THURSDAY, JUNE 7
Marcus Meier
On November 22, 1693, Jakob Ammann wrote a letter to ministers in the Palatine to clarify why he excluded them from the community. That famous document, which gives remarkable insights into decisive points of division, has never been examined satisfactorily.
An analysis of the document leads us to two crucial points of the split. First, what does Ammann declare to be the infallible rule of faith and practice? Second, how does he determine the relationship between doctrinal statements and scriptures? Using primarily Pietist biblical verses and arguments for his explanation, Ammann’s answers reveal that Pietist ideas had a lasting effect on him and his followers.
The results of this paper have fundamental importance for our understanding of the nature of the early Amish movement.
Marcus Meier, Ph.D., teaches as Philipps-Universitat Marburg, Marburg, Germany.
Jakob Ammann and the Amish Division:
A Research Update
John D. Roth
Until recently, relatively little has been known about Jakob Ammann, the central figure in the so-called “Amish Division” of 1693. Because Ammann is such a common family name, the frequent references to “Jakob Ammann” in the archival sources have led to a variety of confusions and false assumptions.
Thanks to recent systematic research in local records, however, a much more complete and accurate picture of Ammann and the other key players in the Amish Division is now slowly emerging. Drawing primarily on German, Swiss and French sources, this paper will offer a research update on Ammann scholarship, along with the latest findings regarding his Swiss Brethren antagonist, Hans Reist, and several other participants in the controversy.
John D. Roth, Ph.D., is the editor of Mennonite Quarterly Review, director of the Mennonite Historical Library, and professor of history at Goshen College, Goshen, Indiana.
Amish Identity and Martyrs Mirror
James Lowry
The Amish encountered Martyrs Mirror in the Netherlands when Amish refugees first arrived in 1711. This Dutch language book became more accessible to them as they learned the language of their newly adopted country.
In 1765 Amish Elder Hans Nafziger of the Palatinate visited the struggling Amish communities in the Netherlands. He became familiar with this identity-molding volume as he ministered to the struggling Amish communities there. Eventually Nafziger secured the copper plates to use in the reprinting of the German translation done at Pirmasens in 1780.
Meanwhile, Martyrs Mirror had been printed at the Ephrata Cloister in 1748-1749. Copies of both the Pirmasens and Cloister editions have been passed down through Amish families. The book confirmed the long-standing martyr tradition from Switzerland, previously carried only in living memory and in the pages of the Ausbund.
The Amish used Martyrs Mirror during the nineteenth century Diener Versammlungen, where the book was a reference in settling controversies. Amish writings in America continue to use Martyrs Mirror as an authoritative source.
James W. Lowry, M.A., is researcher and transcriber, Amsterdam Archives Committee, Hagerstown, Maryland.
Witnessing the Amish: Plain People on Fancy Film
Crystal Downing
Hollywood depictions of the Amish often elicit critiques focusing upon representational accuracy; detractors decry moments when Plain People in fictional film fail to reflect the plain truth about Amish lifestyles. Those concerned with authenticity of portrayal, however, overlook the function of mainstream movies, which reflect the cultural values of their authors and audiences as much as those of their subject matter. Hence, film actors portraying the Amish do not represent the “real” Amish so much as perpetuate an American dream—that the idyllic agrarian harmony mystified by the likes of Wordsworth and Thoreau actually exists in contemporary North America.
Films about the Amish, in other words, present an ages-old fiction know as “the pastoral.” Two financially successful examples—Witness (1985) and For Richer or Poorer (1997)—illustrate characteristics of the pastoral tradition, revolving around the fundamental tension between rural and urban economies. However, while For Richer or Poorer reneges on its pastoral premises, Witness demonstrates the relevance of Plain practices to the possibilities and perils of traditional pastoral impulses.
Crystal Downing, Ph.D., is associate professor of English and film studies, Messiah College, Grantham, Pennsylvania.
Hollywood Rumspringa: Amish in the City
Dirk Eitzen
The 2004 reality television series Amish in the City sparked widespread criticism for its exploitation of the Amish and, more specifically, its cynical depiction of Rumspringa, the period in which some Amish young people explore a non-Amish way of life. Of course, the notion that reality television “exploits” people is complicated by the fact that the real-life participants in reality television shows choose to be exploited—something that was certainly true in this case.
What should we make of Amish in the City? Was there anything original about it, or did it simply mimic other reality television offerings? Was it as bad as its critics suggested, or, on the other hand, did it represent (as some argued) a more thoughtful, sensitive form of reality television? Finally, what shall we make of the notion that Amish culture was ridiculed, perhaps even “harmed,” by this portrayal of Amish life?
Dirk Eitzen, Ph.D., is associate professor of film and media studies, Franklin and Marshall College, Lancaster, Pennsylvania.
Wicked Truth:
The Amish, the Media, and Telling the Truth
Diane Zimmerman Umble
The June 1998 arrests of two young Amish-raised men for selling cocaine created a media sensation, not only in their Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, home, but around the world. The story and subsequent legal proceedings prompted a “media frenzy” that presented an array of dilemmas about how to tell the truth for the defendants, their families, their legal counsel, scholars, and local journalists. Amish prohibitions against photography and their aversion to speaking publicly presented challenges for defense attorneys who believed that their clients needed balanced media coverage to get a fair trial.
Hometown journalists were caught between assisting major media organizations in getting the story and their own needs to maintain carefully cultivated sources within the Amish community. Members of the Amish community distrusted the media’s ability to “get it right.” Academic experts on Amish culture were cast as spokespersons for the Amish in ways that sometimes obscured as much as illuminated. And the young men and their families were bewildered, offended, and sometimes misused in the process.
Based on interviews with those involved in the events, this presentation explores the participants’ negotiations with the media as they struggled over how the truth was told.
Diane Zimmerman Umble, Ph.D., is an associate professor of communications and theatre and interim associate dean, School of Humanities and Social Sciences, at Millersville University, Millersville, Pennsylvania.
Amish Linguistics: An Overview
Mark L. Louden
This presentation will sketch the major outlines of the linguistic situation of the Old Order Amish in North America, past and present. Proceeding chronologically, we will begin with the eighteenth century, when the first Amish came to colonial Pennsylvania along with some 80,000 other speakers of German from Central Europe. The linguistic consequence of this migration was the emergence of the Pennsylvania Dutch language, which remains a core aspect of Old Order Amish (and Old Order Mennonite) identity.
We will move on to the nineteenth century, when two major varieties of Amish Pennsylvania Dutch, “Lancaster” and “Midwestern,” emerged. At this point we will also mention briefly the “Swiss Amish” of eastern Ohio and southern Indiana. Concluding this presentation will be a discussion of the current diglossic situation of Pennsylvania Dutch, High German, and English among modern Old Order groups.
Mark L. Louden, Ph.D., is professor of German, University of Wisconsin–Madison, Madison, Wisconsin.
Patterns of Diversity Among Indiana’s Amish
Thomas Meyers
The Amish settlements in the state of Indiana vary significantly in their use of one of two German dialects, and other ethnic markers. They also have very different migration histories, with ties to Pennsylvania, New York, Ohio, and other settlements within the state. Occupational patterns vary from industrial employment to family owned and operated business as the only acceptable option. After describing some aspects of this diversity, this presentation will conclude with a theoretical discussion of Amish identity based on four very different communities in Orange and Washington counties in southern Indiana. In this small corner of Indiana there are four very distinct Amish identities. Differences from one settlement to another can not simply be described in terms of traditional versus more progressive Ordnung. The proposed model suggests that there are multivariate factors that account for Amish diversity and identity.
Thomas Meyers, Ph.D., is professor of sociology, associate dean, and director of International Education, at Goshen College, Goshen, Indiana.
Ethical Dilemmas:
Responding to Domestic Violence in Old Order Communities
James A. Cates
The Old Order Amish struggle with a strong desire to address häuslich Gewalttätigkeit, or domestic violence, within their communities. At the same time, their inherent distance from the world often limits the willingness of victims, perpetrators, and those handling the problem to request services from the larger community. In Old Order communities, domestic violence is appalling but at times inadequately addressed.
For the social service/mental health professional working with the Old Orders, standards of equality, tolerance, and social justice are viewed in a much different manner than training and experience normally suggests.
This session offers a panel of Old Order Amish who are concerned about the issue of häuslich Gewalttätigkeit in their communities. They propose a dialogue on the experiences and needs of the Old Orders on the interface of their communities and social service/mental health professionals in addressing this problem.
James A. Cates, Ph.D., ABPP, is the director of the Amish Youth Vision Project, Fort Wayne, Indiana.
Dirk Philips (1504-1568) on the Ban
Theo Brok
The ban is an instrument of church discipline that has played a decisive role in the history of Dutch Anabaptism. The term is used to indicate the exclusion from participating in communion or excommunication, the exclusion from membership. Dirk Philips (1504-1568) has been regarded as the Mennonite bishop who laid the foundation for the strict use of the ban to safeguard the individual life of practical holiness and the purity of the communities of “true believers.” The purpose of discipline within the Church so conceived was to deal with those members of the community who did not manifest daily the fruits of grace. The principle and practice of the ban by way of church discipline has been fundamental to a distinctively Anabaptist-Mennonite understanding of the church.
Theo Brok, Utrecht, The Netherlands.
The Ohio Amish Library in Holmes County
David Rempel Smucker
The Ohio Amish Library is an historical library in the heart of the largest Amish settlement. It represents a cooperative venture of various Amish groups. I will provide a description of their organizational structure, their collection policy, their holdings, their publications, and the modes of access to their materials by the local Amish and the general public.
Analysis will be guided by the following questions and considerations:
1. What role does this organization play in the complex mix of Anabaptist groups in Holmes County, Ohio?
2. For what reasons do these Amish groups believe that preserving books, manuscript materials, and artifacts will serve their purposes? What aspects of their history are perceived as worthy of preservation?
3. What is the relation between their ability to orally communicate their faith and culture from generation to generation and their ability to accomplish a similar task through preserving the written word?
4. Do the purposes of the Ohio Amish Library include communicating important aspects of their faith and culture to the non-Amish world? Does the Ohio Amish Library coordinate their activities with the nearby Amish Mennonite Information Center, an organization clearly focused on the large influx of tourists?
David Rempel Smucker, Ph.D., Akron, Pennsylvania.
Levi L. Schlabach
and Why Columbus Discovered America
Levi Miller
A chapter of my memoirs focuses on the story of my maternal grandfather who lived in Holmes County, Ohio. Economically, he lived through the challenge the Amish faced as they adapted to changes in marketing their milk in the 1940s. Would they make the modernization changes to meet the standards of Grade A milk or would they form local cooperatives and then seek out native Swiss cheese makers to come to the USA to produce a viable dairy product, locally produced and controlled? Most of the Holmes County Amish pursued the latter course and my grandfather was treasurer of the Sharp Run Dairy for many years.
In his sixties, my grandfather left the Amish and joined the conservative Mennonites, but upon retirement he lived with his Amish daughter Clara for the last decade of his life and in essence returned to his church and died as an Amish man. Religiously, in many ways his life represents the interplay of Amish and Mennonite life in a large Amish and Mennonite community. Although in theology and theory the Amish church is highly fenced and the ban and shunning are well-known, much of the texture of Amish and Mennonite life has a porous quality that my grandfather, known as L.L., represents. Levi Schlabach died in 1979, and his funeral was presided over by a Mennonite bishop and an Amish bishop. This session title comes from the Amish bishop’s comments during the funeral.
Levi Miller, Herald Press, Mennonite Publishing Network, Scottdale, Pennsylvania.
Patterns of Old Order Mutual Aid
Herman Bontrager
Amish, Brethren and Mennonite groups have operated sharing and mutual aid plans, some since 1875, to help bear each other’s burdens caused by losses from fire, wind, automobile accidents, other forms of injury and illness. New Testament teachings on “bearing one another’s burdens” (mutual aid) and accountability in the faith community are the foundation of these plans. Representatives from Old Order Amish, Mennonite, and River Brethren will explain how these plans operate and discuss the challenges mutual sharing plans face today from high costs, state regulatory requirements, competition, wealth, and individualism. The presentation will clarify the differences between mutual aid and mutual insurance.
Herman Bontrager is president of Goodville Mutual Casualty Company, New Holland, Pennsylvania.
Amish Generational Cohorts and Childrearing
Bonita Freeman-Witthoft and Karen Paiva
Raising children in today’s America is a difficult task. The Internet, television, electronic games, music, and movies are some of the more far-reaching secular trappings that make responsible parenting more broadly challenging than in previous generations. But what do Old Order Amish parents, who greatly limit their children from the world outside, make of raising children today? We suggest that the Amish share many of the same national childrearing concerns.
Our analysis is three-fold. First, using a social-anthropological qualitative lens and drawing on Geertz and Sorokin’s social system concept and Weick’s sensemaking model, we examine interview and survey samples of Old Order Amish generational cohorts’ perceptions of changes in childrearing and community from several church districts in and around the Village of Intercourse, Pennsylvania. Second, we compare our sample’s responses related to childrearing to Public Agenda’s 2002 National report. Finally, we discuss the seeming effect of the West Nickel Mines schoolhouse shooting that took place in the midst of our research as an emergent phenomenon of social action; thereby, bringing to light the unfolding nature of sensemaking as sect members gave meaning to the unimaginable violation of their children and their community.
Bonita Freeman-Witthoft, Ph.D., is associate professor of anthropology at West Chester University, West Chester, Pennsylvania.
Karen Paiva, Ph.D., is instructor of sociology at West Chester University and a resident folk artist at Artisan Village, Intercourse, Pennsylvania.
The Paradox of Self and Conformity in Amish Culture
Jill E. Korbin and Lawrence P. Greksa
In contemporary social science, conventional wisdom holds that individuality is associated with a strong sense of self. In contrast, conformity implies a weaker self that can be bent to the will of others. Kraybill and others have written extensively about outward symbols of Amish conformity detracting from recognition of within-group variability.
This paper argues that conformity essential to maintenance of Amish identity paradoxically requires a strong sense of self. In efforts to understand conformity to Amish life in the midst of modern society, the individual has been underemphasized. While humility and lack of self aggrandizement are core to Amish life, and adherence to the Ordnung critical to individuals and the church, adherence is facilitated and enhanced by a strong sense of self among the individual members of Amish communities. Illustrations from the life course will be explored, with adult baptism in young adulthood as the pivotal life event.
Jill Korbin, Ph.D., is professor of anthropology and associate dean of the College of Arts and Sciences at Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, Ohio. She also serves as director of the Schubert Center for Childhood Studies.
Lawrence Greksa, Ph.D., is professor and chair of the department of anthropology at Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, Ohio.
Denise Reiling
Much has been made of the culturally-mandated decision-making period that Old Order Amish children enter around the age of sixteen, wherein they are to decide whether they will “remain Amish” or whether they will repudiate Amish identity and “go English.” Based upon ethnographic and interview data, it is clear that for many, even though their decision may not crystallize until around the age of sixteen, the matter of identity was established at a much earlier age. In fact, most reported having “always known” that they were not Amish, even some who subsequently made the decision to remain Amish.
The reported role of intellectual curiosity that exceeded the bounds of culturally-sanctioned teaching, whether in public or parochial schools, in “bringing the light” to the matter of identity will be addressed. Coping mechanisms employed to cognitively and affectively deal with these circumstances will be discussed. Particular attention will be given to the experience of those who made the decision to remain Amish even though that identity was an “uncomfortable fit,” their reasons for making that decision, and the coping mechanisms that they employ to deal with both their inauthentic identity and their out-of-bounds intellectual curiosity.
Denise Reiling, Ph.D., is associate professor of sociology, Eastern Michigan University,Ypsilanti, Michigan.
In the Amish Mind: Shall I Stay or Leave?
Saloma Furlong
Katie feels trapped. She is 23, still living in her parents’ home. Her father is dominating and when she tries to defy him, she is abused. She does not have a boyfriend, so her hopes of getting out of her parents’ home are slim, unless she leaves the Amish community. But she is afraid to go because she firmly believes in what she has been taught since she was a child—that she will go to Hell if she leaves. And even if she does leave, will she be able to find happiness after turning her back on all that she has ever known?
Katie’s sister, Susan, was married two years ago. She is the mother of a one-year-old boy. Ever since she got married, she has had a happy smile on her face. Amish married life obviously agrees with her. Even though Katie and Susan are sisters, they have a very different level of satisfaction with their lot in life. Why are some Amish people content with their lifestyle and others not, especially when they were brought up in the same family?
Based on my experience and interviews with Amish and former Amish, I will explore the belief systems that help preserve Amish culture. I will discuss the interventions used by church elders when someone shows signs of waywardness. I will also show that levels of satisfaction or dissatisfaction among Amish often correspond to their social status within the community. Finally, I will summarize what former Amish say about their happiness or unhappiness with their decision to leave.
Saloma Furlong, Vergennes, Vermont.
“Coming Out” in the 21st Century:
Diversity Among the Ex-Amish
Charles Hurst and David McConnell
To date, accounts of the experiences of ex-Amish have largely been autobiographical and addressed to a popular audience. Most follow an “escape to freedom” narrative in which Amish society is portrayed as rigid and abusive, even cult-like. Questions have been raised about how representative these accounts are, yet, to our knowledge, no systematic data have been collected on the experiences and perspectives of the ex-Amish.
We will report the preliminary results from a questionnaire sent to over 200 former Amish with the assistance of the Ohio-based “Former Amish Reunion.” The survey explores the background of those who leave (church affiliation, age, gender, father’s occupation, etc.), the timing and rationale for the decision to leave the Amish (including the role of “getting saved”), the reactions of family members and church leaders, the contingencies surrounding enforcement of the ban and shunning, and the process of adjustment to English society.
We will analyze the cultural meaning of “coming out narratives” and provide a snapshot of the diversity in motives and experiences among the ex-Amish.
Charles E. Hurst, Ph.D., is professor of sociology at The College of Wooster, Wooster, Ohio.
David L. McConnell, Ph.D., is associate professor of anthropology at The College of Wooster, Wooster, Ohio.
Drs. Hurst and McConnell have been co-investigators for the Spencer Foundation study of the changing landscape of learning in Amish schools.
Mission to Amish People: MAP(s) to Anywhere
Joe Mackall
In a world that exists between the Amish and the English there is an uncertain oasis, an unofficial societal way station made up of nascent ex-Amish and those who have been out longer, those who have made it in the English world. It’s an ex-Amish version of the Underground Railroad.
The most well-known stop on this railroad is the organization called Mission to Amish People (MAP), an organization based in Ashland, Ohio, founded by Joe Keim in 2000, and designed to help ex-Amish find housing and clothing, and get birth certificates, Social Security cards and driver’s licenses. MAP also helps ex-Amish earn their high school equivalency certificates.
Joe and his wife, Esther, left an Old Order Amish group almost twenty years ago. Since leaving the Amish, the Keims have helped over 1,000 Amish cross over to English life. At least 100 have actually stayed in the Keims’ home. They have housed ex-Amish from as far away as Wisconsin, Iowa, and Texas, and MAP has placed Bible study packets in some 2,000 homes in Ohio alone and thousands of others in every state which has an Amish population. Most important, Joe and Esther hope they can bring ex-Amish to Christ, while leaving the strictures of Amish life behind.
Joseph Mackall, Ph.D., is associate professor of English and journalism, Ashland University, Ashland, Ohio.
The Impact of Music Notation
and Recordings on Amish Singing
Hilde Binford
Singing is part of everyday Amish life at home, in school, in courtship, in visiting, and in church. Traditionally, all of the monophonic church melodies (or "slow songs") are learned in an oral tradition. In the past fifteen years, the Amish have begun to rely on written transcription of these "slow songs." Many communities are also singing more four-part hymns in English, typically available in modern notation. In a few cases, Amish who have learned to read music are teaching others the skill. Furthermore, some young people are purchasing recorded “gospel” tapes which include four-part hymn singing.
Amish singing is in transition and as a result, they may lose sound qualities that have prevailed in an oral tradition for many generations. More importantly, the adoption of a written archetype for the melodies results in a "right way" and a "wrong way" to sing the melodies. This, in turn, leads some Amish to believe that they "can't sing." Commercial recordings exacerbate this trend. Up until now, what has been important is to have everyone sing, from the "special children" to the elderly infirm. This is beginning to change as an “ideal” sound and written notation take hold in the Amish communities.
Hilde Binford, Ph.D., is assistant professor of music at Moravian College, Bethlehem, Pennsylvania.
Janneken Smucker
In the past thirty years, both quilts made by the Amish and Amish quiltmaking have undergone dramatic transformations. The quilts have enjoyed status as objects of familial affection, appreciation as works of art by collectors and museums, and high monetary value as commodities that help draw millions of visitors each year to Amish Country.
Amish quiltmaking, once an activity of communal production, has become a market-driven process influenced by interior decoration trends, modern art exhibitions, shrinking agricultural land, tourism, and international refugee migrations. Despite this unique combination of factors affecting the business of Amish quilts, these were not the first folk art objects to receive acclaim and subsequent adaptation and appropriation by a commercial market. Like Native American pottery, Appalachian weaving, and African-American sea-grass baskets from coastal South Carolina, Amish quilts project an attractive quality that runs deeper than surface-level aesthetics. Just as Native American pots are attractive in large part because they are Indian-made, Amish quilts have appeal because they are (perceived to be) Amish-made.
This presentation will explore multiple dimensions of the Amish quilt business from an historical perspective, delving into ways in which various groups and institutions—including museums, antiques dealers, and Amish quiltmakers—have presented the Amish-ness of Amish quilts to various consuming audiences.
Janneken Smucker is a Ph.D. student in history of American civilization at the University of Delaware.
Amish Quilts: The Art of Collecting
Patricia Herr
This presentation traces the historic emergence of Amish quilts as art and the resulting development of the commerce of buying and selling antique Amish quilts. The primary focus of the session is on the Lancaster Amish community. The presentation will also show how this trend of quilt collecting has affected decorative arts museums, their exhibits, scholarship, and collections policies.
Patricia Herr is a textile historian, researcher, collector, and dealer in Lancaster, Pennsylvania.
Understanding the Amish in 20th Century America
Paul S. Boyer
This lecture will explore the Amish relationship with the larger culture, and the larger culture’s view of the Amish. The first part, building on the work of scholars of the Amish, will examine the Amish response to economic opportunity and technological innovation, not by wholesale rejection, but through a careful process of assessing how new technologies promote or erode group cohesion—the highest Amish social value. The lecture will note nineteenth-century utopian communities that similarly functioned successfully within the larger economy while preserving their distinctive identity.
The second part of the lecture, addressing the larger culture’s perceptions (and misperceptions) of Amish life, will note outsiders’ tendency to find in Amish culture values or characteristics thought to be missing or under threat in U.S. society at large. Here, again, the lecture will offer historic perspective by noting other groups that have played this exemplary social role, including Indians, African Americans, and Quakers.
Paul S. Boyer, Ph.D., Merle Curti Professor of History Emeritus, University of Wisconsin – Madison, Madison, Wisconsin.
