The Amish

The Amish
By:
Kelly Bader, Zeno Cnudde,
Aki Kurosawa
Historical Footprints
-Ancestors called Anabaptists (rebaptizers)
-Individuals whom who had been baptized as an
INFANT in Catholic or Protestant & re-baptized
as adult
-Religious & Civil Authorities threatened by
Anabaptist group ...Result: burned at stake,
drowned, starved in prisons, beheaded TOTAL=
2,500 martyr
-Thus pushed Anabaptist into rural hideaways
-160 year after Anabaptist movement Jakob
Ammann converted to Anabaptist became
leader of Swiss Anabaptist church
-Moved to Alsatian (present-day France) part
of emigration to avoid persecution
-1693 Ammann sought to revitalize Anabaptist
movement... RESULT
-held communion 2 a year
-Wash one another’s feet in
communion service {spiritual discipline}
-Shunning excommunicated members
-Ammann’s followers now known as AMISH
-Amish arrived in 18th & 19th centuries in
North America
Geographic Info
1600
Amish Christian
church that
traces back to
Protestant
Reformation in
Europe
1800-1900
Migrated from
Europe to North
America
Pennsylvania
Indiana
Illinois
Missouri
Ohio
2014 - Present
2014 - Present
Amish live in 501 geographical
settlements in 31 states &
Canadian provinces...NONE
remain in Europe. Total =300,000
(approximately)
Amish Men
-Dark-Colored Suits {fasten with hooks & eyes}
-Straight-Cut Coats with NO lapels
-Broadfall Trousers
-Suspenders
-Solid-Colored Shirts
-Black Socks & Shoes
-Black or Straw Broad-Brimmed Hats
-NO mustaches..wait till marriage to grow beards
Amish Women
-Modest
-Solid-Colored Dresses
{Typically Long Sleeves & Full Skirt}
-Cape & Apron
-Hair NEVER cut & worn in bun
{Concealed by Prayer Covering}
Teens/Twenties =Black for church
All Ages = White
-No Jewelry or Printed Fabrics
- Leather closed toed shoes
{Typically boots}
Demographic Info
Census
Total = 300,000 Amish in United States & Canada
Communities = 456 settlements
{1990 only 179 existed}
2050 Census Prediction
Total = EXCEED 1 million Amish
Communities = 1,000 settlements
Result→ Bring Economic, Cultural, Social & Religious
Change to rural areas that attract Amish settlement
Fun Facts:
On Average every 3 ½ weeks a
new community is founded
60% of ALL existing Amish
settlements have been founded
since 1990
Growth isn't driven by converters
joining the faith, INSTEAD
attributed by large families & high
rates of baptism
Ontological Beliefs
Simplified Ontological Scheme: Spiritual (God,Gods, ghosts) spiritualism
→ mind,body,spirit
•Spiritualism=believe material, mental, and spiritual things are all very
real; but, they do not exist in separate categories; rather, they are
interactive elements within a single integrated reality.
Material
Mental
Spiritual
Epistemological Beliefs
•Religious Faith justifies claims
•Common Knowledge justifies
by citing revelation, special teachers,
important texts, or insights from
personal prayer or meditation.
claims by noting that most people in
some social reference group believe
it to be true.
Ethical Teachings
Duty ethics focuses on people’s
obligations to engage in certain
behaviors and avoid certain behaviors,
regardless of the consequences
-Knows Rules & Obey them
-Do your Duty
Examples:
●
Commitment - strong sense of duty
towards god, church, & community.
Rules of behaviour are handed down
from generation to generation.
Divorce is extremely rare and much
the person’s life revolves around their
extended family.
●
Tradition - Amish people examine
how technology and new ideas might
affect them and decide whether or
not to adopt them. They believe that,
“If it was good enough for my father
and grandfather, then I guess it's
good enough for me."
●
The community whole as the ethical
teacher
The Four R’s Relationship, Responsibility, Reciprocity, & Redistribution
Relationship - The Amish, who are
uncomfortable around non-amish people are
peaceful and seek to co-exist with the outside
world in harmony. They also do not seek to
convert others, however, they will accept others
to join their lifestyle.
Responsibility - Amish live in non-resistant lives,
have a care for the community, and work on the
land. Those who stray from the norms of living
as an Amish will be excommunicated.
Reciprocity - They Amish does not immediately
if ever adopt new ideas or technology. Land,
which is usually kept within’ the family is passed
down to younger sons, instead of the older sons,
or daughters.
Redistribution - This is also shared with the
family passing down land. They live for their
family and not for personal possessions. They
live an uncluttered life.
Religious or Spiritual Beliefs
●
●
●
The Amish are Christians, with all
traditional Christian beliefs in the Divinity
of Christ, the Trinity, Salvation, etc.
The Ordnung, roughly translated it
means order, is a set of oral laws which
regulate all aspects of Amish society,
from religion to family life.
It is not written down, but passed down
orally from parents to children.
○
Examples of Practices
■
color and style of clothing
■
hat styles for men
■
kneeling for prayer in
worship
■
marriage within the church
■
use of horses for field work
■
use of Pennsylvania
German
●
●
●
●
Examples of Prohibited thing from
Ordnung
○
air transportation
○
central heating in homes
○
electricity from power lines
○
entering military service
○
any types of jewelry
Gelassenheit is to submit to the family,
community, tradition, church, and God.
Rumspringa is a time for Amish teens at
sixteen years of age to explore the
outside world.
Barn Raising is significant to the Amish
because it builds a sense of community
and symbolizes an act of selflessness.
Cultural Patterns
Gellassenheit collides with individualism of the
modern world which seeks personal
achievement and rewards. The way students
are taught in school, only about the Amish way
of life, keeps them from drifting away from the
community.
Amish are typically farmers, which puts them
into the rural-agrarian style of life. Some do
work in outside factories.
Because of the way they live, the Amish are
neither in poverty or wealthy. They simply live
by their means.
The Amish only live around their own people
so they are neither a minority nor majority.
They are greatly increasing in numbers
because of the amount of children each family
has (average of seven). Some settlements
double every twenty years.
Social Beliefs
-Rejection of MOST modern technology
-Distinctly conservative dress
-Live rurally
- Buggies & Scooters NO Cars/Motorized Vehicles
-Education until 8th Grade; focusing on Reading,
Writing, Math, Amish History, Farming Techniques,
& Homemaking Skills
{Passed by Supreme Court in 1972}
-Do NOT Vote or Serve in Military
Important Practices:
Baptism:
❖
❖
❖
Take Baptismal Vows between 18 -22 years of
age
Begins at a Sunday morning service followed by
several weeks of instruction for the candidates
With decisions you make the vow of a longlife
promise before God & Community means they
will be held accountable to church for REST of
their LIVES
Don’t get Baptised….
❖
❖
Leave community PRIOR baptism they face NO
punishment, view VOLUNTARY decision to leave
as RESPECTABLE
They go against vows POST baptism they are
shunned & excommunicated
Communion:
❖
❖
❖
❖
Held EACH Autumn & Spring
Ritual emphasizes self- examination & Spiritual
Rejuvenation
➢ Sins are confessed
➢ Members reaffirm vow to uphold to council
Communion begins when congregation is at “PEACE”
➢ ALL members in harmony
8 Hour Service
➢ Preaching
➢ LIght Meal During Service
➢ Commemoration of Christ’s death w/ Bread & Wine
➢
Members wash one another’s feet as congregation
sings
➢
Members give alms offering to deacon (ONLY time
this is done)
The Relationship to
the Larger Society
●
NO Cameras allowed
“Posing for photos is a sign of pride that calls
attention to oneself and rubs against Amish
beliefs about the importance of deferring and
yielding to others.”
●
Getting away from the
influence
By disconnecting from the large society
which values wealth, success, and status,
Amish people can grow important characters:
“Separation from the
outside/larger society”
Caring, Healing, Wholeness
Kate
Stoltzfus
Leaving the Amish Community
Current Concerns, Issues & Problems
Health/Health Care
●
Amish does use modern medical services
→ Still believes God is the ultimate healer
●
Lack of health insurance
→ They fear that it would lessen their reliance on the community
→ They depend on the community fund to cover healthcare expenses
●
Genetic Problems “Founder Effect”
→ “Over generations of intermarriage, rare genetic flaws have shown up, flaws which most
of us carry within our genetic makeup but which don't show up unless we marry someone
else with the same rare genetic markers.”
Education
●
School is not a place where students develop their identity,
other cultures, and learn what they want to specialize in their future
→ Amish education is to prepare children to remain Amish
→ High value of work community service, and obedience to church
●
Terminating formal schooling after 8th grade
→ Conflicted with many school laws which require children to remain in
school until their mid-teens
→ Amish avoided this conflict by migrating Pennsylvania to other states
Behavioral Rules
●
Vote or become involved in Public
→ Only 10-15 % of Amish vote unless it
would affect the Amish life directly
→ Lack of interest in outside of the
community
●
Rise of the crime rate
○
Rape, Sexual abuse, Drunk driving...
etc
→ Exposed to modern technologies
(cell phones, mass media, Internet)
→ Modernized
The community allows young men to
drive motor vehicles
→ Women have no power to speak up
It is not seen as “crime”
Work Cited
"Amish Origins." Amish Studies. N.p., 26 Sept. 2012. Web. 13 Nov. 2015.
"Amish: Out of Order Facts." National Geographic Channel. N.p., 10 Apr. 2012. Web. 13 Nov. 2015.
"Estimate: A New Amish Community Is Founded Every Three and a Half Weeks in US." Estimate: A New Amish
Community Is Founded Every Three and a Half Weeks in US. N.p., n.d. Web. 13 Nov. 2015.
"PA Amish Lifestyle | How the Community of Amish in PA Live Today." Discover Lancaster. N.p., n.d. Web. 13 Nov. 2015.
Scheller, Alissa. "Would You Guess There Are Fewer Amish Today? You'd Be So Wrong." The Huffington Post.
TheHuffingtonPost.com, n.d. Web. 13 Nov. 2015.
McKay, Mary-Jayne. "Genetic Disorders Hit Amish Hard." CBSNews. CBS Interactive, 08 June 2005. Web. 13 Nov. 2015.
"The Dark Side of the Amish: What You Don't Know." The Dark Side of the Amish: What You Don't Know. N.p., 12 Nov.
2010. Web. 13 Nov. 2015. <http://amishdarkside.blogspot.com/>.