An ancient Anabaptist hymnal The Ausbund is a very important book for the Amish. This hymnal contains centuries-old songs originating with Anabaptist captives held at the Oberhaus castle prison in Passau, located in present-day southeastern Germany. Amishman Benuel Blank wrote The Amazing Story of the Ausbund about this remarkable songbook. About the Ausbund Blank writes: The Ausbund hymnbook, used by the early Anabaptist Swiss Brethren, is…
Lisa Kuhn writes: i am a 57 year old woman who has a number of chronic disabilities. this is very isolating for me as i am pretty much bed-bound. i have faith in god which helps of course, but i do not really have any family so this makes things much harder. i used to be very active and was a high school english and…
Alice Mary writes: About 6 years ago, my husband & “kids” (then ages 23 & 29 at the time, daughter & son, respectively) were coming back from some concert in Millennium Park (or Grant Park?) and a young Mennonite woman (late teens, I’d guess) greeted me (I guess it was obvious I was the “Mom”) and handed me a brochure about Menonnite beliefs & Christianity…
How much do Amish interact with the public? It’s a broad question, without a straightforward answer. Two recent stories show Amish crossing boundaries of sorts. Law Enforcement On the whole, Amish are less likely than your average American to call the police. They have been criticized for this reluctance, particularly when criminal matters are involved. Amish have cooperated with the law in the recent…
Here’s a video of a singing taken in the Guthrie, Kentucky Amish community (thanks to Mike for passing it along). From the video commentary, the occasion was a funeral visitation – for an Amish man hit while driving a tractor. From the video description by Simon Kinsinger: 4/8/2010 At my uncle Sam Swareys funeral vistitation in Guthrie, Kentucky the Amish girls and youth sang this…
Reader Stella shared some thoughts on the “Joining the Amish after 50” post: Perhaps I’m an unusual atheist but I’ve always admired the Amish philosophy and lifestyle, despite lacking the necessary Faith Trigger to join them. However, I was brought up by atheist parents and taught to respect all genuine engagements with life’s questions, religious or not. While I’m content with my atheism, as well…
If you’re thinking you’d like to join the Amish, odds are it’s the wrong decision. As we’ve discussed many times (see “If you left the English, what would you gain?“), there are too many challenges for most people to adopt an Amish life. Still, some kindle a desire to become Plain. Many are younger individuals. But sometimes it’s older adults. A few days ago Don…
This October will mark 5 years since the Nickel Mines shootings. The Amish forgiveness story was hugely powerful and quickly spread around the world, in part because it was so unusual. People just don’t forgive, so quickly, after a crime of such magnitude. Five years on, one wonders how much the lessons of the Amish at Nickel Mines have stuck with us. The Young Center…
When I first met the Amish, I spent a warm fuzzy period admiring and even idealizing Amish society. This was in the summer of 2004, and I was selling a set of books called the Family Bible Library to Amish families. I had spent a fruitful few weeks in the Arthur, Illinois community before traveling to Indiana. I remember one day in the Daviess County,…
“We could probably build a better car than Detroit can. I will go out on a wing and say that. I honestly believe we could do that.” It’s not often you hear an Amishman make such a claim. But it almost makes sense – when you learn that the fellow who said this is from northern Indiana. Northern Indiana Amish are different than most Amish….