The Amish Way by Donald B. Kraybill, Steven M. Nolt, David L. Weaver-Zercher Read Free Book Online

decide his own standard of plainness, and some churches do this . . . [but] self-will must be yielded. . . . If it would be each individual’s idea, then it would still be of the self.”
     
    Our explanation of uffgevva should not be carried too far. Although Amish society discourages individualism, it certainly does not extinguish all individual expression. Amish people have distinct likes and dislikes, personal preferences, and sometimes strong opinions. There is room aplenty for individual expression and creativity in the way a garden is planted, for example, or the colors and pattern chosen for a quilt. Hobbies such as woodworking or bird watching can be forms of individual expression. And competitive streaks often surface in a game of volleyball or ice hockey.
     
    “The church doesn’t tell us to wear boxer shorts or briefs, to go to McDonald’s or Burger King,” Jesse said. In fact, in his mind, “the idea that Amish give up all freedom of choice and let the community decide everything is a myth. Even if you do decide to let the church decide, that in itself is a choice.”
     
    But the message of self-denial is strong enough that ministers sometimes need to remind members of their individual worth. “Just as the autumn landscape needs all the colors to complete [its] beauty,” one preacher writes, characteristically drawing on an image from the natural world, “in the same way God needs all of us, every single one of us to make His plan complete. He needed someone just like you in His creation.That is why He made you looking like you do, and having the talents that you have.” 4
     
    So although Amish people do not expect everyone in their community to look, act, and think exactly alike, the range of individual expression is narrower than that of mainstream society. This communal orientation and these habits of submission shape their beliefs, practices, and affections—even their notion of salvation.
     

Born Again?
     
    A few weeks after the story of Amish forgiveness at Nickel Mines circled the world, we had a call from a non-Amish friend. “Do you think the Amish are saved?” she asked. “Some members of my church think they aren’t, and I want to know what you think.”
     
    Many religious traditions promise salvation—a way for individuals to be saved from the perilous conditions of this world and to attain life after death. From its beginning, Christianity has located salvation in the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Today many Christians, especially evangelical Protestants, describe salvation as being “born again.”
     
    The term born again comes from a conversation reported in the New Testament’s Gospel of John between Jesus and a Jewish religious leader named Nicodemus. Jesus told him, “Verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.” A bit later, Jesus explained that “God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life” (John 3:3, 16).
     
    Many Christians believe that these verses present the concept of salvation in a nutshell: those who believe that Jesus is God’s son are “born again” and thus saved. Some Christians, in fact, pose the question, “Are you born again?” to determine the spiritual status of others. When Christian neighbors confront Amish people with that question, the Amish respond in bewilderment. “Of course,” some say, “we teach the new birth all the time!” f
     
    The Amish use of “new birth,” die Neugeburt , in place of “born again” points to a distinctive understanding of Christian salvation. 5 In contrast to the individualistic connotation of being born again, the Amish view the new birth as a metaphor for joining a community—the church—much as natural birth brings a person into a biological family. The new birth can’t take place in isolation. And given their awareness of nature, the Amish