduce students to the story of these young Mennonites who were trying to find a way to make 16th century Anabaptism relevant for the church in the 1950s and ’60s," Dr. Sprunger said. "They took these issues seriously and dared to propose radical ideas about New Testament congregationalism to a hierarchical church leadership that didn’t welcome the Concern group’s critique of Mennonite denominationalism.

"Even though they wore suits and listened to lectures on Mennonite history, this was a kind of activism," she said. "Scholarly research, discussion and publishing was their way to raise issues and call the church they loved to be more faithful."

"The speakers captured an important topic that still faces the church today – distribution of power," said Paul J. Yoder, a junior history and social studies major from Harrisonburg. "I appreciated the emphasis on reform that they voiced. It’s rare to get to talk with and hear from actual figures that we’re studying in class," Yoder added.

A retired EMU history professor has collaborated with one of his former students on a massive church history volume, "The Mennonites of Franklin County, Pennsylvania, and Washington County, Maryland, 1730-1970."

Samuel L. Horst of Harrisonburg, a professor emeritus of history at EMU, and Edsel Burdge, Jr., of Shippensburg, Pa., a 1981 EMU grad who studied under Horst, co-authored the 928-page hardcover book, published by Herald Press of Scottdale, Pa.

The book tells the stories of three centuries of faith and life among the Washington County (Md.), and Franklin County (Pa.) Mennonites.

From small beginnings in colonial American settlements, issues such as personal spiritual commitment, corporate accountability, nonconformity and peace have been constants. As questions of language, fashion, work, education and mission produced internal stresses, the group struggled to maintain group unity.

"This history describes in detail the particulars of that struggle as well as recounting stories illustrative of community life in general," Dr. Horst said.

The book was officially released June 14 at the annual meeting of the Mennonite Historical Association of the Cumberland Valley.

Horst, who taught American history courses at EMU 1949-51, 1954-1967 and 1972-84, is the author of "The Fire of Liberty in Their Hearts: The Diary of Jacob E. Yoder of the Freedman’s Bureau School, Lynchburg, Va.,1866-1870" (Library of Virginia, 1996), "Education for Manhood: The Education of Blacks in Virginia During the Civil War" (University Press of America, 1987), co-author of "Conscience in Crisis: Mennonites and Other Peace Churches, 1739-1789" (Herald Press, 1979) and "Mennonites in the Confederacy" (Herald Press, 1967).

Burdge, a Franklin Co. native, is a curriculum writer for Christian Light Education and edits the "Concococheague Mennonist," a publication of the Mennonite Historical Association of Cumberland Valley.