[Audiobook]
A history of the Amish by Steven M Nolt (available from archive.org)
A colleague told me about an Amish supermarket, which didn’t fit with my understanding of their culture. So wanting to find out some more I listened to this book. It contains a detailed history of the origins and migration of the Amish people. They are anabaptists, who believe strongly that baptism only counts if it is done by choice, so children do not formally join the church until they have chosen to.
From their split with the Mennonites in Switzerland through their punishment and exile from the Swiss hills to settle in southern Germany and the Netherlands, this book describes some of their significant historical moments.
Leaving their European brethren behind they emigrated to north America, where they settled along the east coast and inland somewhat to the mid-West, hoping to start a new, more pure, life.
The nature of their community, non-hierarchical, like terrorist cells, is loosely connected without a single leader, each locality having some elders and their own rules. Their meetings largely happening in the houses of members rather than in dedicated buildings – often followed by sharing food.
More recently, as technology has gripped the rest of the world, they have reconciled with the Mennonites, with whose beliefs they align better. There are still factions within these groups, old-order and new-order among others.
Their rejection of luxury does not imply a rejection of technology wholesale, but it does bring a considered approach and much of the modern world is seen as decadently luxurious.
As a people, they seem like good people, bamboozled by the modern world they may be, but that is not from anger or fear. I feel they embody some of the best of human spirit and have a deep respect for them and their way of life. It is not a way of life for me, I am a technologist, of sorts, and doubt that my mind would thrive in their world. I wish they could share their love with a world full of hate and find ears ready to listen to their message.
The book gives a lot of good details, as far as they are recorded, of the origins and spread of the Amish way of life, it is more than a faith. Given the dispersed nature of the community, it must have been difficult to gather this information, there is no one library to which to turn, you cannot go to Rome and know it all.
