Today we’ve got 6 winners of Ira Wagler’s Growing Up Amish. If you missed the original interview, in which Ira discusses Amish life, family relationships and how he ended up in Lancaster County, you can read it here: Growing Up Amish interview. Growing Up Amish winners I’ve tallied up all additional Facebook and blog entries. [...]
Continue reading Growing Up Amish winners and Chapter 1 excerpt
Commenting on a post last week, Donna Godfrey recommended reading books by Donald Kraybill. I’d second that. The Riddle of Amish Culture was one of the first I read and I think essential to understanding the Amish. The very first book I read on the Amish was Amish Society by John Hostetler, another good one, [...]
Continue reading What’s your favorite Amish book?
From a Lancaster friend’s home: Sharpening minds and no. 2′s: Sigh. I remember spending a bit more time with these, once: Here’s the full list of Amish home interior photos.
Continue reading Inside an Amish home: Library and reading room
A few odds and ends for your Friday. Enjoy! Mexican Mennonites Here’s a link to a recent piece on Old Colony Mennonites in Mexico. Old Colony Mennonites are the second-largest Plain Anabaptist group after the Old Order Amish. They share certain similarities with the Amish. Great photos and more info at the link. Growing Up [...]
Continue reading Friday odds and ends
Last Friday Elin left a comment on the post “Do we romanticize the Amish?“: “I have read some of these books and enjoyed them but I have realized that the Amishness of the characters is not more than polish. They are often just stereotypical ‘good Christian’ wearing Amish clothes. They are the same characters as [...]
Continue reading Amish fiction characters–stereotypes in Plain clothing?
The Martyrs Mirror is revered by Amish and other Anabaptists. It’s a 1,000+ page book recounting the stories of Christian martyrs. In addition to Biblical-era martyrs, it includes tales of the many early Anabaptists persecuted in Europe. The Martyrs Mirror is in the news because a very old (1748) German-language edition is up for sale [...]
Continue reading Why do we treasure old books?
Which Bible do Amish use? Typically, the Amish use the German Martin Luther version, particularly for church readings. For an English version, the most favored translation is the King James edition (KJV). Some Amish use the New International Version (NIV) as well. Often, the Bible Amish read in the home will have a dual format-German [...]
Continue reading The “Amish Bible”, and the appeal of Bible story books
Since the mid-1800s, the Hutterites have comprised 3 main groups–the Lehrerleut, the Dariusleut, and the Schmiedeleut. The Lehrerleut are considered the most conservative, with the Schmiedeluet being the most progressive, and Dariusleut somewhere in between. However, in 1992, The Schmiedeleut experienced an internal division, creating 2 separate Schmiedeleut groups. Donald Kraybill’s Concise Encyclopedia of Amish, [...]
Continue reading The 3 Hutterite groups
We use them all the time, but ever wonder how reference books and resources get put together? In a guest post today, Donald Kraybill offers a peek into the writing and research process for the Concise Encyclopedia of Amish, Brethren, Hutterites, and Mennonites: Compiling the Concise Encyclopedia was a daunting task. In fact if I [...]
Continue reading Does anyone really care about beards? Donald Kraybill on writing the Concise Encyclopedia
Donald Kraybill just had a busy month. Most people would consider releasing one book an event, but in October Kraybill released two–The Amish Way: Patient Faith in a Perilous World, co-authored with Steven Nolt and David Weaver-Zercher, and the Concise Encyclopedia of Amish, Brethren, Hutterites, and Mennonites. Timing of the release was something of a [...]
Continue reading Concise Encyclopedia of Amish, Brethren, Hutterites and Mennonites: 5-book giveaway and interview with Donald Kraybill
