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Praise for Amish Grace "A story our polarized country needs to hear: It is still grace that saves." —BILL MOYERS, Public Affairs Television "In a world where repaying evil with evil is almost second nature, the Amish remind us there's a better way. In plain and beautiful prose, Amish Grace recounts the Amish witness and connects it to the heart of their spirituality." —SISTER HELEN PREJEAN, author, Dead Man Walking "Faced with the notorious Amish aversion to publicity, reporter after reporter turned to the authors...to answer one question: How could the Nickel Mines Amish so readily, so completely, forgive ? While the text provides a detailed account of the tragedy, its beauty lies in it...
The essential introduction to Amish life and culture. There seems to be no end to our fascination with the Amish, a religious minority that has both placed itself outside the mainstream of American culture and flourished within it. Yet most people know very little about the nuanced relationship the Amish have with society or their own communities. Drawing on more than twenty years of fieldwork and collaborative research, Steven M. Nolt’s The Amish: A Concise Introduction is a compact but richly detailed portrait of Amish life. In fewer than 150 pages, readers will come away with a clear understanding of the complexities of these simple people. Writing in engaging and accessible language, N...
A distinctive American subculture responds to the forces of social change
Since its publication in 1989, The Riddle of Amish Culture has become recognized as a classic work on one of America's most distinctive religious communities. But many changes have occurred within Amish society over the past decade, from westward migrations and a greater familiarity with technology to the dramatic shift away from farming into small business which is transforming Amish culture. For this revised edition, Donald B. Kraybill has taken these recent changes into account, incorporating new demographic research and new interviews he has conducted among the Amish. In addition, he includes a new chapter describing Amish recreation and social gatherings, and he applies the concept of "social capital" to his sensitive and penetrating interpretation of how the Amish have preserved their social networks and the solidarity of their community.
Enveloped in mystery, Amish culture has remained a captivating topic within mainstream American culture. In this volume, David Weaver-Zercher explores how Americans throughout the 20th century reacted to and interpreted the Amish. Through an examination of a variety of visual and textual sources, Weaver-Zercher explores how diverse groups - ranging from Mennonites to Hollywood producers - represented and understood the Amish.
In this new edition of The Amish and the State Donald Kraybill brings together legal scholars and social scientists to explore the unique series of conflicts between a traditional religious minority and the modern state. In the process, the authors trace the preservation—and the erosion—of religious liberty in American life. Kraybill begins with an overview of the Amish in North America and describes the "negotiation model" used throughout the book to interpret a variety of legal conflicts. Subsequent chapters deal with specific aspects of religious freedom over which the Amish and the state have clashed. Focusing on the period from 1925 to 2001 in the United States, the authors examine conflicts over military service and conscription, Social Security and taxes, education, health care, land use and zoning, regulation of slow-moving vehicles, and other first amendment issues. New concluding chapters, by constitutional expert William Ball, who defended the Amish before the Supreme Court in 1972 in the landmark Wisconsin v. Yoder case, and law professor Garret Epps, assess the Amish contribution to preserving religious liberty in the United States.
A sensitive and realistic look at the spiritual life and practices of the Amish This second book by the authors of the award-winning Amish Grace sheds further light on the Amish, this time on their faith, spirituality, and spiritual practices. They interpret the distinctive practices of the Amish way of life and spirituality in their cultural context and explore their applicability for the wider world. Using a holistic perspective, the book tells the story of Amish religious experience in the words of the Amish themselves. Due to their long-standing friendships and relationships with Amish people, this author team may be the only set of interpreters able to provide an outsider-insider perspective. Provides a behind-the-scenes examination of Amish spiritual life Shows how the Amish practices can be applied to the wider world Written by authors with unprecedented access to the Amish community Written in a lively and engaging style, The Amish Way holds appeal for anyone who has wanted to know more about the inner workings of the Amish way of life.
Revised edition of this classic work brings the story of the Amish into the 21st century. Since its publication in 1989, The Riddle of Amish Culture has become recognized as a classic work on one of America's most distinctive religious communities. But many changes have occurred within Amish society over the past decade, from westward migrations and a greater familiarity with technology to the dramatic shift away from farming into small business which is transforming Amish culture. For this revised edition, Donald B. Kraybill has taken these recent changes into account, incorporating new demographic research and new interviews he has conducted among the Amish. In addition, he includes a new chapter describing Amish recreation and social gatherings, and he applies the concept of "social capital" to his sensitive and penetrating interpretation of how the Amish have preserved their social networks and the solidarity of their community.