The Amish Mennonites

Explores the moral dilemmas faced by various religious sects and how these groups struggled to come to terms with the effects of wartime Americanization-- without sacrificing their religious beliefs and values.

Sensitively answers the most common inquiries about Amish and Mennonite peoples. Authoritative, sympathetic, and thorough. 20 Most Asked Questions looks at origins, dress, pacifism, education, weddings, funerals, and food, as well as many other facets of Amish and Mennonite life. This book has sold more than 200,000 copies. 1. What is the difference between the Amish and the Mennonites? 2. When and how did these people get started? 3. Are they a Christian group or do they represent a different religion? 4. Aren’t they a bit naive and backward? Why don’t they accept modern things? 5. Does anyone ever join them? Does anyone ever leave? 6. Why do they dress that way? 7. Is it true they don’t go to war? 8. Why are they against education? 9. Why are they such good farmers? 10. Why don’t they pay Social Security taxes? 11. Do any of the Amish or Mennonite groups believe in missions? 12. What are their weddings like? 13. How are their women and children treated? 14. Is food a part of their religion? 15. Do they go to doctors and hospitals? 16. What about burial? 17. Don’t they believe in having fun? 18. What are some of their problems? 19. Are they growing or dying in number? 20. What, in fact, holds them together?

""A major contribution to our understanding of Anabaptist history and the ongoing construction of Anabaptist identity."" -- Mennonite Quarterly Review.

"A historic perspective on how members of the close-knit communities and their leaders responded to the challenges posed by the intrusion of the telephone into long-standing traditions of work, silence, and visiting in the early 1900s" -- Harrisburg Patriot

The history of the migrations of many Amish families in this book precedes the information in Amish and Amish Mennonite Genealogies (#2). Many of the same families are featured, but their ancestors are included for several generations before their arrival in America. The author gathered the data from the U.S. census records; civil records in Switzerland, France, and Germany; and cemetery records in Europe and U.S. He also accessed published lists of Anabaptists, ship lists, lists of people exiled to other countries, etc. Some family names include Beachy, Beiler, Brenneman, Berkey, Detweiler, Erb, Esch, Eyer, Fisher, Gerber, Gnage, Guth, Hershberger, Hertzler, Holly, Hostetler, Kurtz, Lehman, Livengood, Mast, Miller, Nafziger, Rickenbach, Rupp, Schmucker, Sieber, Speicher, Stutzman, Troyer, Tschantz, and Zook. (352pp. illus. index. Masthof Press, 2002.)

Donald B. Kraybill has spent his career among Anabaptist groups, gaining an unparalleled understanding of these traditionally private people. Kraybill shares that deep knowledge in this succinct overview of the beliefs and cultural practices of Amish, Brethren, Hutterites, and Mennonites in North America. Found throughout Canada, Central America, Mexico, and the United States, these religious communities include more than 200 different groups with 800,000 members in 17 countries. Through 340 short entries, Kraybill offers readers information on a wide range of topics related to religious views and social practices. With thoughtful consideration of how these diverse communities are related, this compact reference provides a brief and accurate synopsis of these groups in the twenty-first century. No other single volume provides such a broad overview of Amish, Brethren, Hutterites, and Mennonites in North America. Organized for ease of searching—with a list of entries, a topic finder, an index of names, and ample cross-references—the volume also includes abundant resources for accessing additional information. Wide in scope, succinct in content, and with directional markers along the way, the Concise Encyclopedia of Amish, Brethren, Hutterites, and Mennonites is a must-have reference for anyone interested in Anabaptist groups.

Winner, 2011 Dale Brown Book Award for Outstanding Scholarship in Anabaptist and Pietist Studies. Young Center for Anabaptist and Pietist Studies at Elizabethtown College Holmes County, Ohio, is home to the largest and most diverse Amish community in the world. Yet, surprisingly, it remains relatively unknown compared to its famous cousin in Lancaster, Pennsylvania. Charles E. Hurst and David L. McConnell conducted seven years of fieldwork, including interviews with over 200 residents, to understand the dynamism that drives social change and schism within the settlement, where Amish enterprises and nonfarming employment have prospered. The authors contend that the Holmes County Amish are experiencing an unprecedented and complex process of change as their increasing entanglement with the non-Amish market causes them to rethink their religious convictions, family practices, educational choices, occupational shifts, and health care options. The authors challenge the popular image of the Amish as a homogeneous, static, insulated society, showing how the Amish balance tensions between individual needs and community values. They find that self-made millionaires work alongside struggling dairy farmers; successful female entrepreneurs live next door to stay-at-home mothers; and teenagers both embrace and reject the coming-of-age ritual, rumspringa. An Amish Paradox captures the complexity and creativity of the Holmes County Amish, dispelling the image of the Amish as a vestige of a bygone era and showing how they reinterpret tradition as modernity encroaches on their distinct way of life.

This first comparative study sketches the differences as well as the common threads that bind these groups together.