The Amish: A Concise Introduction

153 Pages·2016·11.403 MB·English

by  Steven M. Nolt

The Amish
Young Center Books in Anabaptist
and Pietist Studies
Donald B. Kraybill, Series Editor

© 2016 Johns Hopkins University Press
All rights reserved. Published 2016
Printed in the United States of Amer i ca on acid- free paper
2 4 6 8 9 7 5 3 1
Johns Hopkins University Press
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Library of Congress Cataloging- in- Publication Data
Nolt, Steven M., 1968– author.
The Amish : a concise introduction / Steven M. Nolt.
pages cm. — (Young Center books in Anabaptist
and Pietist studies)
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-1-4214-1956-5 (pbk. : alk. paper) — ISBN 1-4214-1956-4
(pbk. : alk. paper) — ISBN 978-1-4214-1957-2 (electronic) —
ISBN 1-4214-1957-2 (electronic)
1. Amish— United States— Social life and customs.
2. Amish— History. I. Title.
E184.M45.N65 2016
289.7'3— dc23 2015028198
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Contents
1 Meet the Amish 1
2 Amish Roots 12
3 Living the Old Order 26
4 Community and Church 40
5 Rumspringa: Amish Gone Wild? 53
6 Family and Schooling 66
7 Work and Technology 80
8 The Amish and Their Neighbors 95
9 Amish Images in Modern Amer i ca 107
Appendix A: Amish Spirituality 119
Appendix B: Related Groups 122
Notes 125
For Further Reading 131
Index 135
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The Amish
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C H A P T E R   O N E
Meet the Amish
In 2013 an Amish father placed a notice in an
Amish newspaper for a meeting of parents and teachers in-
volved with Amish schools. Information about the gathering,
to be held in Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania, ended with this
reminder: “If you are planning to attend and are using a GPS,
you must use the correct spelling [for Punxsutawney].”1
The Amish use global positioning systems?
For many Americans, the image of the Amish as reclu-
sive, dark- clad, horse- and- buggy-driving folks conjures no-
tions of the nineteenth century and hardly comports with
twenty- first- century satellite technology. In fact, most ob-
servers would either be perplexed by the notice or decide that
it reveals some secret hy poc risy among a p eople who present
a publicly plain life but b ehind the scenes are actually no dif-
fer ent from the rest of us.
The truth is something else, as we will see, but the Punx-
sutawney school meeting lays bare distinctive aspects of
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