Founded by the Church of the Brethren, Elizabethtown College prides itself in its motto “Educate for Service” by honoring all religious beliefs.
Sponsored by the Young Center for Anabaptist and Pietist studies, Mark Louden was invited to campus to give a cultural presentation as the recipient of the Brown Book Award Lecture for his recent publication, “The Pennsylvania Dutch: The Story of an American Language.”
Director of the Young Center and Pietist Studies Dr. Jeff Bach presented Louden with the certificate of achievement and introduced the lecture to the crowd.
“[Mark’s] lecture shows his deep familiarity not only with Pennsylvania Dutch, but also with the cultural, even religious, dimension of its significance for its speakers,” Bach later explained in an interview.
Louden first visited Etown’s campus in 1993 for a conference organized by the Young Center to mark the 300th anniversary of the Amish division and to honor the work of scholar John A. Hostetler, whose classic book “Amish Society” appeared in its fourth edition that year.
“In 1985, while I was a student at Cornell University, I met an Amish family from a community north of Ithaca and started attending church there,” Louden said in a email interview.
“I eventually came into contact with horse-and-buggy Mennonites living in the Penn Yan, NY area and began ‘running around’ with the young people and taught singing school there for two summers. The more I was drawn to the way Old Orders lived out their faith, the more I was intrigued by Pennsylvania Dutch. I was eventually baptized and am now a member of Milwaukee Mennonite Church near my home in Wisconsin,” Louden said.
The concept of Louden’s lecture was to explain the history of the current language used among the plain people, Amish and Mennonite groups of Germanic descent. By highlighting factors such as social stigma and geography, Louden explained the reasoning behind the varying factors of the language.
“I always enjoy presenting on the Pennsylvania Dutch language and the faith and culture of its speakers at diverse venues, but there is definitely something special about speaking in Lancaster County,” Louden said.
As a result, many of the previously discussed cultures and international backgrounds were in attendance. The audience was informed later in the lecture that although not commonly used in non-Anabaptist areas similar to Lancaster County, Pennsylvania Dutch is globally the fastest growing language.
“Those of us of Pennsylvania Dutch relation are completely misunderstood linguistically and culturally,” an audience member who preferred to remain anonymous said. “A lot of our daily routine have roots stemming from religious history.”
When concluding the lecture, Louden allowed questions or personal stories for those in attendance. Somehow, although receiving an award, the presentation was made personal, emphasizing the importance of religious perspective on Etown’s campus and religious studies department.
