{"id":{"repo_id":"wilfrid-laurier","oai_identifier":"oai:scholars.wlu.ca:etd-1118"},"canonical_url":"https://search.dev.ndltd.org/etd/wilfrid-laurier/oai:scholars.wlu.ca:etd-1118","repository":{"repo_id":"wilfrid-laurier","name":"Wilfrid Laurier University","base_url":"https://scholars.wlu.ca/do/oai/"},"display":{"title":"Going by the moon and the stars: Stories of two Russian Mennonite women","abstract":"The stories of women's religious lives are essential to understanding religion. This thesis records and interprets two Russian Mennonite women's religious lives, using methods of feminist ethnography. The first chapter is a video which presents Agatha Janzen and Katja Enns talking about their childhoods in the Soviet Union in the 1920s and 305, their flight to Germany during World War ll, and their subsequent emigration and life in Canada. Chapter 2 tells and interprets Agatha's and Katja's experiences of marriage during the war, and the effect of their status as widow (Agatha) and single mother (Katja) upon their entry into the Canadian Mennonite church. Chapter 3 discusses the structure and content of the women's stories about the war, and the ways they have integrated their war stories into their religious life. Chapter 4 considers the ways Agatha and Katja are Mennonite today, looking especially at the role of prayer, preaching, and personal relationships in their lives. The last chapter discusses the process of deciding what is religious about a life, the merits and tensions of feminist ethnography, and the implications of video for life history. Reflections on the effects of this work on Kalja, Agatha, and me conclude the study.","abstract_html":"The stories of women's religious lives are essential to understanding religion. This thesis records and interprets two Russian Mennonite women's religious lives, using methods of feminist ethnography. The first chapter is a video which presents Agatha Janzen and Katja Enns talking about their childhoods in the Soviet Union in the 1920s and 305, their flight to Germany during World War ll, and their subsequent emigration and life in Canada. Chapter 2 tells and interprets Agatha's and Katja's experiences of marriage during the war, and the effect of their status as widow (Agatha) and single mother (Katja) upon their entry into the Canadian Mennonite church. Chapter 3 discusses the structure and content of the women's stories about the war, and the ways they have integrated their war stories into their religious life. Chapter 4 considers the ways Agatha and Katja are Mennonite today, looking especially at the role of prayer, preaching, and personal relationships in their lives. The last chapter discusses the process of deciding what is religious about a life, the merits and tensions of feminist ethnography, and the implications of video for life history. Reflections on the effects of this work on Kalja, Agatha, and me conclude the study.","abstract_has_math":false,"creators":["Klassen, Pamela E."],"institution":null,"degree_name":"Master of Arts (MA)","degree_level":null,"degree_discipline":"Religion & Culture / Religious Studies","degree_department":null,"school":null,"contributors":["Ronald Grimes"],"advisors":[],"committee_chairs":[],"committee_members":[],"year":1992,"date_issued":"1992-01-01T08:00:00Z","date_published":"1992-01-01T08:00:00Z","updated_at":"2026-08-21T16:51:03Z","subjects":["Christian Denominations and Sects","Christianity","Feminist, Gender, and Sexuality Studies"],"languages":[],"rights":[],"rights_urls":[],"identifier_entries":[]},"links":{"outbound_url":"https://scholars.wlu.ca/etd/119","outbound_label":"Repository record","outbound_source":"dc:identifier"},"source_record":{"url":"https://scholars.wlu.ca/do/oai/?verb=GetRecord&metadataPrefix=oai_etdms&identifier=oai%3Ascholars.wlu.ca%3Aetd-1118","prefix":"oai_etdms"},"metadata_groups":[{"id":"people","label":"People","entries":[{"key":"dc:contributor","label":"Contributor","values":["Ronald Grimes"]},{"key":"dc:creator","label":"Author","values":["Klassen, Pamela E."]}]},{"id":"academic_context","label":"Academic Context","entries":[{"key":"dc:date","label":"Dc Date","values":["1992-01-01T08:00:00Z"]},{"key":"dc:type","label":"Dc Type","values":["Thesis"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_discipline","label":"Discipline","values":["Religion & Culture / Religious Studies"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_name","label":"Degree Name","values":["Master of Arts (MA)"]}]},{"id":"subjects_keywords","label":"Subjects and Keywords","entries":[{"key":"dc:subject","label":"Dc Subject","values":["Christian Denominations and Sects","Christianity","Feminist, Gender, and Sexuality Studies"]}]},{"id":"identifiers","label":"Identifiers","entries":[{"key":"dc:identifier","label":"Identifier","values":["https://scholars.wlu.ca/etd/119","https://scholars.wlu.ca/context/etd/article/1118/viewcontent/MM78143.PDF"]}]},{"id":"additional","label":"Additional Metadata","entries":[{"key":"dc:description","label":"Description","values":["The stories of women's religious lives are essential to understanding religion. This thesis records and interprets two Russian Mennonite women's religious lives, using methods of feminist ethnography. The first chapter is a video which presents Agatha Janzen and Katja Enns talking about their childhoods in the Soviet Union in the 1920s and 305, their flight to Germany during World War ll, and their subsequent emigration and life in Canada. Chapter 2 tells and interprets Agatha's and Katja's experiences of marriage during the war, and the effect of their status as widow (Agatha) and single mother (Katja) upon their entry into the Canadian Mennonite church. Chapter 3 discusses the structure and content of the women's stories about the war, and the ways they have integrated their war stories into their religious life. Chapter 4 considers the ways Agatha and Katja are Mennonite today, looking especially at the role of prayer, preaching, and personal relationships in their lives. The last chapter discusses the process of deciding what is religious about a life, the merits and tensions of feminist ethnography, and the implications of video for life history. Reflections on the effects of this work on Kalja, Agatha, and me conclude the study."]},{"key":"dc:title","label":"Title","values":["Going by the moon and the stars: Stories of two Russian Mennonite women"]}]}],"canonical_facts":{"dc:contributor":["Ronald Grimes"],"dc:creator":["Klassen, Pamela E."],"dc:date":["1992-01-01T08:00:00Z"],"dc:description":["The stories of women's religious lives are essential to understanding religion. This thesis records and interprets two Russian Mennonite women's religious lives, using methods of feminist ethnography. The first chapter is a video which presents Agatha Janzen and Katja Enns talking about their childhoods in the Soviet Union in the 1920s and 305, their flight to Germany during World War ll, and their subsequent emigration and life in Canada. Chapter 2 tells and interprets Agatha's and Katja's experiences of marriage during the war, and the effect of their status as widow (Agatha) and single mother (Katja) upon their entry into the Canadian Mennonite church. Chapter 3 discusses the structure and content of the women's stories about the war, and the ways they have integrated their war stories into their religious life. Chapter 4 considers the ways Agatha and Katja are Mennonite today, looking especially at the role of prayer, preaching, and personal relationships in their lives. The last chapter discusses the process of deciding what is religious about a life, the merits and tensions of feminist ethnography, and the implications of video for life history. Reflections on the effects of this work on Kalja, Agatha, and me conclude the study."],"dc:identifier":["https://scholars.wlu.ca/etd/119","https://scholars.wlu.ca/context/etd/article/1118/viewcontent/MM78143.PDF"],"dc:subject":["Christian Denominations and Sects","Christianity","Feminist, Gender, and Sexuality Studies"],"dc:title":["Going by the moon and the stars: Stories of two Russian Mennonite women"],"dc:type":["Thesis"],"thesis:degree_discipline":["Religion & Culture / Religious Studies"],"thesis:degree_name":["Master of Arts (MA)"]},"updated_at":"2026-08-21T16:51:03Z"}