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Settlement patterns and practices between the Amish and Mennonites
Differences among the Amish and Mennonites
Settlement patterns and practices between the Amish and Mennonites
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Who are the so-called “Plain People”? Without sufficient insight and research, one might presume the Amish and the Mennonites to merely be interchangeable terms for a group that is essentially one in the same. This assumption is, no doubt, an incorrect perception. Although expressed in very different ways, both share a commitment to nonviolence and desire to live simply. In fact, the Amish broke away from the Mennonites, who were believed to be too liberal for the Amish’s penchant. The two diverse factions share numerous similarities; however, the Amish and Mennonites do not look eye to eye on certain beliefs and values regarding modern technology, apparel, urban civilization, punishments, commitment to the church, education, or occupations.
For instance, the idea of technology is generally rejected by the Amish but adopted by the Mennonites. The Amish fervently refrain from the use and possession of any form of electricity or technology; henceforth, this people group tends to use horse drawn buggies for transportation (Whose education?). Technology’s ban amongst the Amish community subsists because the modern influence is said to interfere with the purity of one’s faith (Amish and Mennonites). Essentially, the Amish mindset perceives modern day technology as the prime connection to the world’s evil nature that is considered to so easily entangle one into believed immoral conveniences and temptations. In fear of the destruction of the capability to practically support life, the Amish forbid that which could devastate family life and community unification in any tactic possible. Simply speaking, smaller is better, and less is more (Religion Facts). Mennonites, on the other hand, are more tolerate of technology and und...
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...evelopments, chastisements, religious obligations, edification, and overall livelihoods. Primarily, the differentiation between the Amish and the Mennonites is not necessarily the beliefs but instead, the level of application toward the belief in what is considered just in the eyes of each separate religion.
Works Cited
Anonymous. "The Amish." ReligionFacts. 5 March 2013. Accessed 17 November 2013. .
http://www.welcome-to-lancaster-county.com/amish-and-mennonites.html
http://web.ebscohost.com/ehost/detail?vid=5&sid=fe28ee3b-15cb-42a3-b1bc-9a1359c0d647%40sessionmgr13&hid=127&bdata=JnNpdGU9ZWhvc3QtbGl2ZQ%3d%3d#db=aph&AN=9707226698
http://web.ebscohost.com/ehost/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?sid=495f1136-223f-4e5e-9b9a-015e639c978f%40sessionmgr4004&vid=6&hid=4206
“Amish.” Encyclopedia Britannica. Volume
The Inuit, Haida, and Iroquois have many similarities and differences in foods, way of life, clothing, housing, art, ect.
The family provides a dense web of social support from cradle to grave. […] Family members help each other during an emergency, a fire or flood, and, of course, at a death”. The Amish community would not have withstood the drastically shifting eras had it not been for their foundation built on solid family and community relationships. Within Amish homes, bonds between siblings, parents and their children, as well as potentially extended families ties including aging grandparents or other relatives, are of utmost importance. Importantly, these interrelationships are not left within the household as the Amish community holds an interconnectedness inclusive to the community that creates an additional support network. This patchwork community of benevolence is not a gift, but a reward. There are expectations and consequences, as the BBC reports “[…] Members are expected to believe the same things and follow the same code of behaviour (called the Ordnung). The purpose of the ordnung is to help the community lead a godly life. […] If a person breaks the rules they may be 'shunned', which means that no-one (including their family) will eat with them or talk to them”. Expectations must be met for an Amish individual to earn and maintain their spot within the community. Despite guidelines wavering depending on each community and their location, the Amish are expected to follow God and seek salvation in a preset and dictated manner. Punishments for breaking the ordnung are strictly enforced and the insubordinate individual is completely excommunicated as a result of their disobedience. Since family connectedness is universally valued amongst Amish communities, if an individual is shunned, they will lose not only their community status but communications will be severed between immediate family members. When applied to education, if prohibited by that particular Ordnung, pursing a higher
On March 23, 1998, I carried out an interview and field observation to confirm a previous hypothesis on Amish social change and survival. I hypothesized, based on library research and personal experience, that Amish society was not static but dynamic and affected by many factors such as economics and cultural survival. In order to check the validity of my hypothesis I arranged to spend a full Sunday (March 23, 1998), with an Amish family. I attended church services at the Westhaven Amish-Mennonite Church in New Holland, Pennsylvania, and afterward spent the day observing and interviewing with an Amish dairy farmer named Aaron and his wife Anna. They have six children and live on a dairy farm in Lancaster County Pennsylvania, which is a large farming community. I met Aaron and his family roughly four years ago while in Lancaster County with my family and since then our families have remained in close contact. Thus, to do an ethnography on the Amish, my primary informant was Aaron, someone I was already comfortable speaking with.
The evidence presented during the trial clearly indicates that the values and programs set forth by secondary education drastically conflict with those upheld and mandated by the Amish religion. Furthermore, there was a lack of evidence that indicated two additional years of compulsory secondary education would produce the...
Wise, Stephan. "How the Amish Work." How Stuff Works.com. Amish America, 19 Sept. 2002. Web. 23 Mar. 2014.
Both are a way of conformity, but the two handle it in different ways. For the Amish conformity is just the way things are done, and have always been done so people do not feel the need to change it, because they may lose the respect they have within their community. The Amish have been doing the same things for centuries with little changes so the conformity is just their way of living and their use of literacy is one part of that. Eli Jr.’s parents carefully check what books they bring into the house and most of the houses in the Amish community contain the same books so that their children will not read something that goes against Amish virtues. Instead they read bible verses and sing songs that everyone in the family has been singing for their entire lives. However, in mainstream America objects like cars, clothes, and phones are symbols of status, but not class which allows for people to have a higher status while being in a lower class. While people can customize their status symbols they are still conforming to what society has laid out, and unlike in the Amish communities, there will be people who do not conform to mainstream America. For example, I would refuse to wear name brand clothes because that is what everyone else wore. While
Rockdale is largely a ethnographic, socio-anthropological, qualitative study of a small community that is fairly difficult to access historically. As a result, the body of information provided by Wallace is more interpretive than a typical socio-historical study. While Wallace makes a compelling case for the importance of technology in the construction of community, the ramifications of technological change on the emergence of ideological conflict is less clear. The shape of intellectual debate between enlightenment ideas and the evangelical tradition does not seem to be a necessary result of the technology of the time, as broader historical studies suggest, suggesting the possibility of an a priori organization of the argument.
In the Amish world, children are brought up following all Amish family traditions and church traditions. At age 16, Amish teenagers do away with these traditions for several months to several years and go out into the “English”, modern world to experience what life is like outside of the Amish community in a tradition called Rumspringa. The hopes of Rumspringa are that Amish teenagers will see the evil in the modern world and turn back to the Amish church and community and will choose to be baptized into the faith. At this time, the parents of these Amish teenagers choose to overlook the new habits and actions of their children. The Amish parents want the best for their children and feel as though allowing them to party and live wild for a time away from them is the best way to teach their children. The parents have the approach to be hands off and ignore the behavior during Rumspringa. This is not an effective manner of parenting for these teenagers at such an influential time in their lives.
Technology, Culture, Society. Ed. Crowley, D.J., and P. Heyer. Allyn & Bacon/Pearson, 2010. 74-77. Print.
In conclusion, There are many differences and a few similarities between the Inuit, Haida and Iroquois. All three tribes live in a part of Canada and they have similarities like their continent location, utilizing resources in the region they live, having spiritual beliefs and the art they create. However they also have many differences based on their natural resources around the areas they call home, their languages, the beliefs and the art they create. All three tribes call areas of Canada home, so why are their myths and ways of life different? What if the tribes never came across the other religions or
...n, A. M. ( 1995, Spring) The Amish Struggle with Modernity. Virginia Quarterly Review. Vol. 71, Issue 2
The notion Grossman sculpts in her article is part Frederick Remington, part Sea of Galilee. Indeed, “[f]undamentally, it’s an attitude, whether you ride a bronc or a computer keyboard“ (Grossman 1D). The cowboy church movement seems to cut in on a growing herd of believers in America who seem to think that the values of the church as it should be are undermined by the very urbanity, the very sophistication that has come to characterize modern life and popular culture. They seek their solace in The West, in a picture - however mythological it may be - of a simpler way of life. This is a phenomenon, after all, that exists simultaneously with ranchers who hang cell phones where their six-shooter used to be, who use multi-tools to mend fences and all-terrain vehicles to run down stray livestock.
Chapter 11 in Anthropology For Christian Witness starts by Kraft explaining what materialism and what it looks like in today's culture. “Materialism is a very obvious feature of the world today. There are so many “things” so many gadgets, so many “labor saving devices,” so many prestige to be gained by accumulating houses and lands and vehicles and gadgets” (4259 Kraft). To serve money and other material things such as technology is a very hard life, a life of dissatisfaction, of always searching for the next thing. Even Jesus warns us to not to become obsessed with the material things of this world. Matthew 6:24 NIV says ““No one can serve two masters. Either you will hate the one and love the other, or you will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money” (Bible Gateway). Kraft stresses the importance of having our priorities straight. “The Provider is infinitely
Decisional Conflict R/T Cultural, religious and family beliefs AEB Amish typically do not believe in preventative medicine (Prenatal testing and immunizations).
The Amish culture consists of many unique beliefs that makes their ways unlike that of any other culture. They lead a life of simplicity and yet have very harsh ways of doing things. The Amish is perhaps the most diverse culture in the entire United States. The Amish of Pennsylvania and Ohio greatly differ with the rest of American society. "Although the Amish look like they stepped out of the rural nineteenth century, in fact they do change," (Amish Cultures). Their lives move more slowly than ours, but they definitely are not stuck anywhere. They move on slowly but surely. Instead of accepting new technology like the rest of American society, they choose to examine change carefully before they approve of it. If the new idea or gadget does not succeed in keeping their lives simple and their families together, they will most likely reject it. Family is among the most important values the Amish stress. They don't like to let anything break their family ties. The fact that they have lived this way for hundreds of years and not allowed the "modern" world to deter them from their pursuit of their service to God, is truly unbelievable. As mentioned earlier, the Amish do not like anything technologized in fear that it will break the family up. In actuality, they are completely right. If you take a look at an Amish family and compare it to an average American family, you would see major differences. The average American family would be very divided. You'd find the children and parents watching T.V., accessing computers, surfing the internet, playing video games, etc. In the Amish family, everyone would gather together to eat, work, and play. The Amish keep their materials basic. This way they are certain no technological advance can pull them apart. "Old order groups all drive horses and buggies rather than cars, do not have electricity in their homes. Bottled gas is used to operate water heaters, modern stoves and refrigerators. Gas-pressured lanterns and lamps are used to light homes, barns, and shops," (The Amish People 14). The Amish place very large emphasis on humanity, family, community, and separation with the rest of the world. They place value on simplicity and self-denial, whereas, typical Americans cherish comfort, convenience and leisure.