Amish

The Amish people originated from the Anabaptists during the protestant reformation.
They are
a unique Christian religion that, in my opinion remains nearly the same as it was historically.
I not only plan on explaining to you, the origins of the Amish religion, but their current lifestyle
as well. It was basically founded or named after Jakob Ammann, who was responsible for
initiating some of the changes which became Amish customs. These are only a few of the things
I will describe to you.

This book addresses the relationship between religion and knowledge from a sociological perspective, taking both religion and knowledge as phenomena located within ever changing social contexts. It builds on historical foundations, but offers a distinctive focus on the changing status of religious phenomena at the turn of the twenty-first century. Including critical engagement with live debates about intelligent design and the ‘new atheism’, this collection of essays brings recent research on religious movements into conversation with debates about socialisation, reflexivity and the changing capacity of social institutions to shape human identities. Contributors examine religion as an institutional context for the production of knowledge, as a form of knowledge to be transmitted or conveyed and as a social field in which controversies about knowledge emerge.

PDF-PowerPoint presentation of the talk I gave on Tuesday, 9th July 2019 at the IVR 2019, Dignity · Democracy · Diversity, 29th World Congress of the International Association for Philosophy of Law & Social Philosophy, University of Lucerne, 7-12 July 2019.

Revivals of the 1950s and 60s spawned a movement of spiritual and practical change within the Amish community of Lancaster County, PA. Out of those changes came an unusual Amish gang called the Goodies. They were thus named because of refusing to engage with their old friends in the Amish tradition of Rumspringa. This article describes the beginnings of the Goodie gang and the consequential divisions that sprang out of this movement, including four new Amish-Mennonite congregations in Lancaster County. In conclusion, the paper reflects on some mission activity spawned by those within the Goodie gang in the years following.

INTRODUCTION: The Amish are a rapidly growing, North American Christian denomination that descends from the 16th-century Anabaptist movement in Germanic Europe. Because of their conspicuous socioreligious practices, the Amish have been of interest to social scientists, medical and genetic researchers, and linguists. This entry includes a brief overview of Amish history and demographics in the United States. It continues with a description of Amish beliefs and practices and the interest the community holds for social science researchers.

History: The Amish formed in the late 1600s as an Anabaptist branch in the Swiss–German–French border region. These were a new wave of converts who challenged the established Swiss Brethren (Mennonite) churches’ laxity toward the Dordrecht religious articles agreed on with the Dutch Mennonites in 1632. Points of difference included the ...

This the second edition of a book that contains a indexed descendancy of Ludwig Riehl and Veronica Fisher down to their fourth great-grandchildren, with separate chapters for each of their four children who had progeny. It also contains a history of Ludwig, Veronica, and their descendants, and an explanation of the usage of the name "Riehl."  The second edition contains many corrections and additions. Please contact me if you have other corrections that need to be made to the book.

From the 1950s to 1970s, numerous Amish-Mennonites pulled up roots and migrated to distant locations where they attempted to re-establish familiar patterns of life as a “colony.” Though motivations varied, many regarded the moves as a form of evangelization. This article closely follows an ambitious Amish-Mennonite “evangelization by colonization” initiative to Costa Rica in 1968. Although the migrants’ deeply ingrained habitus helped the community stabilize financially, it also had the effect of stifling their evangelization goals. The two initial communities—Arenal and Villa Colon—failed within several years, largely because migrants were not able to reconcile competing understandings of church. Nevertheless, today 27 plain Anabaptist churches in Costa Rica and Nicaragua trace their origins to the colonization effort, evidence of success in achieving economic and community stability, even though their evangelization goals were only partly realized.

This dissertation has been 64-11,37 5 microfilmed exactly as received HUNTINGTON, Abbie Gertrude Enders Huntington, 1926-DOVE AT THE WINDOW: A STUDY O F AN OLD O R D E R AMISH COM M UNITY IN OHIO [with] APPENDIXE S. Yale University , P h .D ., 1957 Anthropology. Reproduced with permission o f the copyright owner.

“Amish Mennonite” is a movement properly understood as a stream of Amish that parallels, but is independent of, the Old Order Amish. One main group within the movement, the Beachy Amish Mennonites, arose in the 1920s as Amish with automobiles, but moved out of the Old Order stream by the 1950s when automobile ownership became a firm boundary delineating the Old Order. What exactly bounded the Beachy movement from then on became contested in each successive generation. The influence of external ideologies, varying levels of emphasis on continuity with previous generations, and population growth all contributed to the rise of alternative movements within this Amish Mennonite movement. Today, several Amish Mennonite denominations and several loose networks exist. Each has developed symbolic boundaries and intercongregational institutions with which to define their movement. The history of the Amish Mennonite movement is one of redefining and retracing boundaries as new groups continued to emerge. This article attempts to clarify the place of Amish Mennonites within the broader taxonomy of North American Anabaptists groups.

The listed leaders had a grasp of pacifism or nonviolence as a distinguishing mark of Christianity and of the restoration movement begun by A. Campbell (see below). Earlier but independent beginnings in Europe and Palestine are noted especially in the work of the Grimm family.

This short piece describes the special risks for child maltreatment faced by Amish children in the context of Amish history, values and lifestyle. Readers will also find suggestions for working with Amish families and communities to address child abuse and neglect.

The timing of baptism soon after believing the message about Jesus of Nazareth, may have been because in early Christian thought, baptism is how: 1) one enters into Christ and his death and 2) receives the forgiveness of sins, new life, and the Holy Spirit as a gift according to Acts 2:38 and Romans 6:3-4. Baptism was commanded by Jesus to his apostles in the ending of the account of his life as recorded by Matthew and another by Mark. This baptism was then preached in the first Christian sermon found in Acts, chapter 2 and was part of the Christian message thereafter. The idea of saying a prayer for salvation appears to be absent from the New Testament after the beginning of the church in Acts chapter 2.

Amerika Serikat dikenal sebagai hegemon yang tentu banyak menciptakan standar bagi dunia contohnya “modernitas” dan jika bicara teknologi bahkan hampir semua penduduknya „melek teknologi‟. Namun, tidak terlalu banyak masyarakat dunia yang tahu bahwa di Amerika Serikat ada satu budaya yaitu Suku Amish yang uniknya suku ini tetap mempertahankan gaya hidupnya yang skeptis terhadap globalisasi dan bahkan kehidupannya sangat tradisional sampai menentang modernisasi. Mungkin kita bisa mengambil contoh Suku Baduy di Indonesia, tapi bagaimana kemudian sebenarnya jika di Indonesia mungkin masih „wajar‟, tapi menjadi hal yang „luar biasa unik‟ jika ada satu suku yang terdapat di dalam tubuh hegemon yang justru skeptis terhadap modernisasi. Seolah bertolak belakang dengan „wajah‟ Amerika Serikat saat memalingkan wajahnya ke dunia dengan fakta “Suku Amish”.

Wisconsin v. Yoder is a case in which the United States Supreme Court held that Amish children could not be compelled by the state to attend school past eighth grade, as this would violate their parents’ Free Exercise rights. This Note asserts that Yoder is an obsolete opinion that is ripe for overturning.

The Supreme Court takes into account four stare decisis factors when reconsidering a prior decision. It considers (1) whether the factual circumstances have evolved in such a manner “as to have robbed the old decision of significant application or justification,” (2) whether the decision is subject to reliance interests that would create “special hardships or inequities” if it were overruled, (3) whether “related principles of law have so far developed as to have left the old decision no more than a remnant of abandoned doctrine,” and (4) whether the decision has proven to be unworkable.

This Note holds that the Yoder decision does not hold up under these considerations. It contends that (1) the factual assumptions that underpin Yoder are no longer accurate and that recent changes have undermined the decision, (2) that the Yoder exemption is not subject to reliance interests that would create “special hardships or inequities” if it were overturned, (3) that the Court’s ruling in Employment Division v. Smith has leftYoder a relic of abandoned doctrine, and (4) that the “hybrid-rights” theory that Yoder’scontinued applicability rests on is unworkable.

The Note concludes that because Yoder fails each of the four stare decisis tests, the decision should be overturned.

Do America’s plain Anabaptists take vacations? At first glance, it seems unlikely that an austere Christian sect would endorse spending large amounts of money on short excursions of pure leisure. Indeed, in a 1930s household expenditures survey that included Amish homes in Lancaster County, PA, Amish were more defined by their non-expenditures on leisure than today’s familiar indicators, such as technological restrictions. And yet, vacationing is now routine among many plain Anabaptists. In this study, we explain the phenomenon of Amish-Mennonite international vacationing.

In the Old Testament, God empowered and commanded the punishment of sinful peoples, sometimes even by the genocide of peoples and the destruction of their cultures. In the New Testament, God has loved us by sacrificing Himself rather than destroy us. This is good news, the lost gospel found.

U radu se analizira čin opraštanja i pomirenja, a kao ilustracija koriste se događaji i primeri iz filma "Praštanje Amiša" (Amish Grace, 2010). Film je baziran na istinitom događaju koji se odigrao u oktobru 2006. godine, kada je tokom pucnjave u amiškoj školi u Nikel Majnsu, u Pensilvaniji, ubijeno pet i ranjeno još pet devojčica. Amiška zajednica je tada učinila neverovatan gest prema porodici Čarlija Robertsa, počinioca. Novinari i kompletno društvo, pogotovo porodica Roberts su bili zatečeni ljubavlju, saučešćem i činom praštanja amiške zajednice, i pre svega amiških porodica čija su deca stradala. Opisani su odnosi u porodicama, novinarska neverica i izveštavanje o praštanju Amiša, razgovori sa savetnikom za tugu, teškoće prihvatanja tragedije i upitanost kako oprostiti stvari koje su, na neki način, neoprostive. Potom sledi deo o konceptu praštanja Amiša, uz brojne citate iz Svetog pisma. U drugom delu rada dat je osvrt na mogućnosti primene restorativne pravde, a pre svega restorativnog dijaloga i restorativnog kruga.

Ključne reči: opraštanje, pomirenje, restorativni krug, dijalog, restorativna pravda, Amiši 

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RETHINKING FORGIVENESS: HOW TO FORGIVE UNFORGIVEN

The paper analyzes the act of forgiveness and reconciliation illustrated by events and examples from the film Amish Grace (2010). The film is based on a true story regarding Amish school shooting that took place in October 2006, when five girls had been killed and five other girls had been injured in Nickel Mines, Pennsylvania. The Amish community then made an incredible gesture to the family of Charlie Roberts, the perpetrator. Journalists, the entire society, and above all the Roberts family, were overwhelmed by the love, condolences and forgiveness of the Amish community. In the paper author described family relationships, journalistic scepticism regarding Amish forgiveness, discussions with a grief counsellor, difficulty accepting tragedies, and being asked how to forgive things that are unforgivable are described. This is followed by a section on the concept of Amish forgiveness, with numerous quotations from the Bible. The final part of the paper deals with the possibilities of applying restorative justice, with focus on restorative dialogue and restorative cirlce.

INTRODUCTION: When the Beachy Amish-Mennonites withdrew from the Old Order Amish, they not only loosened restrictions on dress and technology usage, but adopted evangelical Christian theology, that is, a preoccupation with the sudden, dramatic salvation of individual souls (Cronk; Geiger). Yet, Beachy Amish-Mennonites have sought to retain Amish characteristics, including an emphasis on lifelong redemption through separatist community life, defined gender roles, and distinct practices. This hybridization of evangelical and Old Order reorganized their society in nuanced ways, including how women contributed to community and family formation. Among the Amish, women are responsible for having and raising children, that is, perpetuating the religious community as the manifestation of Christian life. The rapid social change that the Beachy Amish-Mennonites have undergone has threatened to devalue the mother’s role of reproduction and socializing children into the community, because the community itself is no longer the stable, predictable social entity generally lived out among Old Order Amish.

This essay explores how evangelicalism has changed married Beachy Amish-Mennonite women’s roles in terms of personal religiosity, the church community, family, and individual pursuits.  It focuses especially on the valued contributions of Beachy Amish-Mennonite women and the ways in which evangelicalism has devalued certain contributions while providing other opportunities for women. To this end, I examine three sets of books written by Beachy Amish-Mennonite women which lay out different paths to finding meaningful contributions for married women, as well as outlining the ultimate direction for the integration and stability of the social units of church community, family, and individual. These books treat the role of the married woman as an aggregate of roles, not the least of which is mother and wife. Within the dense community structure of the Amish tradition, individuals have less ability to differentiate and compartmentalize roles. According to Enninger, the role of married women is symbolically (visually, with dress and grooming) constructed as a total role, as divorce, broken families, or childless couples are more the exception than the norm. In this essay, I employ Enninger’s findings, and treat the role of the married woman as an aggregate of roles rather than focusing exclusively on motherhood, since motherhood cannot be extracted cleanly from the other roles of wife, homemaker, and other untitled identities.

Revivals of the 1950s and 60s spawned a movement of spiritual and practical change within the Amish community of Lancaster County, PA. Out of those changes came an unusual Amish gang called the Goodies. They were thus named because of refusing to engage with their old friends in the Amish tradition of Rumspringa. This article describes the beginnings of the Goodie gang and the consequential divisions that sprang out of this movement, including four new Amish-Mennonite congregations in Lancaster County. In conclusion, the paper reflects on some mission activity spawned by those within the Goodie gang in the years following.

As the Amish population is growing, researcher and practitioner interest in the Amish health culture is also growing. This is largely due to demand from practitioners for population-specific cultural guidance. Once a small area of study, health-themed publications in Amish studies (n = 246) now account for approximately one-fourth of all peer-reviewed publications, and a sizeable percentage address the health culture, i.e. Amish beliefs, practices, attitudes, decision-making processes, financing, and values. In this article, we provide a first-ever exhaustive narrative review of the Amish health culture literature (addressing Amish health conditions elsewhere). Specifically, we address Amish use of modern medicine, complementary & alternative medicine, cultural norms for birthing and intercourse, support and care for the sick and aged, health knowledge, payment for services, barriers to service access, service provider effectiveness, health programming, and ethical conflicts. Our goal is to organize the literature, synthesize findings, identify orienting perspectives, and clarify research questions and directions. Following our synthesis, we reflect on the current state of Amish health culture research, drawing particular attention to strengths and limitations of the oft-used cultural competency paradigm, and recommending more rigorous social scientific theorization of the Amish health culture.

For all the liberties granted Westerners, a small stream of seekers is looking into the seemingly austere plain Anabaptist sects (Amish, Mennonites, etc.). What are they seeking? Using theories of modernity, secularization, and gender as guides, this study analyzes survey data from a web-based convenience sample of 1074 seekers. Females, young adults, and evangelicals are overrepresented. Chief attractions include religious seriousness, strong community, and modesty. A factor analysis of all 21 attractions produced six latent attraction variables. Seekers characteristic of: (1) the ‘‘family’’ factor seek to consolidate social domains around the family, granting parents greater control in offspring socialization, (2) the ‘‘femininity’’ factor reject an increasingly change-minded, sexualized mainstream youth culture, (3) the ‘‘personal conviction’’ factor tend towards evangelical fundamentalism, mistakenly viewing plain people as a sweeping statement against secularization, (4) the ‘‘primitivism’’ factor are seeking to demodernize in tangible ways, (5) the ‘‘stability’’ factor desire a stabilizing social system to address psychological stresses, and (6) the ‘‘returnees’’ factor are looking to rejoin, either after having left earlier in life or having discovered plain ancestry. Depending on changes in broader society, characteristics of religions may incidentally correspond with eraspecific stresses, triggering a generation of seekers, as is the case here with plain Anabaptists.

This is a German-to-English translation of four important decisions made by Amish church leaders. The first, in 1865, was the charter agreement that launched the Old Order movement among the Amish, as the progressive Amish-Mennonites who had been organizing annual conferences since 1863 refused to acknowledge the Ordnung Brief at the 1865 conference. The second, which also affirms the first, was written in 1917. It occurred in the shadow of the Sam Yoder division, and like the first, addresses pressures of the day on Amish practice and thought. The third, written in 1939, affirms the 1917 statement and elaborates with more recent concerns. Statements address relationships in family and church, continued observance of church rituals, views on excommunication and shunning, parental jurisdiction over youth behavior, entrepreneurship and advertising, alcohol and patronization of bars, technology such as refrigerators and automobiles, fashion in garments and grooming practices, tobacco, and reunions. [Abstract by editor]

This Article argues that a key-but-overlooked factor in the Vietnam-era breakdown of the draft system was the Supreme Court's expansion of the religious conscientious objector ("CO") exemption. It asserts that the Court understood that the CO exemption violated the Establishment Clause, but rather than strike the exemption down, the Court avoided the constitutional issue by interpreting away the religious element of CO statutes. The Article concludes that the Court's rulings caused CO exemptions to skyrocket, which in turn caused the draft system to collapse toward the end of the Vietnam War.

For decades, the Swartzentruber sect of Amish have, for religious reasons, rejected state-level mandates for horse-drawn buggies to display the S.M.V. (slow-moving vehicle) emblem. Court cases in several states have suggested: (1) confusion over what the emblem is supposed to accomplish, and (2) questions about the emblem's superiority to alternatives. Synthesizing evidence presented in several court cases involving the S.M.V. emblem and the Swartzentruber Amish, this study clarifies what the S.M.V. emblem can be expected to accomplish and in which domains it reaches its limits. The evidence is organized categorically and presented as a series of cues presented to the motorist. Findings suggest that while S.M.V. emblem serves well as a generic indicator of something demanding attention, it is less effective in symbolic communicating what it is that needs attention and the motorist’s approaching time. Further, the S.M.V. emblem may be counterproductive when a motorist passes a buggy, as the bright splash of color draws attention to the center of the buggy rather than communicating buggy width.

As an ethnic religion, the Amish are of interest to population health researchers due to a distinctive health profile arising from ethnic attributes, including a closed genetic pool and shared culture that shapes lifestyle practices. Amish-focused health research both furthers our knowledge of health conditions by comparing Amish with non-Amish and assists health practitioners in serving this rapidly growing population. Amish health research, now representing approximately a quarter of all Amish-focused publications, is in need of review, to the end of strengthening this knowledge body’s coherence, clarifying research directions, and identifying knowledge gaps, lapses, and stagnations. Herein, we synthesize and discuss Amish physical health conditions research, both the population’s distinctive health profile and mechanisms shaping this profile. Specifically, we summarize research addressing BMI, physical activity, and body image; diet and supplements; cancer; cardiovascular conditions; communicable diseases; immunity; sleep; genetic disorders; tobacco and alcohol use; periodontal conditions; traumatic injuries; natural treatments for burns; fertility; and sexually transmitted diseases. In reflection, we raise questions about the nature of intervening mechanisms shaping the Amish health profile, the strange omission of several common independent variables commonly used when studying other ethnic groups’ health, several recurring methodological complications, and public health policy considerations.