The Riddle of Amish Culture

by Donald B. Kraybill

  28. Numerous analytic concepts have been employed to understand the social organization of Amish society. Typical conceptualizations view the Amish as a sect (Wilson 1970), a folk society, and a Gemeinschaft. J. A. Hostetler (1993) suggests that they have formed a “commonwealth” and exemplify a “high context” culture. Loomis and Dyer (1976) use a social systems model. Olshan (1981) has questioned the appropriateness of using the “folk society” model for conceptualizing Amish society. Tan (1998) interprets Amish society from a social capital perspective. All of these conceptual frameworks highlight different aspects of Amish social organization.

  29. The sociological literature on modernization is voluminous. My conceptualization of it is indebted to the work of Peter L. Berger (1974, 1977, 1979) and Berger, Berger, and Kellner (1973). Berger’s work is anchored in the sociology of knowledge framework developed with Thomas Luckmann in The Social Construction of Reality (1966). For a more in-depth analysis of the Amish from a modernization perspective, see Kraybill (1994a).

  30. Bellah et al. (1985).

  31. I am grateful to Tay Keong Tan for introducing me to social capital as an analytical concept for understanding certain aspects of Amish society. Tan’s (1998) dissertation on the Lancaster settlement as well as the personal conversations I have had with him have helped to clarify my thinking. Bourdieu (1986), Coleman (1990), and others make a distinction between cultural capital (values, trust, beliefs) and social capital (networks and organizational structures). I have used both concepts throughout the text but have emphasized the social dimension. For an introduction to the literature on social capital, see Coleman (1988, 1990), Bourdieu (1986), Fukuyama (1995), Portes (1998), Putnam (2000), Tan (1998), and Woolcock (1998a, 1998b).

  32. These tactics are an expansion and elaboration of the defensive structuring practices identified by Siegel (1970).

  33. I use the image of negotiation in several ways. In some cases it refers to literal face-to-face bargaining between Amish representatives and government officials—for example, the development of Amish schools, zoning regulations, and the use of bulk tanks to refrigerate milk on farms. In other instances, implicit negotiations between the two cultural systems occur informally and quietly. Negotiation is also a way of understanding controlled and selective social change when some aspects of a new technology are accepted but others are not. For example, using permanent-press fabrics to make traditional Amish clothing is one of many examples of implicitly negotiated cultural agreements. Finally, I also use the metaphor in a symbolic way to capture the dynamic dialogue between Amish life and contemporary culture. See Eaton (1952) for a discussion of controlled acculturation among the Hutterites.

  34. These progressive factions eventually affiliated with mainstream Mennonites in the twentieth century: the Conestoga Mennonite Church and the Millwood Mennonite Church. A national series of Amish Ministers’ Meetings were held between 1862 and 1878. This was a time of great ferment in Amish communities, especially in the Midwest. Over the course of the consultations, many progressive-minded Amish leaders and their congregations separated from the main Amish body and became known as Amish Mennonites and eventually became Mennonites. The Amish that held to more traditional practices became known as Old Order Amish. Except for a few participants, the Lancaster Amish were largely uninvolved and untouched by this major upheaval. The story of the national Amish ministers meetings as well as the involvement of Lancaster minister “Tennessee” John Stoltzfus is told by Paton Yoder (1979a, 1979b, 1987a, 1991) and Yoder and Estes (1999).

  35. This group has had various names at different stages of its evolution, which is discussed in Chapter 8, note 6. For clarity, I have used the term Peachey church when referring to this progressive group.

  36. An account of this division, told from the New Order perspective, can be found in the New Order Amish Directory (1999:127).

  2 | The Quiltwork of Amish Culture

  1. The literature on Amish quilts is voluminous. Helpful introductions to the world of Amish quilts can be found in Granick (1989); Kraybill, Herr, and Holstein (1996); and Pellman and Pellman (1984).

  2. Gordonville (Pa.) scribe Sam Stoltzfus, in The Diary, March 1999, 21.

  3. Known as the Dordrecht Confession of Faith, the statement contains eighteen articles. It was signed by Flemish and Frisian Mennonite pastors in the Dutch city of Dordrecht in 1632. Although many Mennonite groups over the years have adhered to the Dordrecht Confession in principle, the Amish have attempted to follow its teachings literally, especially in regard to shunning and footwashing. It is used for Amish instruction classes prior to baptism. The Swiss Brethren never adopted the Dordrecht Confession, which was likely a source of difference between the various factions of Alsatian and Swiss Anabaptists during the division of 1693. For a discussion of the Dordrecht Confession, see Mennonite Encyclopedia (1956), vol. 2, s.v. “Dordrecht Confession of Faith,” and Mennonite Encyclopedia (1956), vol. 1, s.v. “Confessions of Faith.” Horst (1982, 1988) and Studer (1984) provide updates on the significance of the Dordrecht Confession. A German and English version of the confession used by the Amish appears in In Meiner Jugend (2000).

  John Oyer (1996) provides a helpful overview of Amish theology. In 1992, Pathway Publishers, an Amish Press in Aylmer, Canada, revised Mennonite Daniel Kauffman’s One Thousand Questions and Answers on Points of Christian Doctrine as One Thousand and One Questions and Answers on the Christian Life. It includes revisions as well as new material, providing Amish doctrine in question-and-answer format on a variety of topics. Such a rational presentation of Amish views is rare in this oral-based, traditional culture.

  4. I am indebted to the insights of Bourdieu (1977) as well as conversations with David Swartz (1997), who has synthesized much of Bourdieu’s work, for understanding Gelassenheit as a master disposition in Amish life. In Bourdieu’s terms Gelassenheit is habitus—a habit-forming, transposable disposition that blends perceptions and action, sentiment, and social structure together. Habitus—in our case, Gelassenheit—is a deeply structured cultural grammar for action. As a disposition, it has both structure and propensity that are shaped by early socialization toward action. For another example of the use of Bourdieu’s concepts to interpret Amish society, see Reschly’s (2000) historical study of the Amish in Iowa.

  5. I am grateful to Steven M. Nolt for insight into this important distinction.

  6. Friedmann (1956:448–49; 1957:86–88; 1973:66, 124) surveys the Anabaptist use of the term. Cronk’s (1977) analysis of Gelassenheit as a redemptive rite in Old Order Amish and Old Order Mennonite communities has influenced my conceptual framework. I am greatly indebted to her work. In a letter to Donald B. Kraybill dated 24 September 1987, Amishman David Luthy noted: “Concerning Gelassenheit, I realize the Amish are not familiar with the term . . . but the Amish are familiar very much with the concept. Your use of it is valid and essential.” The explicit use of the word Gelassenheit is more pronounced in Hutterite writings and literature.

  7. J. A. Hostetler (1993:387–93) offers an excellent analysis of the importance of silence in Amish discourse. Silence is one way of expressing Gelassenheit.

  8. Petition (1937).

  9. Cigars of various sorts and pipes are commonly smoked; however, smoking has declined in recent years. Commercial cigarettes in white wrappers are frowned on as “worldly.” Hand-rolled cigarettes in brown wrappers are sometimes used. Tobacco production is dwindling for economic reasons as well as religious convictions.

  10. Rules of a Godly Life (1983:17).

  11. Guidelines (1981:64).

  12. See Bellah et al. (1985:55–84) for a discussion of the modern preoccupation with finding oneself.

  13. Instruction (n.d.:16).

  14. M. R. Smucker (1988:226–29).

  15. J. A. Hostetler (1969:227). For a review of the psychological research on Amish personality types, see Smucker (1988). J. A. Hostetler (1969) reports findings from a variety of personality tests administered to Amish school
children in several settlements. An excellent study of the socialization of Amish children is available in Hostetler and Huntington (1992).

  16. Instruction (n.d.:8–11).

  17. Guidelines (1981:50). For a collection of source materials used by the Old Order Amish in child rearing and schooling, see J. A. Hostetler (1968).

  18. Instruction (n.d.:9).

  19. For an extended discussion of Old Order understandings of salvation, see Kraybill and Bowman (2001).

  20. Dordrecht (1976:12, 14).

  21. Guidelines (1981:47).

  22. Instruction (n.d.:7–13).

  23. Instruction (n.d.:26).

  24. Rules of a Godly Life (1983:26). In 1988 the Amish reprinted a Mennonite booklet, Pride and Humility, by Brenneman (1867). For a discussion of the role of humility in Amish and Mennonite culture in the nineteenth century, see Schlabach (1988).

  25. There is a deeper reading of this taboo as well. Photography decontextualizes. It pulls images out of context and separates them from their immediate social setting. Photographic images are objective representations that encourage rational reflection and analysis from a distance. Wary of modernity, the Great Separator, the Amish taboo aims to keep people tightly tied to their social context.

  For Amish perspectives on photographs when the taboo was evolving in the mid-nineteenth century, see the proceedings of the National Amish Ministers’ Meetings compiled by Yoder and Estes (1999). One minister noted that people are tempted to “send their pictures around” (Yoder and Estes 1999:220). Photography not only decontextualizes and separates the individual from a social context, but it also objectifies the individual by creating an object for study and reflection, which encourages a rational, analytical mindset. Instinctively, all of these issues threatened the deeply contextualized culture of Amish life and merited a taboo that was helpfully legitimated by Scripture in Exodus 20:4. For additional discussions of Amish concerns about “graven images,” see D. Lehman (1998) and M. Lehman (1993).

  26. See, for example, 1 Tim. 2:9 and 1 Pet. 3:3–4.

  27. Rules of a Godly Life (1983:7).

  28. Dordrecht (1976:26).

  29. One Thousand (1992:143–44).

  30. J. H. Yoder (1973:38).

  31. The Amish also believe that they are not to be “unequally yoked with the world” (2 Cor. 6:14). Moreover, Scripture teaches that they should be “equipped with the whole armor of God to stand and prevail in this strife torn world.” Other scriptures cited in support of separation include John 17:14, Luke 16:15, Titus 2:14. The church is called not to mingle with the world but to “be a light unto it” (Matt. 5:14).

  32. Papers (1937).

  33. Cronk (1977) makes this important point in her study of Gelassenheit.

  34. Rules of a Godly Life (1983:25).

  35. “Editorial” in Plain Communities Business Exchange, April 1995, 2.

  36. Standards (1981:7).

  37. Guidelines (1981:46).

  38. Instruction (n.d.:5).

  39. The work of two of them from the nineteenth century was recently recognized. The watercolors and other artwork of Amishman Henry Lapp (1862–1904) are an interesting example. Lapp had severe hearing and speech impediments, and thus church leaders may have granted him greater freedom to express his artistic impulses. A discussion of his life and work is recorded in The Diary (1982:14:329). Barbara Ebersol (1846–1922) made beautiful and colorful fraktur bookplates. Artistic lettering in a Bible was more acceptable than artwork framed for public display. Louise Stoltzfus (1995) provides an overview of the work of both Lapp and Ebersol. Luthy (1995) devotes a book to Barbara Ebersol’s life and art. For excellent overviews of the decorative arts of Lancaster’s Amish, see Herr (1998) and McCauley and McCauley (1988).

  40. A self-trained artist found a ready market for her work in the 1990s.

  41. Standards (1981:38–39).

  42. Standards (1981:1).

  43. For an analysis of time as a cultural product, see Gleick’s (1999) discussion of why everything is accelerating in contemporary culture.

  44. Guidelines (1981:5).

  45. In the first part of the twentieth century, it was customary for Amish families to set their clocks a half-hour ahead of standard time. This “fast half” time was a symbolic reminder of the boundaries between Amish life and modern culture. Very few families continue this practice today.

  46. Whether the pace of Amish singing is torturously slow is surely a matter of cultural perspective. It will most likely feel that way to persons who are immersed in the fast pace of modern life. However, an ex-Amish person said, “I experienced the slow pace as uplifting and beautiful.”

  47. Kraybill and Bowman (2001) develop a more formal definition of Old Order groups that emphasizes tradition (oldness), communal authority (order), and the church’s broad scope of control over many dimensions of life.

  3 | Symbols of Integration and Separation

  1. For an early discussion of the role of symbols in Amish culture, see J. A. Hostetler (1963).

  2. D. Yoder (1997) discusses the origin and evolution of the dialect. Beam (1982) has produced an English–Pennsylvania German dictionary. A grammar of the dialect (Frey 1981) is available as well as a reader and grammar (Haag 1982). See Huffines (1988, 1993) on the Pennsylvania German dialect as well as other changes; and see Louden (1988, 1991a, 1991b, and 1993) and Rohrer (1974) for discussions of the influence of English.

  3. The Diary (1977:9:30).

  4. Although High German is the target language for Amish sacred ritual, in actual practice it is at best only approximated. The Martyrs Mirror, the Bible, and other sacred writings used by the Amish are written in the archaic German of Luther’s Bible. The spoken German in worship services is highly diluted with the dialect.

  5. In Meiner Jugend, a devotional reader in German and English, was published by Pathway Publishers in 2000.

  6. Recent research has confirmed that Jakob Ammann was a tailor and thus his occupational interests may have encouraged the Amish stress on dress (Hüppi 2000). In the late 1800s, various observers identified Plain dress and strict religious discipline as indicators of Amish identity (Wickersham 1886:168; Ellis and Evans 1883:343). As late as 1924, Klein (1924:368) described Amish dress in great detail and then merely noted, in passing, that the use of automobiles, electric lights, and telephones was considered worldly.

  7. Stephen Scott (1986:4) makes the “on-duty” point. See his book for an overview of dress practices among conservative Anabaptist groups.

  8. An exception that does cite specific scriptures is the section on dress in One Thousand (1992:129–37). This publication uses a variety of Bible verses to make the argument for distinctive dress and gives detailed rationale in the form of answers to specific questions. Such a rational use of Scripture and written apology for practices is not typical among most Amish, who simply see dress standards as an expression of traditional practice.

  9. My description of Amish dress is indebted to Sara E. Fisher, who kindly shared an unpublished paper written in 1972 on women’s garb, and to Louise Stoltzfus, who drafted a careful summary of dress practices in 2000 related to gender, status, and Plainness. Melvin Gingerich (1970) traced the history of Amish-Mennonite attire through four centuries. The rise and fall of veil wearing among Mennonites in the Lancaster area is analyzed by Kraybill (1987b). Scott (1986) provides the best overall introduction to Amish dress.

  10. As the Amish have moved into small towns and boroughs, the horse has created some zoning problems. A lengthy dispute between the borough council of Strasburg and two sisters who wanted to keep their horse in the village continued for several months in 1983. See Intelligencer (21 and 28 September 1983, and 12 October 1983) and New Era (13 and 14 September 1983, and 14 November 1983) for accounts of the dispute.

  11. Letters to the editor, Intelligencer (6 July and 10 July 2000).

  12. G. L. Fisher (1978:233).

  13. For a study of energy conservation on Amish farms, see
Johnson, Stoltzfus, and Craumer (1977).

  14. A thorough description of the various types of horse-drawn transportation in several Amish and Mennonite settlements was written by Scott (1981).

  15. Gibbons (1869:16) noted that at the end of the Civil War the Lancaster Amish were driving to their worship services in simple farm wagons covered with a yellowish oil cloth. The Amish did not begin using buggies as quickly as did other groups, and they were slow to adopt steel springs to cushion the load on their wagons. By 1880 Amish youth were beginning to drive simple buggies, and tarps in a variety of colors were being stretched over Amish wagons. While a few changes were underway, the Amish were nevertheless maintaining austere standards on their vehicles at the end of the nineteenth century. Whip socks (whip holders) and whips themselves were prohibited, likely to protest the speed symbolized by the dashing horse under whip. Whips are still forbidden. The early Amish buggy and wagon did not have an “easy back” (backrest) on the seat or a dashboard on the front to obstruct flying mud.

  16. Although gray is the standard color for the carriage top in the Lancaster area, black, white, and even yellow tops are common in other Amish settlements.

  17. The slow-moving vehicle signs were required by law and enforced in June 1977, see Intelligencer (30 June 1977). An editorial in the Intelligencer (22 August 1988) praised the Amish for using the reflective orange triangles on their buggies and concluded, “We doubt that God will look with disfavor on the Amish for using these symbols.”

  18. Some Amish groups in other states have resisted the use of reflective triangles. Zook (1993) tells the story of these conflicts.

  19. Because of the high demand for carriages, they typically must be ordered a year in advance. Carriage makers, in 2000, agreed on standard prices on carriages and accessories to prevent competition among themselves.