Church of the Brethren hymnody, USA

Church of the Brethren hymnody The roots of the Church of the Brethren lie with a small group of believers in Schwarzenau, Germany, who under the strong influences of Pietism sought to model their lives on the patterns of the church found in the New Testament and who were rebaptized in December, 1708. Under the leadership of Alexander Mack, Sr. (1679-1735), they rejected infant baptism, practiced footwashing as a church ordinance, claimed the Bible as sole authority in discerning matters of faith, and embraced nonresistance. Those outside of the movement called them tunkers, dunkers, or dunkards, due to their practice of baptismal immersion outdoors. Among themselves they were Brethren or...