The Amish ~ An Overview:
There is no consensus on exactly where the Amish fit within Christianity:
/ Some consider them conservative Protestants./ Most Amish would probably consider themselves to be Anabaptists
/ J Gordon Melton, head of the Institute for the Study of American Religion, classifies them as part of the European Free-Church Family along with Mennonites, Brethren Quakers and other denominations.
The Amish movement was founded in Europe by Jacob Amman (~1644 to ~1720 CE), from whom their name is derived. In many ways, it started as a reform group within the Mennonite movement -- an attempt to restore some of the early practices of the Mennonites.
The beliefs and practices of the Amish were based on the writings of the founder of the Mennonite faith, Menno Simons (1496-1561), and on the 1632 Mennonite Dordrecht Confession of Faith. The Amish who split from Mennonites generally lived in Switzerland and in the southern Rhine river region. During the late 17th century, they separated because of what they perceived as a lack of discipline among the Mennonites.
Some Amish migrated to the United States, starting in the early 18th century. They initially settled in Pennsylvania. Other waves of immigrants became established inNew York, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Missouri Ohio, and other states.
The faith group has attempted to preserve the elements of late 17th century European rural culture. They try to avoid many of the features of modern society, by developing practices and behaviors that isolate themselves from American culture.
Membership in the Old Order Amish Mennonite Church and other Amish denominations is not freely available. They may total about 180,000 adults spread across 22 states, including about 45,000 in Ohio and smaller numbers in Illinois, Indiana, Pennsylvania, New York, etc. About 1,500 live in south-western Ontario, in Canada.
Almost all members are born into and raised in the faith. Converts from outside of the Amish communities are rare. Some Amish groups have a very restricted gene pool and are experiencing several inherited disorders.
The Amish: The early years in Europe:
How the Protestant Reformation generated the Free Church movement, which led to the Mennonite movement from which the Amish split
The Protestant reformation and emergence of the free churches:
During the Protestant Reformation in 16th century Europe, John Calvin, Martin Luther and Ulrich Zwingli broke from the Roman Catholic Church to form separate Christian faith groups. They promoted the concepts of:
/ Salvation by the grace of God, rather than through church sacraments./ Greater individual freedom of belief.
/ The priesthood of all believers; no priest or other intermediary was needed between believers and God.
/ Close integration of church and state.
/ Reliance on the Bible alone, with little attention paid to church tradition.
In what has been called "the radical reformation", some additional religious reformers took these beliefs to a logical conclusion; they preached that the believers should form "free churches" -- quite different from the highly organized state churches which were typical at the time. They separated themselves from all secular activities, including the state, and formed independent, informal, religious groups. These were much like the Christian congregations in very early Christianity.
A small group of Swiss Christians, led by Conrad Grebel and Fexix Manz formed a study group intending to recommend changes to the state Protestant church. Their reforms were rejected both by Zwingli, the church head, and by the Zurich City Council. In 1525 CE, they formed the first Swiss Brethren congregation in Switzerland. They baptized each other into membership in their "believers church" -- a crime for which some were banished; others were executed by drowning or burning at the stake. At the time, the Swiss state church was no more tolerant of what they regarded as heresy as was the Roman Catholic Church. Religious toleration developed later in Europe. A key belief of the Brethren was that only adults should be baptized. The normal practice at the time was to baptize newborns and infants. The name "Anabaptist," which meant re-baptizer, was first used as a nickname to describe this and similar groups. The name stuck.
The Anabaptists promoted the concept of church as a self-governing , loose association of adults, not including children. Worship services held in homes rather than at in a church building.
The Anabaptist leaders met in secret during 1527 in Schleitheim on the Swiss-German border. They developed what was originally called a declaration of "Brotherly Union" and is now referred to as the "Schleitheim Articles." 7 It consists of seven articles:
- "Believers baptism" was only performed during adulthood, after repentance and a confession of faith. They practiced antipedobaptism -- opposition to the baptism of infants. They believe that a child does not have the knowledge of good and evil. Thus, they cannot sin and would not benefit from baptism.
- Members who slipped and fell into error were to be warned twice in private. If they persisted, the would be warned publicly in front of the congregation and banned from the group.
- Only fellow believers who were baptized as adults were allowed to attend the Lord's Supper.
- They pledged to separate themselves from the evil in the world. They were pacifists and pledged to reject violence.
- The leaders in the church, called shepherds, were to be of good character, competent to preach to the congregation.
- They advocated church-state separation. They generally withdrew from the world, which they regarded as a corrupting influence. They would not hold public office or engage in civic affairs.
- Members were not to give oaths. Their word is to be sufficient.
These seven principles remain the basic guidelines used by the Swiss Brethren and Amish to this day.
Some radical Anabaptists who expected an imminent end of the world attempted to create a theocracy in Münster, Germany by force in 1534. Many governments viewed all Anabaptists as a potentially serious danger to the social order. The groups suffered extreme persecution. Many of their leaders were rounded up and executed. Programs of genocide were organized by various governments, by Protestant groups under Luther and Calvin, and by the Roman Catholic church. Some city-states employed "Anabaptist hunters" who were paid by the head to locate and arrest believers.
Anabaptists grew in number, in spite of the persecution. They became a loosely-organized "lay-oriented, non-liturgical, non-creedal, Bible-oriented church."
The Mennonites:
The Mennonites are named after Menno Simons (~1496-1561 CE), a Dutch Anabaptist leader who had left the Roman Catholic priesthood in 1536. He felt that the Catholic church had lost touch with the Gospel message by concentrating on "...legends, histories, fables, holy days, images, holy water, tapes, palms, confessionals, pilgrimages, masses, matins and vespers...purgatory, vigils and offerings." 6 He emerged as a leader of the Anabaptist movement in Holland, and was able to unify the various diverse groups. Like most Anabaptist groups, Simons taught "rebaptism, pacifism, religious toleration, separation of church and state, opposition to capital punishment, opposition to holding office, and opposition to taking oaths." Finally, in 1577, the country instituted a policy of religious tolerance, and the Anabaptists there were given the freedom to practice their religion without oppression.
In 1632, Simon's followers met at Dordrecht in the Netherlands to formally set down their beliefs in a document called the Dordrecht Confession of Faith. It recorded their beliefs in the Trinity, the incarnation and atonement of Christ, the primacy of the Bible, salvation, adult baptism, etc. The Lord's supper and foot washing were observed as ordinances; they were regarded as symbolic acts, not as church sacraments. Foot washing was based on the Bible passages in which "Jesus did not only institute and command the same, but did also Himself wash the feet of the apostles..." 8
Enforcing discipline:
Other Christian faith groups at the time imprisoned, executed, or committed genocide against non-conformists. The Mennonites rejected these approaches, using non-violent means -- banning and shunning -- to enforce discipline. Banning involves excommunication: severing the relationship between the member and the group. Shunning, called "Meidung" in German,was less severe. It had three purposes: to encourage the sinner to repent; "to protect the rest of the community from possible contagion, and to maintain the community's reputation." 3 Shunning requires that church members temporarily sever all communication with the sinner, including eating together, until they recant. This practice was based on Paul's writings in:
/ 1 Corinthians 5:11: "....if any man that is called a brother be a fornicator, or covetous, or an idolater, or a railer, or a drunkard, or an extortioner; with such an one no not to eat."/ Matthew 18:15-17: "Moreover if thy brother shall trespass against thee, go and tell him his fault between thee and tell him alone...But if he will not hear thee, then take with thee one or two more...And if he shall neglect to hear them, then tell it onto the church: but if he neglect to hear the church, let him be unto thee as a heathen man and a publican."
/ Romans 16:17: "...mark them which cause divisions and offences contrary to the doctrine which ye have learned; and avoid them."
Shunning has generated great difficulties within families, particularly where one spouse is to be shunned by the other spouse and the rest of the family.
The Amish:
The Amish began as a small group of reform-minded Mennonites along the southern Rhine River and in Switzerland. They split from the main movement in 1693. The name of their group comes from their founder: Jacob Amman (~1664 -1720). 5 He was an obscure reformer about whom little is known. He felt that the Mennonites had drifted away from their original beliefs and practices. He wanted them to return to a stricter observance of the writings of Simons and on the 1632 Mennonite Dordrecht Confession.
The split with the Mennonites was mainly over:
/ The frequency of communion: Amman advocated twice a year instead of once. Believers preceded communion with a time of spiritual introspection. Amman felt that this might help the membership to be more diligent in their Christian life if it were performed every six months./ The practice of foot washing, which Amman reintroduced. It had fallen out of use by most Mennonite groups.
/ The process of shunning of non-conforming members. Amman felt that the Mennonites were too lax and had allowed the practice to fall into disuse. He treated shunning very seriously and took it one step further. He required the spouse of a person under the ban to neither sleep nor eat with the sinner, until they had repented and changed their behavior or beliefs. Hans Reist, a leader of the main Mennonite body, argued that Jesus had socialized with known sinners and had kept himself pure; he reasoned that Christians in the late 17th century could do the same without resorting to shunning.
After a few years as a separate organization, Amman and his supporters attempted to reconcile with the main Mennonite movement. This was unsuccessful. Since then, the two groups have been separate. However, they generally retain close ties and often cooperate on joint projects.
Starting in the early 18th century, many of the Amish migrated to the U.S. Most of the members who remained in Europe rejoined the Mennonites. Few Amish congregations existed by 1900. On 1937-JAN-17, the last Amish congregation -- in Ixheim, Germany -- merged with their local Mennonite group and became the Zweibrücken Mennonite Church. The Amish no longer existed in Europe as a organized group. 4
The Amish and Mennonites have retained similar beliefs to this day. They differ mainly in some practices.
Amish Beliefs
Amish beliefs which are shared by Evangelicals:
The Amish are a very conservative Christian faith group, with an Anabaptist tradition. Many of their beliefs are identical to those of many Fundamentalist and other Evangelical churches, including:
/ Adult baptism is done after one makes a commitment to the church./ Belief in the Trinity, the virgin birth, incarnation, sinless life, crucifixion, resurrection ascension, and atonement of Jesus Christ.
/ One lives on after death, either eternal rewarded in Heaven or punished in Hell.
/ Salvation is a gift from God, through unmerited grace.
/ The Bible's authors were inspired by God. Their writings are inerrant. The Bible is generally to be interpreted literally.
/ Satan exists as a living entity.
/ Etc.
Amish beliefs that are not shared by most Evangelicals:
/ Salvation: Essentially all conservative Protestants, including Amish, look upon salvation as an unmerited gift from God. However, Evangelical Christians have traditionally looked upon the salvation experience as an intense emotional event which happens suddenly, as a convert repents of their sin and accepts Jesus as Lord and Savior. The new Christian's subsequent ethical behavior and daily routine are of secondary importance to the experience of being saved. The Amish have always looked upon salvation as being experienced in everyday living. Salvation is "...realized as one's life was transformed day by day into the image of Christ."/ Knowledge of one's salvation: For Evangelicals and other conservative Protestants, salvation is an unmistakable experience which happens when one trusts Jesus. Amish are different. They don't believe that anyone is guaranteed salvation as a result of a conversion experience, baptism, joining the church, etc. "...they would consider it arrogant or prideful to claim certainty of salvation." 2 The Amish believe that God carefully weighs the individual's total lifetime record of obedience to the church and then decides whether the person's eternal destiny will be the reward of Heaven or the punishment in Hell. If a person is baptized into the Amish church and later leaves the church or is excommunicated, they have no hope of attaining Heaven. As a result, an Amish believer lives their life and dies not knowing if they are saved and will attain Heaven. This lack of certainty has made the Amish church susceptible to raiding from other Christian evangelists at various times in its history.
/ The state: The Amish are enthusiastic supporters of the principle of separation of church and state.
/ Authority: They believe that their church has received the authority from God to interpret his will. "Submission to church is submission to God."
/ Rituals: Evangelicals look upon their two ordinances -- communion and believers' baptism -- as rites that are primarily between an individual and God. To the Amish, "The church itself, as a body of believers, shared in communion as a sign of their unity with Christ and with one another. Baptism in the Amish church symbolized a commitment to both god and fellow believers."
/ The world: They believe in remaining quite separate from the rest of the world, physically and socially. Part of this may be caused by the belief that association with others -- often referred to as "The English" -- may be polluting. Part may be because of the intense persecution experienced by their ancestors as a result of government oppression. Amish homes do not draw power from the electrical grid. They feel that that would excessively connect them to the world.
/ Nonresistance: They reject involvement with the military or warfare. They believe that Amish must never resort to violence or to take up arms in war. However, they do not generally view themselves as pacifists, because this would involve them in political action to promote peace. Their rejection of violence does not extend to the disciplining of their children. The Faith Mission Home in Virginia housed mentally retarded children and adults. They used physical punishment to control the children. It took "...the form of slapping the hand several times or spanking the buttocks a maximum of four strokes with the hand or a 'simple light paddle." 3 Bruises on a young woman led to the state Department of Mental Health and Mental Retardation obtaining an injunction which prohibited the use of force by staff in the Home. The case caused Professor Alvin Esau to comment: "There is of course great irony on this issue, as groups such as the Amish and Hutterites use physical punishment, sometimes excessively, while supposedly believing in nonviolence in human relationships."
/ Local control: They believe that each congregation -- called a "district" -- is to remain autonomous. There is no centralized Amish organization to enforce beliefs and behaviors.
/ Evangelization: Most believe that it is not their role to go out into the larger community and attempt to seek converts among The English. However, some Amish groups have recently become active in evangelization.
/ Customs: The Ordnung is an oral tradition of rules which regulates how the Amish way of life should be conducted. Specific details of the Ordnung differ among various church districts. The rules are generally reviewed biannually and occasionally revised as needed.
/ Sex roles: In common with many conservative Christian faith groups, their family life has a patriarchal structure. Although the roles of women are considered equally important to those of men, they are very unequal in terms of authority. Unmarried women remain under the authority of their father. Wives are submissive to their husbands. Only males are eligible to be become Church officials.
/ Oaths: Their faith forbids the swearing of oaths in courts; they make affirmations of truth instead.