I hope everyone had a safe and restful Christmas holiday. Snow arrived in my area at 11 pm the evening of the 25th, making it a last-minute White Christmas. Coming later this week, look for a guest post from a new voice out of Indiana, as well as “Favorites of 2014”. Today, Serving the Amish author Jim Cates returns with the first of a two-part look at…
1001 Questions & Answers On The Christian Life is an important little text which concisely lays out Christian beliefs as understood by the Amish. The book, first published by Pathway Publishers in 1992, was created with the input of over 20 members of the Amish ministry and lay people in various communities. It is based upon an older text (written in 1907) called 1000 Questions and…
My calendar tells me it’s officially winter now, which may be what inspired me to start a log fire the other day (even though it wasn’t really fireplace-cold weather yet). In fact, I’ve got another crackler going as I write this post, since I love fires so much. Again not so much for heat purposes as much as for the smell and sound (I suspect I’m…
Today, the second half of the Pennsylvania Dutch kitchen terms quiz we started on Tuesday. If you missed it you’ll find the first 12 words here, and answer key for the original 12 here. All words courtesy of Mark Curtis of the Belle Center, Ohio Amish community. Some of you used knowledge of German to figure the first batch out. Mary Miller noted that two terms…
Suzanne Woods Fisher took a trip to the Amish community in Buchanan County, Iowa earlier this year. She shares that visit with us today–along with a few surprises she encountered. — The next time you have an occasion to travel to an off-the-beaten path Amish settlement, carve out a little extra time. Slow down and take a moment to look, really look, at the sprawling farmhouses that dot the two-lane…
In today’s guest post, David Arment of armentphoto.com discusses those funny little buildings you see here and there in Amish communities. — One thing that seems generally true is that Amish are reluctant to accept technology that connects them to the outside world. We English would say they live “off the grid”. In our area, phone shacks have sprung up as the answer to the need…
Mark Curtis has come up with a little language quiz for us, testing knowledge of some Pennsylvania Dutch kitchen terms. Each of the words below has something to do with the kitchen, food, or cooking. This is the first half of a set of 25 words. I know we’ve got some PA Dutch speakers here. I am not one of them, but took a crack at some of these…
I’m happy to introduce Jim Cates, author of Serving the Amish: A Cultural Guide for Professionals, as a new contributor here at Amish America. I know many of us enjoyed reading about Jim’s experiences working with the Amish as a clinical psychologist. You’ll be able to read Jim’s writings here regularly now, in upcoming posts on topics including non-resistance, women’s issues, and the Amish family. But, to start at…
The Geauga Amish Historical Library recently opened in the heart of America’s fourth-largest Amish settlement, in the town of Middlefield, Ohio. John Gingerich is the only non-Amish member of the five-person board, which by default also makes him the library’s internet liaison. You might remember seeing John on this site a few years ago discussing his translation of History of the Bernese Anabaptists. John, who is of Amish…
An Amishman in Custer County, Colorado is seeking a permit to build a commercial dog breeding facility. Animal welfare activists are speaking out against the idea, fearing the planned business to be a “puppy mill“. Amish have received a lot of bad press for some egregious cases involving members of Amish churches. This has helped foster a perception that the Amish do not treat their animals…