Our People: The Amish and Mennonites of Ohio PDF
Preview Our People: The Amish and Mennonites of Ohio
Our People : The Amish and Mennonites of title: Ohio author: Miller, Levi. publisher: Herald Press isbn10 | asin: 0836135822 print isbn13: 9780836135824 ebook isbn13: 9780585219400 language: English Amish--Ohio--Social life and customs, subject Mennonites--Ohio--Social life and customs, Ohio--Social life and customs. publication date: 1992 lcc: F500.M45M55 1992eb ddc: 305.6/870771 Amish--Ohio--Social life and customs, subject: Mennonites--Ohio--Social life and customs, Ohio--Social life and customs. Page 1 Our People The Amish and Mennonites of Ohio Levi Miller Revised Edition Page 2 The paper used in this publication is recycled and meets the minimum requirements of American National Standard for Information SciencesPermanence of Paper for Printed Library Materials, ANSI Z39.48-1984. Scripture quotations are from the New Revised Standard Version Bible, copyright 1989, by the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the USA, and is used by permission. Photo credits: Doyle Yoderfront cover, back cover (bottom), 27; David Millerback cover (top), 25; LaMar Weaver4, 11, 16 (bottom); Spencer W. Cunningham34 (bottom), 61; Joanne Lehman13, 26; Dale D. Gehman40; Laurelville Mennonite Church Center31; remainder by Bruce D. Glick. OUR PEOPLE: THE AMISH AND MENNONITES OF OHIO Copyright 1983, 1992 by Herald Press, Scottdale, Pa. 15683 Published 1983. Revised edition 1992. Published simultaneously in Canada by Herald Press, Waterloo, Ont. N2L 6H7. All rights reserved Website: www.mph.org Library of Congress Catalog Card Number: 91-76519 International Standard Book Number: 0-8361-3582-2 Printed in the United States of America Book and cover design by Merrill R. Miller 07 06 05 04 03 02 01 00 99 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 Over 50,000 copies in print Page 3 For the Amish "Our People" is a dynamic reality visible in language, clothing, transportation, and folk traditions such as the barn raising. Page 4 In worship, many conservative Mennonite women wear a prayer covering. Our people share a common history and Christian beliefs; however, some interpretations differ. Page 5 Our People My brother and I were driving west from the small Ohio town of Berlin, heading toward what in Holmes County is called the Joe Miller Hill. Over the top of the hill came two young boys riding a draft horse. The horse, in harness, was trotting and blowing white wisps of steam into the morning air. The harness was jangling and the boys were laughing, the eastern morning sun shining in their faces. The traffic passed them on the other side of the road. I have no idea why on that morning those black-hatted boys were riding a draft horse with a harness. Amish seldom ride on horseback, in any case. But their joyful uphill ride on that sunny morning seemed to me to symbolize the Amish and Mennonites of Ohio. They often go against the current, up the hill, in the world's greatest superpowerand are joyful. Those young boys are a part of our people, the Amish and Mennonites. I am a Mennonite who was born in an Amish home. My family has lived in Holmes County, Ohio, for six generations. What I share here is an inside view of one who has experienced life in the community. I am a member who believes in the group's values, faith and way of life. I do not, however, pretend to speak for all the Mennonites and Amish of Ohio. Although our people like unity, we are also quite different. But I'm getting ahead of the story. Let's go back to the two boys going up the hill. Our people often go up the hill, against the current thinking in our communities. We do it not to be contrary Page 6 (although we can be stubborn at times) but to be ourselves. In some ways we do not fit in with the rest of society. We go slow while others are speeding up. We believe the wisdom is in the ages; most North Americans believe progress is in the new. We live in peace and do not participate in warfare. We live simply, and many men wear beards and many women wear bonnets. Most are moderately wealthy. Those are the obvious confessions. But if you scratch beneath the surface, you will discover that we consider ourselves to be a people. The Amish talk about unser Leut (our people). Mennonite theologians write about "people-hood." If you ask an Amish father why he grows a beard, he may tell you that "our people have always worn beards." For traditional people, that is reason enough. If you ask a Mennonite woman why she wears no jewelry and little makeup, she may talk about our people traditionally doing this. She may quote a Bible verse about not having our hair adorned with jewels. She may begin talking about living simply and sharing the world's resources. If you continue to ask, she may say something about "our people's interpretation of the Scripture" or the "Anabaptist tradition of simplicity." For the Amish "our people" is a dynamic reality, visible in language, clothing, transportation, and many folk traditions. These visible marks differ sharply from those of their non-Amish neighbors, the world. Amish make their basic decisions based on the convictions of their people, the church. For Mennonites "our people" is more difficult to define, but we constantly talk about it. We talk about the Anabaptist story, our martyr heritage. A Plain City mother tells of her son who is writing stories of peacemaking; a Walnut Creek couple tell of their daughter who is teaching in Zaire; a Bluffton Mennonite compiled another genealogy of his Swiss forbears.
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