10. This discussion is based on the most recent research on Ammann in Baecher, “Patriarche”; Hüppi, “Identifying Jacob Ammann”; and Furner, “On the Trail of Jacob Ammann.”
11. Séguy, “Religion and Agricultural Success.”
12. Séguy, “Bernese Anabaptists”; Baecher, “Patriarche,” 147.
13. Nolt, History of the Amish, 27–50, narrates the Amish division of 1693. Primary sources documenting the schism are in Roth, Letters of the Amish Division.
14. Leroy Beachy, Unser Leit, 1:25–110.
15. Ammann pointed to Rom. 16:17; 1 Cor. 5:9–11; 2 Thess. 3:6, 14–15; 2 Tim. 3:2–5; and Titus 3:10. The 1632 Dordrecht Confession remains the Amish doctrinal statement to this day. The text is most readily available in Leith, Creeds of the Churches, 292–308; an Amish-published translation appears in In Meiner Jugend, 8–61. For a recent Amish interpretation of the Dordrecht Confession, see J. Stoll, How the Dordrecht Confession Came Down to Us.
16. Research connecting Pietist convictions with Ammann’s ideas is summarized in Meier, Origin of the Schwarzenau Brethren, 23–24, 56–61, 97, 115, 143, and “Golden Apples in Silver Bowls.”
17. Roth, Letters of the Amish Division, 24, 118.
18. Nolt, History of the Amish, 41–46, summarizes the fruitless efforts for reconciliation between the Ammann and Reist factions, which continued through 1711.
19. Baecher, “Patriarche,” 151–52.
20. Ibid., 152–54.
21. Baecher, “1712,” 6. Baecher’s careful archival research points to local economic greed as a motivation for the expulsion order. Certain local figures engineered the king’s intervention into Alsatian affairs in order to force the Anabaptists to sell their land holdings at bargain prices to these same local figures. Christian III, Palatine Count of Birkenfeld and Lord of Ribeaupierre, who had welcomed Anabaptists to the area (as had his father and great-uncle before him), was upset by the expulsion order but was unable to stop a royal edict.
22. The “isolated enclaves” included territories near the Lièpvre valley but outside French royal sovereignty, such as Salm, Lorraine, and Montbéliard.
23. Hüppi, “Identifying Jacob Ammann,” 330–32.
24. Vincent, Costume and Conduct. See Luthy, “Clothing and Conduct in Swiss Laws,” for an Amish discussion of sumptuary laws and Amish understandings of plain dress.
25. Quoted in Baecher, “Patriarche,” 151.
26. Bates, “Insubordinate Anabaptists.”
27. Roth, Letters of the Amish Division, 43. In a 1697 letter to friends in Alsace, prominent North German Mennonite elder and ship owner Gerhard Roosen (1612–1711) of Hamburg criticized Am-mann for his strictness regarding matters of dress; apparently, word of Amish teaching that had filtered north emphasized clothing regulation; see Roth, Letters of the Amish Division, 68–70.
28. Quoted in Bates, “Insubordinate Anabaptists,” 531, with citations to folkloric sources.
29. See S. Scott, Why Do They Dress That Way?, and M. Gingerich, Mennonite Attire through Four Centuries.
30. Nolt, History of the Amish, 61–65, 107–17, summarizes Amish emigration from Europe in the 1700s and 1800s.
31. Schmidt-Lange, “Roast Bear?,” 9, 15.
32. Nolt, History of the Amish, 221–27.
33. J. Hostetler, “Old World Extinction,” 212–19.
CHAPTER 3. THE STORY IN AMERICA
Epigraph: J. Stoll, Amish in Daviess County, 119–20.
1. An eighth-grade Amish textbook by Uria Byler, Our Better Country, paints an image of an accepting American homeland against a background of Old World persecution. Small Old Order Amish settlements existed in Fernheim, Paraguay, from 1967 to 1978, and in Guaimaca, Honduras, from 1968 to 1979.
2. Nolt, History of the Amish, 72–95.
3. The dialect is sometimes known as “Pennsylvania German,” but we will use the more colloquial designation. Notes 7 and 8 of chapter 7 explain the origin of the dialect and introduce the extensive body of literature on Pennsylvania Dutch.
4. Nolt, History of the Amish, 113–26.
5. Levine, Roy, and Smucker, “View of Jüngerich,” 5–6.
6. Bishop David Beiler, quoted in J. Umble, “Memoirs of an Amish Bishop.”
7. See, for example, Reschly, Amish on the Iowa Prairie, 64–86.
8. The Amish church as a whole had no protocols for regular meetings of bishops and ministers. Rather, ordained men in a given region met on occasion to share common concerns, as evidenced by surviving reports from gatherings between 1809 and 1861, all of which are listed in Yoder and Estes, Proceedings of the Amish Ministers’ Meetings, 401–3.
9. Bender, “Some Early American Disciplines,” 95.
10. On the cultural developments discussed here, see Bushman, Refinement of America.
11. J. Umble, “Memoirs of an Amish Bishop,” 101–2.
12. Ibid.
13. In some cases, nineteenth-century Amish farmers were among the first in their neighborhoods to employ new technologies. Bishop Joseph Wittmer is remembered not only for his invitation to pray at the White House but also as the owner of the first sawmill powered by steam in Daviess County, Indiana (J. Stoll, Amish in Daviess County, 116).
14. See C. Foster, Errand of Mercy, and Johnson, Redeeming America.
15. Nolt, History of the Amish, 159–60. The Amish were one of many groups that were uncomfortable with the scientific and technological advances of the late nineteenth century, as noted by Lears in No Place of Grace.
16. Nolt, History of the Amish, 160–92.
17. Yoder and Estes, Proceedings of the Amish Ministers’ Meetings, 6, 34, 36–37, 51, 63, 97, 259.
18. Ibid., 258–60.
19. Nolt, History of the Amish, 189–221.
20. P. Yoder, Tradition and Transition, 261–87. For descriptions of Old Order movements among Mennonites and Brethren, see B. Hostetler, “Formation of Old Orders.” The origin of the term Old Order Amish is somewhat obscure. In 1862, at the first Dienerversammlungen, tradition-minded leader “Klein” Moses Miller (1811–1897) appealed to those present to “come under the old order” (müssten unter die alte Ordnung kommon) (Yoder and Estes, Proceedings of the Amish Ministers’ Meetings, 6), and the term Old Order thereafter became associated with the conservative cause. However, in the decades after the Dienerversammlungen most tradition-minded Amish referred to themselves simply as die alt Amisch (the Old Amish) rather than Old Order Amish. English-language Mennonite publications from the early 1900s began using Old Order Amish as a standard label for the group, and by the 1940s, if not earlier, Amish people had adopted the name Old Order Amish or Old Order Amish Mennonite when speaking of themselves in English. In the Pennsylvania Dutch dialect, however, the Amish have always called themselves die alt Amisch Gmay (the Old Amish Church).
21. M. Gingerich, Mennonites in Iowa, 311–14. On Pennsylvania Old Order Amish rejection of telephones in 1909, see D. Umble, Holding the Line. For context, see R. Kline, Consumers in the Country, 23–54.
22. Data from Luthy, Amish in America and Amish Settlements: 2008. These new settlements were in Alabama, Arizona, California, Delaware, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, North Carolina, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia, and Wisconsin. Thirteen have persisted; forty-nine have failed, most within a few decades of their founding.
23. Luthy, “Amish Meetinghouses.”
24. Gibbons, Pennsylvania Dutch and Other Essays, 62; S. Scott, Plain Buggies, 50–79.
25. E. Yoder, Beachy Amish Mennonite Fellowship Churches. On wider debates about the car in early twentieth-century rural life, see R. Kline, Consumers in the Country, 57–79.
26. Luthy, “Bibliographical and Research Notes: History of Raber’s Bookstore.” Since 1970 the almanac has been published in both German and English.
27. Nolt, “Inscribing Community.”
28. Nolt, History of the Amish, 266–73,
287–90.
29. Nolt, “Amish ‘Mission Movement.’”
30. Patterson, Grand Expectations, 77–81, 237, 343, 369–74.
31. Nolt, History of the Amish, 294–304.
32. Nolt, “Amish ‘Mission Movement.’”
33. Johnson-Weiner, “Publish or Perish,” 206–13.
34. Old Order values stood in sharp contrast to those that animated American society at the turn of the twentieth century; see Lears, Rebirth of a Nation.
35. Kraybill, Riddle of Amish Culture, 164–71; D. Weaver-Zercher, Amish in the American Imagination, 60–78; “Amishmen Battle to Keep Drab Life,” New York Times, Aug. 15, 1937.
36. Kraybill, Amish and the State, 125–43; C. Hall, “Revolt of the Plain People.”
37. A. Keim, Compulsory Education and the Amish; Kraybill, Amish and the State, 109–23. See also S. Peters, Yoder Case.
38. See, for example, Labi, “Gentle People.”
39. R. Kline, Consumers in the Country.
40. Ladd, Autophobia; Lee, “Plain People of Pennsylvania”; Nolt, History of the Amish, 292–93; and Shover, First Majority, Last Minority.
41. David Chen, “Amish Going Modern, Sort of, About Skating,” New York Times, Aug. 11, 1996; Rheingold, “Look Who’s Talking.”
42. Luthy, “Origin and Growth of Amish Tourism”; D. Weaver-Zercher, Amish in the American Imagination, 82–121.
43. The original show included one c. 1900 Lancaster Amish quilt; the traveling exhibit included several Amish quilts.
44. Hughes, American Visions, 43–44.
45. J. Smucker, “Destination Amish Quilt Country,” and Amish Quilts, chap. 6.
46. D. Weaver-Zercher, Amish in the American Imagination, 152–80.
47. Data provided in June 2012 by staff of the Pennsylvania Dutch Convention and Visitors Bureau (phone conversation, June 7, 2012).
48. D. Umble, “Wicked Truth”; Goldstein, “Party On, Amos.”
49. Devil’s Playground; Ariel Leve, “Back to the Future,” Sunday Times Magazine (London), Jan. 30, 2005, 20–27.
50. Kraybill, Nolt, and Weaver-Zercher, Amish Grace, 49–50.
51. D. Weaver-Zercher, Amish in the American Imagination, 185–96.
CHAPTER 4. RELIGIOUS ROOTS
1. For an exception, see Kraybill, Nolt, and Weaver-Zercher, Amish Way.
2. The key Old Testament passages that shape the Amish narrative of Hebrew history are printed in ministers’ manuals such as Handbuch für Bischof. The Scripture readings and hymns for various ceremonies are available to all members in M. Miller, Our Heritage, Hope, and Faith.
3. This practice is based on Matthew 18:16: “But if he will not hear thee, then take with thee one or two more, that in the mouth of two or three witnesses every word may be established.”
4. Oyer, “Is There an Amish Theology?,” provides one scholar’s sketch of the contours of an Amish theology. See also Kraybill, Nolt, and Weaver-Zercher, Amish Way.
5. J. Stoll, How the Dordrecht Confession Came Down, 33, provides a history and use of this confession of faith by the Amish.
6. Examples include David Beiler’s writings, especially True Christianity. Thoughtful analyses of Beiler’s theology are provided by T. Schlabach, Peace, Faith, Nation, 212–14, and J. Weaver, Keeping Salvation Ethical. Other nineteenth-century Amish writers include David A. Troyer, Writings of David A. Troyer, and Daniel E. Mast, Lessons in the Sermon on the Mount and Salvation Full and Free. Since the mid-twentieth century, considerable theological writing from New Order Amish authors has been published by Amish Brotherhood Publications (a New Order publisher in Ohio).
7. Truth in Word and Work, 4. Another resource for Amish beliefs, 1001 Questions and Answers on the Christian Life, consists of short answers to questions with Scripture texts on sixty-three topics. This handbook and many other religious texts reflecting Amish views are published by Pathway Publishers.
8. For an English translation of selected prayers from Die Ernsthafte Christenpflicht, see A Devoted Christian’s Prayer Book. Leonard Gross, in the preface of Prayer Book for Earnest Christians (an English translation), provides a history of Christenpflicht. German and English versions of the prayers appear side by side in Our Fervent Prayers published by Mary M. Miller, an Amish woman.
9. Neu vermehrtes geistliches Lust-Gärtlein, 34–45, 51–53, 63–65, 90, 105–107, 186–87. For a history of this prayer book, see Luthy, “History of the Lust-Gärtlein Prayerbook.”
10. “Rules of a Godly Life,” 65. For quotations from “Rules,” we use the Amish translation that appears in In Meiner Jugend, 65–103.
11. E. Kline, Theology of the Will of Man, 3. For an excellent source on the early Anabaptist view of discipleship, consult Snyder, Following in the Footsteps of Christ, 138–58.
12. Raber, “Following Christ in Truth,” 11.
13. 1001 Questions, 76–77.
14. E. Kline, Theology of the Will of Man, 3.
15. Raber, “Following Christ in Truth,” 10.
16. E. Kline, Theology of the Will of Man, 3.
17. For an example of late medieval spiritualist views of Gelassenheit, see Birkel and Bach, Genius of the Transcendent, 95–123. For the sixteenth-century Anabaptist view of Gelassenheit, see Snyder, Following in the Footsteps of Christ, 163–68.
18. P. Kline, “Gelassenheit.” These notes later appeared, with minor changes, as “Gelassenheit” in M. Schlabach, Message Mem’ries.
19. Chupp and Chupp, Thy Will Be Done; Beyond the Valley.
20. Emphasis added.
21. 1001 Questions, 78, 82.
22. John A. Hostetler identified silence as a key aspect of Amish spirituality in Amish Society, 387–90, and in “Silence and Survival Strategies.”
23. The meaning of this term, frequently used by John A. Hostetler, is analyzed in Kraybill, “Redemptive Community.” See also J. Hostetler, “Amish as a Redemptive Community.”
24. Raber, “Following Christ in Truth,” 11.
25. For an interpretation of the meaning of tradition, see Bronner, Explaining Traditions. For a collection of Amish traditions and wisdom, see J. Hostetler, Amish Roots.
26. C. Stoll, “According to the Title Deed,” 8.
27. Ibid., 9; Raber, “Following Christ in Truth,” 10–13.
28. “Some Questions about Baptism” provides an Amish synopsis of key Anabaptist views of baptism.
29. This observation comes from an Old Order Mennonite leader.
30. “Beware of an Unbalanced Gospel,” 12.
31. J. Yoder, Schleitheim Confession, 11.
32. Songs of the Ausbund, 1:315.
33. Braght, Martyrs Mirror. For an excellent overview of Anabaptist martyrdom, see Gregory, Salvation at Stake, chap. 6.
34. 1 Peter 5:8 and 2 Cor. 11:14.
35. “Rules of a Godly Life,” 89.
36. Blank, Amazing Story of the Ausbund, 45–46.
37. For an Amish view of mission work, see the booklet Church and Mission Work and Troyer, Writings of David A. Troyer, 121–23.
38. “Rules of a Godly Life,” 103.
CHAPTER 5. SACRED RITUALS
Epigraph: The hymn is from Ausbund, song 7, pp. 46–48; English translation in Songs of the Ausbund, 1:56–58.
1. Some sections of this chapter are adapted from Kraybill, Riddle of Amish Culture, 111–41.
2. For more on religion and material culture, see McDannell, Material Christianity.
3. Not all settlements have bench wagons; in Swartzentruber communities, for example, the benches are transported on an ordinary flatbed wagon. The Ausbunds are transported in a wooden box with the benches. Ministers typically use the Bible that travels with the wagon or one provided by the host; however, some New Order ministers carry a small New Testament in their coat pocket, which they use when preaching.
4. L. Byler, “Mrs. Gid,” 55.
5. Ministers preach in Swiss German in the Swiss affiliations. See chapter 7 for more on language practices.
6. S. Stoltzfus, “Going in with the Boys,” 32.
7. Musicologists call this style of music “free rhythm,” but the rhythm is hard to detect by those unfamiliar with such singing. See Durnbaugh, “Amish Singing Style.”
8. Blank, Amazing Story of the Ausbund, 47.
9. David Luthy notes a few exceptions in a January 9, 2012, letter to Donald Kraybill. Das Lob-lied is not sung on a regular basis in the Daviess County, Indiana, settlement, and in some Swiss settlements it is the first song at services for weddings, council meeting, and communion.
10. S. Stoltzfus, “Going in with the Boys,” 32.
11. Songs of the Ausbund, 1:328–29.
12. Despite slight variations in the lectionary by affiliation, all the Scripture readings are from the New Testament, with a heavy use of Matthew’s Gospel in the first quarter of the year.
13. Personal communication to Donald Kraybill, March 8, 2012.
14. Acknowledging that both preacher and congregants are submitting themselves to God as one body, more traditional ministers make little direct eye contact with other church members while preaching. Change-minded preachers, who look in the eyes of members when they preach, are accenting their special role as God’s servants.
15. C. Kauffman, “Staying Awake in Church,” 7–9.
16. The Dover, Delaware, settlement has a noon fellowship meal for the extended family of the host, not the entire congregation.
17. In the nineteenth century, the Amish settlement in Union County, Pennsylvania, held communion only once between 1873 and 1880 due to profound and unresolved conflict. In the early 1980s, churches of the ultraconservative Swartzentruber affiliation went seven years without communion, a period of turmoil that ended in schism. These sorts of situations are rare, but point to the seriousness with which Amish churches take the collective dimension of communion.
18. “The Church,” 12.
19. M. Miller, Our Heritage, Hope, and Faith, 252.
20. “The Church,” 14.
21. Members are encouraged to read Isaiah 58 on Fastdag.
22. Michael, an angel mentioned in the biblical books of Daniel and Revelation, was honored by the Catholic Church each October 11, which became known as Michaelmas or Old St. Michael’s Day. In Germany, taxes were due on this day; it also marked the end of the harvest and was something of a rural holiday.
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