Question about portrayal of Anabaptists

[micbmac]

I am not Anabaptist, but I recently started reading some wonderful books about the Amish and Mennonite communities. These book are mostly based in Lancaster County, PN and Holmes County, OH. The books are by Beverly Lewis and Wanda Brunstetter. I love these books because they are so inspirational and the lifestyle seems so good and simple. My question is this: Has anyone in the Anabaptist communities read any of these books and would you say they are relatively accurite in there portrayal of Amish and Mennonites?:angel:

[WayneinMaine]

I am told by conservative Mennonite and plain church folks that they are not really accurate. They reflect a view of the Amish that is not really sympathetic with their spirituality, rather the Amish are viewed in terms of Evangelical Protestant religious and social ideas. There are better books by Amish or those who know the Amisn well that are better for getting to know Amish faith and culture.

[ZiSunka]

I have a lot of plain friends, and they just laugh at the Beverly Lewis books because they make Amish life look like paradise when it's anything BUT.

Amish life is very hard. You have to live by the rules, and there are lots of them, or face being kicked out or punished. And although the Amish have the reputation of being ultra-spiritual, their societies and communities have the same problems as everyone else. And in Amish communities, those problems are usually kept secret and dealt with in ways that don't necessarily make for justice.

We used to have a young woman who came here whose family had left the Amish, and she told some pretty bad nightmare stories of the way woman are treated, and about widespread sexual abuse of young girls and even incest. She told us that her mother had been raped as a teenager by a church elder, and then shamed because she was pregnant outside of marriage. Secret closed societies lend themselves to pretty horrible injustices sometimes.

Where I live, near one of the biggest Amish communities in the world, there is rampant alcoholism among the Amish, too, and it often goes hand-in-hand with spousal abuse.

The truth is, there is no idyllic lifestyle this side of heaven. No matter WHAT you read in novels.

Remember, Lewis is selling books and the way she does that is to create a fanatsy world filled with pleasant emotions. But the only thing her books and the Amish life have in common is some traditionally Amish names and culture.

[micbmac]

I have a lot of plain friends, and they just laugh at the Beverly Lewis books because they make Amish life look like paradise when it's anything BUT.

Amish life is very hard. You have to live by the rules, and there are lots of them, or face being kicked out or punished. And although the Amish have the reputation of being ultra-spiritual, their societies and communities have the same problems as everyone else. And in Amish communities, those problems are usually kept secret and dealt with in ways that don't necessarily make for justice.

We used to have a young woman who came here whose family had left the Amish, and she told some pretty bad nightmare stories of the way woman are treated, and about widespread sexual abuse of young girls and even incest. She told us that her mother had been raped as a teenager by a church elder, and then shamed because she was pregnant outside of marriage. Secret closed societies lend themselves to pretty horrible injustices sometimes.

Where I live, near one of the biggest Amish communities in the world, there is rampant alcoholism among the Amish, too, and it often goes hand-in-hand with spousal abuse.

The truth is, there is no idyllic lifestyle this side of heaven. No matter WHAT you read in novels.

Remember, Lewis is selling books and the way she does that is to create a fanatsy world filled with pleasant emotions. But the only thing her books and the Amish life have in common is some traditionally Amish names and culture.

My mom lives in Ohio and I became intrigued by the horse and buggies I saw traveling down the road and of course the plain clothes. I'm really sad to hear all that bad stuff. That doesn't sound like my Beverly Lewis novels at all, :) but I'll still read them because she is a fabulous writer. Thanks for the info and God bless you.

[WayneinMaine]

My mom lives in Ohio and I became intrigued by the horse and buggies I saw traveling down the road and of course the plain clothes. I'm really sad to hear all that bad stuff. That doesn't sound like my Beverly Lewis novels at all, :) but I'll still read them because she is a fabulous writer. Thanks for the info and God bless you.
While Beverly Lewis's novels may not accurately reflect Amish life and spirituality, allegations of sexual abuse and the denigration of the Amish for their disciplined, biblically based lifestyle is hardly more accurate of a portrayal. The "secret" is that the Amish are successful in reining in sin -they are not hiding it as some allege (though there are sins among the Amish) they are dealt with appropriately and biblically).

[micbmac]

I am told by conservative Mennonite and plain church folks that they are not really accurate. They reflect a view of the Amish that is not really sympathetic with their spirituality, rather the Amish are viewed in terms of Evangelical Protestant religious and social ideas. There are better books by Amish or those who know the Amisn well that are better for getting to know Amish faith and culture.

Hi Wayne. Sorry, it was certainly not my intention to start anything hostile between anyone. Truly, you sound like a good person. You mentioned earlier that there were some "better books by Amish or those who know the Amish". If you can tell me any titles or authors, I would love to read them. Thank you and may God bless you too.

[WayneinMaine]

Hi Wayne. Sorry, it was certainly not my intention to start anything hostile between anyone. Truly, you sound like a good person. You mentioned earlier that there were some "better books by Amish or those who know the Amish". If you can tell me any titles or authors, I would love to read them. Thank you and may God bless you too.
You are quite welcome. You did not start anything hostile by asking about the Amish. Your question about Beverly Lewis was a good one. I want to be fair to the Amish and not see them misrepresented, that's all.

Donald Kraybil wrote an excellent book entitled "The Riddle of Amish Culture". A more scholarly (but very readable) work by a man who grew up Amish (his family left before he joined) is "Amish Society" by John Hostetler, John was a Mennonite. One I haven't read but can recommend is "The Amish in Their Own Words - Amish Writings from 25 Years of Family Life Magazine". The title speaks for itself; Family Life is the English language periodical of the Amish and plain Mennonite communities.

[christian73]

This thread is closed for staff review.

[DeaconDean]

Friends, I have cleaned up this thread and after some discussion, it has been agreed to reopen it. But before it is reopened, I want to take the time to remind everybody of one rule:

2.1 No Flaming

You will not "flame" other members or groups of members. Flaming includes, but is not limited to:
- Ridiculing, insulting, or demeaning another member or group of members;
- Ridiculing another member's beliefs;
- Ridiculing public figures important to another's religious beliefs;
- Stating or implying that another member or group of members who have identified themselves as Christian are not Christian;
- Calling or describing other people, groups, belief-systems, or ideas as heresy or a cult (or derivatives of these words). Instead of using these emotionally charged words, please state "X is wrong because of Y" rather than using these words in polemical discussion;
- Asking loaded questions that directly cause flames in response;
- Using sarcasm to attempt any of the above; and


Please remember to keep the tone to a respectable level. As God granted grace to us when we didn't deserve it, we should pass it on to others.

Turn the other cheek.

Forgive seventy times seven.

Pray for them and ask blessings upon them, for by doing so you heap coals upon their head.

God Bless

Till all are one.

[ZiSunka]

And remember that Beverly Lewis and the other writers that Wayne has recommended write romantic fiction--their goal is to make Amish life seem romantic and desirable. They leave out the bad stuff because then it wouldn't be romantic.

They are selling an emotion, a feeling of happiness and stories about spousal abuse and child abuse wouldn't give you that feeling. Their depiction of Amish life is marketing, not reality.

[WayneinMaine]

I didn’t recommend Beverly Lewis’ books, quite the contrary. I recommended books by Donald Kraybill:
http://users.etown.edu/k/kraybilld/index.htm (http://users.etown.edu/k/kraybilld/index.htm). and John A. Hostetler: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_A._Hostetler (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_A._Hostetler). Neither of these men published romantic fiction. They were/are Sociologist who published accurate, unbiased, well researched books about the Amish.

[CelticRose]

Jodi Piccoult did a good book about the darker side of Amish life. I've no idea how accurate it is but it was a good read ~ a sort of murder mystery.

[christian73]

This thread is closed permanently due to flaming against another denomination. We need to pray for each other instead of tearing one another down.