The Amish Way (5 page)
Authors: Donald B. Kraybill,Steven M. Nolt,David L. Weaver-Zercher
Clearly the headwaters that feed the streams of Amish spirituality are found in the hills of historic Christianity.Yet the Amish are not generic Christians. They have a distinctive understanding of the Christian faith that is found in several historical texts.
Our Heritage
includes excerpts from these sources, which we explore later in this chapter.
Our Heritage
includes excerpts from these sources, which we explore later in this chapter.
We start, however, five hundred years ago, when the Amish story began. It’s a story of a small band of feisty Christians who resisted the ruling ideas about faith and who were, as a result, harassed, tortured, and even killed.
Western Europe was a religious monopoly at the beginning of the sixteenth century. The Roman Catholic Church, under the authority of the pope, was basically the only religious option in town. Belonging to it assured people of receiving God’s saving grace, and infant baptism was a key ritual that incorporated everyone into the church. Ordinary people and church authorities alike agreed that salvation could not be found outside the Catholic Church. For this reason, and also because it was the law, most parents were eager to have their infants baptized by the local Catholic priest.
The monopoly was shattered by the Protestant Reformation, which began in 1517 and produced an array of Christian groups. One of the most radical movements to appear, and the one that eventually spawned the Amish church, was
Anabaptism
. The Anabaptist movement began around 1525, when a group of young reformers rebelled against the infant baptism practiced in both Protestant and Catholic churches. These upstarts argued that the New Testament taught that baptism was only appropriate for adults who were willing to obey Jesus’ teachings, and then they promptly began baptizing one another. When word of what they were doing got around, the group was sarcastically labeled
Anabaptists
, or
rebaptizers
. To those who disliked them, the Anabaptists’ second baptism didn’t count for anything. For the Anabaptists, however, the baptism of adult believers who voluntarily chose to follow the teachings of Christ was the only one that mattered.
Anabaptism
. The Anabaptist movement began around 1525, when a group of young reformers rebelled against the infant baptism practiced in both Protestant and Catholic churches. These upstarts argued that the New Testament taught that baptism was only appropriate for adults who were willing to obey Jesus’ teachings, and then they promptly began baptizing one another. When word of what they were doing got around, the group was sarcastically labeled
Anabaptists
, or
rebaptizers
. To those who disliked them, the Anabaptists’ second baptism didn’t count for anything. For the Anabaptists, however, the baptism of adult believers who voluntarily chose to follow the teachings of Christ was the only one that mattered.
Because they baptized adults and rejected infant baptism, Anabaptists were considered heretics and infidels. Seen as radicals who challenged the very foundations of the established church and government, they were hunted down and captured. Many were tortured, burned at the stake, or executed.
For the next two hundred years, other Christians viewed the Anabaptist movement as dangerous for several reasons. First, the Anabaptists declared that the Bible, particularly the words of Jesus, trumped the church’s long-standing traditions and the laws of civil government. Officials feared the worst if they let these political subversives rely on the words of Jesus to undercut the laws of the land. Second, the Anabaptist refusal to baptize infants struck some as spiritually dangerous—placing their children’s salvation at risk. Moreover, the government needed baptismal records to keep track of citizenship, calculate taxes, and manage inheritance law. Without infant baptism, officials feared, civil chaos would ensue.
All in all, the decision to rebaptize meant choosing a perilous life. The number of Anabaptists who died for their faith eventually exceeded two thousand. Although these spiritual ancestors of the Amish looked like heretics in their time, they were laying the foundation for what many people today take for granted: the separation of church and state and government-sanctioned religious freedom.
Persecution of Anabaptists eventually came to an end, but not before it had profoundly shaped the movement. Early Anabaptists concluded that faithful Christians would inevitably find themselves at odds with the larger world. One early Anabaptist statement even claimed that all of humanity fell into one of two camps: good (Anabaptist Christians) or evil (everyone else).
5
Later Anabaptists would soften this divide, but they still were suspicious of the larger world and its spiritual perils.
5
Later Anabaptists would soften this divide, but they still were suspicious of the larger world and its spiritual perils.
Even today, many Anabaptists—Amish, Mennonites, and others—find the phrase “separation from the world” a useful way to articulate their values and commitments. An Amish handbook on the Christian life couldn’t be clearer: “Know ye not that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Whosoever . . . will be a friend of the world is the enemy of God.”
6
Being wary of the world and keeping some distance from it are central to Amish faith, and they have practical implications for such matters as clothing and the use of technology.
6
Being wary of the world and keeping some distance from it are central to Amish faith, and they have practical implications for such matters as clothing and the use of technology.
Persecution compelled many Anabaptists toward pacifism, also called
defenselessness
or
nonresistance
. Simply put, they had to choose how to respond to their persecutors: fight back in some way, or forgo the use of violence, even in self-defense. Early Anabaptist history reveals various responses, but the pacifist one soon became dominant.
defenselessness
or
nonresistance
. Simply put, they had to choose how to respond to their persecutors: fight back in some way, or forgo the use of violence, even in self-defense. Early Anabaptist history reveals various responses, but the pacifist one soon became dominant.
Swayed by Jesus’ nonviolent example and his teachings in the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5-7), Anabaptists chose not to resist evil with force. This response often brought physical suffering. One Anabaptist leader wrote that his people armed themselves only with spiritual weapons because “Christ is our fortress,
patience
our weapon of defense, and the Word of God our sword.” True Christians will leave “iron and metal spears and swords to those who regard human blood and swine’s blood about alike.”
7
patience
our weapon of defense, and the Word of God our sword.” True Christians will leave “iron and metal spears and swords to those who regard human blood and swine’s blood about alike.”
7
Resisting the world’s allures and forgoing violence, even in the face of persecution, have never been easy. The Amish find inspiration in a massive and revered book,
The Bloody Theatre, or Martyrs Mirror of the Defenseless Christians
, known simply as
Martyrs Mirror
.
8
First published in 1660 by a Dutch Anabaptist minister, the thousand-page
Martyrs Mirror
contains stories of over eight hundred Anabaptist martyrs. These stories detail midnight arrests, inquisitions at the hands of governing authorities, and gruesome executions.
The Bloody Theatre, or Martyrs Mirror of the Defenseless Christians
, known simply as
Martyrs Mirror
.
8
First published in 1660 by a Dutch Anabaptist minister, the thousand-page
Martyrs Mirror
contains stories of over eight hundred Anabaptist martyrs. These stories detail midnight arrests, inquisitions at the hands of governing authorities, and gruesome executions.
The martyrs do not fight back. Some even ask God to forgive those who persecute them, much as Jesus did when he was nailed to the cross (Luke 23:34). The story of Dirk Willems saving his captor’s life is particularly well known in Amish circles. A Dutch Anabaptist imprisoned in 1569, Willems escaped from his cell and fled across a frozen moat. He made it safely across, but the guard pursuing him fell through the ice and would have drowned. Not wanting the man to die, Willems turned around and pulled his pursuer to safety, saving his life. For his kindness, Dirk Willems was rearrested and promptly executed.
Today, 350 years later,
Martyrs Mirror
remains an important book in Amish life. It’s a popular gift for newly married couples, and many Amish families pass along copies from generation to generation. One Amish publisher sells several hundred
Martyrs Mirror
s each year in both German and English.
9
Martyrs Mirror
is not the kind of book one reads from cover to cover. Its oversized pages are filled with tiny print, and its prose is dense and difficult.
Martyrs Mirror
remains an important book in Amish life. It’s a popular gift for newly married couples, and many Amish families pass along copies from generation to generation. One Amish publisher sells several hundred
Martyrs Mirror
s each year in both German and English.
9
Martyrs Mirror
is not the kind of book one reads from cover to cover. Its oversized pages are filled with tiny print, and its prose is dense and difficult.
Amish people do read the book, however, and ponder its 104 illustrations during family or private devotions. Some of the pictures are chilling, such as one titled “The burning of eighteen persons in Salzburg in 1528,” complete with flames and billowing smoke. Other etchings are dramatic in their poignancy, such as a scene showing a young mother handing over her infant son to be raised by someone else as she is led out of town to be executed for her faith.
An Amish woman recalls that she and her siblings would crowd onto her father’s lap while he sat in his rocking chair and held
Martyrs Mirror
open for all to see. “We would look at all the pictures, one by one, and Dad would tell the story to each picture,” she told us. “We never tired of hearing the stories even if we knew them by heart.”
10
Martyrs Mirror
open for all to see. “We would look at all the pictures, one by one, and Dad would tell the story to each picture,” she told us. “We never tired of hearing the stories even if we knew them by heart.”
10
Many non-Amish parents would think twice before exposing their young children to bone-chilling stories of atrocities that end in death. Amish children do sometimes find them frightening; our source told us that she remembers “many times sitting in church and wondering how it would be if the [building] were set on fire.” But for Amish readers, these stories depict the courage to suffer for Christ’s sake, to live faithfully, and to die well. Such accounts also shape a distinctive identity and give Amish people a sense of being part of something much greater than just themselves.
Although the outside threat made the group more cohesive, the early Anabaptists didn’t agree on everything. Eventually some of these disagreements festered into a division, and in 1693, a group of Anabaptists in Switzerland and France, led by Jakob Ammann, formed their own movement. Called
Ammanists
at first, the group later assumed the name
Amish
. About fifty years later, they began moving to North America in pursuit of both religious toleration and economic opportunity.This is where they continue to live out their unique form of Christian spirituality.
d
Ammanists
at first, the group later assumed the name
Amish
. About fifty years later, they began moving to North America in pursuit of both religious toleration and economic opportunity.This is where they continue to live out their unique form of Christian spirituality.
d
What spawned this new Anabaptist subgroup? Historians offer several explanations, but the bottom line is this: the Amish felt that their Swiss Anabaptist counterparts had strayed from the original Anabaptist vision. Ammann complained that other Anabaptists had grown too friendly with the world and were too lax in their lifestyles. Worse yet, he felt, was that his fellow church leaders had abandoned biblical teachings on
avoidance
(also known as
shunning
). Ammann argued that church members who persistently disobeyed church rules should not merely be excluded from the Lord’s Supper (Holy Communion, or the Eucharist) but also be treated as outsiders until they repented. The Amish views on these points, writes one historian, ensured “a sharper sense of separation from the world and reflected their desire to maintain the purity of the church.”
11
avoidance
(also known as
shunning
). Ammann argued that church members who persistently disobeyed church rules should not merely be excluded from the Lord’s Supper (Holy Communion, or the Eucharist) but also be treated as outsiders until they repented. The Amish views on these points, writes one historian, ensured “a sharper sense of separation from the world and reflected their desire to maintain the purity of the church.”
11
That issue—church purity—stands at the center of two sections of the Dordrecht Confession of Faith, a seventeenth-century Anabaptist document the Amish still regard as their doctrinal standard and use to instruct baptismal candidates.
12
In fact, these two sections on church discipline may be the reason that the confession remains at the headwaters of Amish spirituality. Even today the Amish uphold the form of church discipline—excommunication, followed by shunning—that Jakob Ammann advocated and for which the Dordrecht Confession provides a rationale. This practice, which we’ll dissect in Chapter Six, sets the Amish apart from other Anabaptist groups.
12
In fact, these two sections on church discipline may be the reason that the confession remains at the headwaters of Amish spirituality. Even today the Amish uphold the form of church discipline—excommunication, followed by shunning—that Jakob Ammann advocated and for which the Dordrecht Confession provides a rationale. This practice, which we’ll dissect in Chapter Six, sets the Amish apart from other Anabaptist groups.
But the Dordrecht Confession is not exclusively Amish; it also summarizes themes that are key for other Anabaptist groups. For example, it reserves baptism for adult believers, notes that Jesus forbids “all revenge and retaliation,” and calls for high ethical standards based on his life. Adult baptism, pacifism, and Christian discipleship constitute the core of the Anabaptist tradition, which the Amish embrace fully.
13
13
The confession’s contents also show that the Amish swim in the stream of conventional Christianity. Its eighteen sections (it’s often dubbed the “Eighteen Articles” by Amish people) includes articles on such basic Christian beliefs as God, human sinfulness, the significance of Jesus Christ, repentance, the church, and God’s final judgment.
Amish faith, then, is best understood as a particular type of Christianity and, more specifically, a particular type of Anabaptist Christianity. And just as the Dordrecht Confession expresses both the uniqueness of the Amish faith and its affinities with other Christian traditions, so too do Amish songs and prayers, many of which date back to the early Anabaptist movement.
Unless you know German and can read Old Gothic type, you might be baffled while paging through a copy of the
Ausbund
, the only hymnal used in Amish church services.
14
Its 140 hymns were largely written in the sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries, in the midst of severe persecution.
Ausbund
hymns frequently refer to martyrdom and the importance of remaining steadfast in times of trial. In fact, some of the hymns were composed by Anabaptists who were in prison and awaiting execution.
Ausbund
, the only hymnal used in Amish church services.
14
Its 140 hymns were largely written in the sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries, in the midst of severe persecution.
Ausbund
hymns frequently refer to martyrdom and the importance of remaining steadfast in times of trial. In fact, some of the hymns were composed by Anabaptists who were in prison and awaiting execution.
More than merely recounting the horrors of persecution, however, the
Ausbund
teaches worshipers about the nature of the Christian faith, and the demands and rewards of following Christ. One hymn, translated from the German, says:
Ausbund
teaches worshipers about the nature of the Christian faith, and the demands and rewards of following Christ. One hymn, translated from the German, says:
The Father we will praise, who has redeemed us,
In Heaven on high, through his Son’s death,
Whom he has given to make atonement for our sin,
That we might live in faith as his obedient child. . . .
Whoever truly lays hold of God’s word and believes in his heart,
Hating all sin and malice, to him the [reward] is granted.
15
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