Sleeping preacher
A sleeping preacher, also called trance-preacher is a Christian, mostly Protestant person who preaches, prophesies or addresses a public audience while "sleeping," that is, in a state of trance.[1]
History
The first reports of sporadic trance preachers, often children, are from the 16th and 17th century in Germany. [2] Immediately after the revocation of the Edict of Nantes in 1685, a resistance movement broke out among the persecuted French Protestants of the Cevennes in Southern France. This movement, in which trance preaching was relatively widespread, is known as the "prophet movement", the "French Prophets" or eventually as the "Camisards". It spread to England in 1706 and to Germany and Switzerland in 1711 where its adherents took the name Wahre Insprierte, that is "True Inspirationalists".[3]
Today
The Kauffman Amish Mennonites, also called Sleeping Preacher Churches or Tampico Amish Mennonite Churches, are the only existing chruch, that goes back to a speping preacher, namely John D. Kauffman (1847-1913). They are a Plain, car-driving branch of the Amish Mennonites. In 2017 the Kauffman Amish Mennonites had some 2,000 baptized members and lived mainly in Missouri and Arkansas. In contrast to other Amish Mennonites they have largely retained the Pennsylvania German language and other traditions from the late 1800s.[4]
Examples
- Johann Friedrich Rock (1678-1749) from Germany
- Anna Rogel (1751–1784) from Finland
- Constantine Blackmon Sanders (1831-1887), a Presbyterian from the U.S.
- Noah Troyer (1831-1886), an Amish man from the U.S.
- John D. Kauffman (1847-1913), an Amish man from the U.S.
- Helena Konttinen (1871–1916) from Finland
- Edgar Cayce (1877-1945) from the U.S.
- Amanda Matilda Reunanen (1894-1965) from Finland
- Maria Åkerblom (1898–1981) from Finland
References
- ↑ Don Yoder: Trance-Preaching in the United States] in Pennsylvania Folklife 18 (Winter 1968/69), page 12.
- ↑ Aarni Voipio: Sleeping Preachers: a Study in Ecstatic Religiosity, Helsinki, 1951, Pages 41-42.
- ↑ Don Yoder: Trance-Preaching in the United States in Pennsylvania Folklife 18 (Winter 1968/69), page 15.
- ↑ Sleeping Preacher Churches at Global Anabaptist Mennonite Encyclopedia Online.
Literature
- Aarni Voipio: Sleeping Preachers: a Study in Ecstatic Religiosity, Helsinki, 1951.
- Harry H. Hiller: The Sleeping Preacher: An Historical Study of the Role of Charisma in Amish Society in Pennsylvania Folklife 18 (Winter 1968/69), pages 19-31.
- Don Yoder: Trance-Preaching in the United States in Pennsylvania Folklife 18 (Winter 1968/69), pages 12-18.