The Amish Way (2 page)
Authors: Donald B. Kraybill,Steven M. Nolt,David L. Weaver-Zercher
Copyright © 2010 by John Wiley & Sons, Inc. All rights reserved.
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All Scripture quotations are from the Holy Bible, King James version.
The Amish Lectionary found in Appendix II is printed with permission of Pathway Publishers from
In Meiner Jugend: A Devotional Reader in German and English
, first printing in 2000, reprint 2008. Translation by Joseph Stoll 1999.
, first printing in 2000, reprint 2008. Translation by Joseph Stoll 1999.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Kraybill, Donald B.
The Amish way : patient faith in a perilous world / Donald B. Kraybill, Steven M. Nolt, David L. Weaver-Zercher.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-0-470-52069-7 (hardback); 978-0-470-89087-5 (ebk); 978-0-470-89088-2 (ebk); 978-0-470-89097-4 (ebk)
1. Amish. 2. Spirituality—Amish. I. Nolt, Steven M., date. II. Weaver-Zercher, David, date. III. Title.
BX8121.3.K73 2010
248.4’897—dc22 2010021302
PREFACE
On October 2, 2006, the unthinkable took place in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania. On a crystal-clear Monday morning, a thirty-two-year-old milk truck driver armed with guns and ammunition entered a one-room Amish school. Embittered by the death of his infant daughter nine years earlier, he was determined to get even with God in a most gruesome way. After sending the boys out of the school, the gunman tied up the remaining children—ten girls, ages six through thirteen—and opened fire in execution style. Moments later, five girls lay dying, the rest had been seriously wounded, and the intruder had killed himself. One Amish leader, searching for words to describe the horror to his non-Amish neighbors, said simply, “This was our 9/11.”
Although millions around the world were stunned that such evil could transpire in an Amish school, many were even more surprised when the Amish community, within hours, extended grace and forgiveness to the killer and his family.
How could anyone do what the Amish did, and do it as quickly as they did?
How could anyone do what the Amish did, and do it as quickly as they did?
This was the question we addressed in
Amish Grace: How Forgiveness Transcended Tragedy
. In writing that book, we interviewed dozens of Amish people and read scores of Amish publications, and we soon discovered that forgiveness is embedded more deeply in Amish life than we ever suspected.That realization inspired us to listen more closely for the religious heartbeat that sustains their entire way of life. This pulse, which often goes unnoticed, is more fundamental to the Amish way than the buggies and bonnets that receive so much attention. Strong but subtle, quiet yet persistent, this heartbeat is
Amish spirituality
.
Amish Grace: How Forgiveness Transcended Tragedy
. In writing that book, we interviewed dozens of Amish people and read scores of Amish publications, and we soon discovered that forgiveness is embedded more deeply in Amish life than we ever suspected.That realization inspired us to listen more closely for the religious heartbeat that sustains their entire way of life. This pulse, which often goes unnoticed, is more fundamental to the Amish way than the buggies and bonnets that receive so much attention. Strong but subtle, quiet yet persistent, this heartbeat is
Amish spirituality
.
Defining spirituality is no easy task, but it involves at least three aspects: religious beliefs, practices, and affections.
1
By
religious beliefs
we mean how people understand and make sense of their world. Is the world inhabited by a supernatural power? If so, is this power a wise old man in the sky or a mysterious force in nature? Do angels wing their way through space to protect us, or does help arrive in more ordinary ways? Religious beliefs are sometimes expressed in logical, doctrinal statements, though many people find stories and images more helpful in articulating what they believe. Whatever form they take—creeds or parables, statements or stories—religious beliefs encompass what believers hold to be true.
1
By
religious beliefs
we mean how people understand and make sense of their world. Is the world inhabited by a supernatural power? If so, is this power a wise old man in the sky or a mysterious force in nature? Do angels wing their way through space to protect us, or does help arrive in more ordinary ways? Religious beliefs are sometimes expressed in logical, doctrinal statements, though many people find stories and images more helpful in articulating what they believe. Whatever form they take—creeds or parables, statements or stories—religious beliefs encompass what believers hold to be true.
These beliefs do not merely exist in people’s minds, however.They take concrete shape through
religious practices
. Attending services, praying, singing, and helping others—these acts are more visible than beliefs but are tied to them in profound ways. In fact, religious practices both flow from and create religious beliefs. Consider the nonspiritual example of teeth-brushing. Parents make their children brush their teeth because they have strong views about oral hygiene and because they want their children to embrace those views.And although it may take many years, children who regularly brush their teeth will usually come to own their parents’ beliefs on hygiene. Similarly, spiritual practices, both private and public ones, nurture a particular religious vision.
religious practices
. Attending services, praying, singing, and helping others—these acts are more visible than beliefs but are tied to them in profound ways. In fact, religious practices both flow from and create religious beliefs. Consider the nonspiritual example of teeth-brushing. Parents make their children brush their teeth because they have strong views about oral hygiene and because they want their children to embrace those views.And although it may take many years, children who regularly brush their teeth will usually come to own their parents’ beliefs on hygiene. Similarly, spiritual practices, both private and public ones, nurture a particular religious vision.
This vision generates
religious affections
, desires of the heart. All human beings have desires or impulses that drive them to act in certain ways. Most religions view some of these personal desires as misplaced, or at least out of balance. One of the chief aims of religion is to redirect people’s affections, to help them desire the right things. In many religious traditions, including the Amish way, the primary goal is to nurture religious affections for God and the things that please God. Doing so often requires reducing desires for temporal things—perhaps even good ones.
religious affections
, desires of the heart. All human beings have desires or impulses that drive them to act in certain ways. Most religions view some of these personal desires as misplaced, or at least out of balance. One of the chief aims of religion is to redirect people’s affections, to help them desire the right things. In many religious traditions, including the Amish way, the primary goal is to nurture religious affections for God and the things that please God. Doing so often requires reducing desires for temporal things—perhaps even good ones.
Throughout this book we move back and forth among beliefs, practices, and affections. Sometimes we focus on Amish beliefs, sometimes on their practices, and other times on their affections. Ultimately, we see this trio as three strands of one braid that secures the entire Amish way. In other words, the spirituality of Amish people is not something that stands on its own, apart from their daily lives as mothers and fathers, farmers and carpenters, ministers and laypeople. Rather, their spirituality gives them a framework for making decisions about marriage, family, work, and play—indeed, a framework that helps them face all the pleasures and uncertainties that human life entails.
Most forms of spirituality promise resources for facing dangers.Whether these perils are physical, emotional, or moral, many people search earnestly for help beyond themselves. For many of them, this search leads to God, who according to the Judeo-Christian tradition is “a very present help in trouble” (Psalm 46:1). As Christians, the Amish look to God for help, even though, as we will see, some of the perils they seek to avoid are quite different from those identified by other Christians.
And Amish people demonstrate uncommon patience as they make their way in a perilous world.They do not skip from one thing to the next, but stick with traditional answers and approaches.When they are faced with problems, their first instinct is to wait and pray rather than seek a quick fix. Indeed, “the quick solution, the simple method, and the rapid cure” that characterize “our instant age” are dangerous, says one Amish church leader.
2
Demanding immediate solutions signals a lack of trust in God, and, in their view, patience is the best way to show acceptance of God’s timing.
2
Demanding immediate solutions signals a lack of trust in God, and, in their view, patience is the best way to show acceptance of God’s timing.
We find this commitment to patience fascinating and admirable, but also disconcerting. Although the three of us respect the religious views of the Amish on many levels, we have never been tempted to become Amish, in part because their patient approach runs counter to some of our deepest sensibilities. Is this much patience a good thing? What about working to change the world for the better? As Martin Luther King Jr. wrote in his book
Why We Can’t Wait
, impatience is sometimes a virtue, for “progress never rolls in on wheels of inevitability.”
3
Amish people are not patient in every way, of course, and they do nurture good even as they wait. Still, they reject the activist approach to tackling the world’s problems. Activism—trying to change the world—is simply not the Amish way.
Why We Can’t Wait
, impatience is sometimes a virtue, for “progress never rolls in on wheels of inevitability.”
3
Amish people are not patient in every way, of course, and they do nurture good even as they wait. Still, they reject the activist approach to tackling the world’s problems. Activism—trying to change the world—is simply not the Amish way.
Although changing the world is not the Amish way, resisting the world is. All forms of spirituality are acts of resistance in some respect—resistance to despair or fear, for example—but most forms of spirituality do not resist the world as forcefully as the Amish do.
What the Amish seek to do, perhaps more than any religious community in North America, is to create a society in which members learn to resist the world’s allures and desire the things of God.You could call it a counterculture of religious affection, but the Amish call it “separation from the world.” It’s a way of life based on the teachings of Jesus who, in his Sermon on the Mount, reminded his followers that no one can serve two masters. “Seek ye first the kingdom of God,” Jesus said, and God will provide for your needs (Matthew 6:33). In other words, set your desires on spiritual priorities and you will have nothing to fear, even in a perilous world.
Rooted in the teachings of Jesus, Amish spirituality is a Christian vision, but one with a difference. In Part One of this book, “Searching for Amish Spirituality,” we highlight some distinctive aspects of their religious life, but also place it in the wider spectrum of Christianity.
In Part Two, “The Amish Way of Community,” we explore the beliefs and practices that undergird the collective life of the Amish: giving up self-will, joining the church, worship and prayer, mutual aid, and church discipline. As we’ll see, some of these spiritual practices are severe and uncompromising, reminding us that resistance always has a cost.
In “The Amish Way in Everyday Life,” Part Three, we consider matters that face many humans—child rearing, family life, material possessions, the natural world, evil, and sorrow. For Amish people, these issues pose both problems and possibilities. We don’t suggest that the Amish way is the best way to navigate these situations, but in Part Four we do ask, Is there anything the Amish can teach the rest of us about living meaningfully in the modern world? Although that question is complicated, we answer with a qualified yes.
We talked with a host of Amish people in the course of writing this book, and we quote many of them in the following pages. Because Amish culture emphasizes humility, the people we interviewed did not want their names to appear in print. We have respected their wishes and simply cite many of our sources as “an Amish mother,” “an Amish minister,” and so on. For the people we quote most often, we use typical Amish first names (Sadie, Reuben, Jesse) as pseudonyms. Each pseudonym refers to a real person, not a composite of several individuals. We have also assigned pseudonyms to some Amish authors who published their works anonymously. Otherwise we use the real names of Amish people who have already been identified in the mainstream media or use their own names when publishing articles, essays, or books for Amish readers. In the endnotes we cite the written sources we quote, but not the interviews.
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