Amish Culture Essay

The Amish Culture
Ant 101
3/4/2013

In this research paper the reader will be able to explore about the Amish culture. This paper will include knowledge about the people and the effects of their subsistence with regards to the aspects of their culture and beliefs, social organizations, kinship, and family values. The overall style of their subsistence is horticulturist, which directly impacts aspects of their culture. The Amish lifestyle was a subject that really gained my interest because of their basic lifestyle of farming and growing produce, their efforts in preserving their religion, and keeping their community stable. The Amish people are a society that does not use the advantages of modern technology. These Amish communities are seen plain too many Americans because of their plain clothing they wear that simplify their lively-hood. The Amish community has already been around for many years and I personally believe they will continue to do so. Their strong beliefs in religion, community, and family; are what have sustained them throughout the years.
The Amish are a group of traditionalist, whose religion deals with Christianity. Their Christian church groups are sometimes referred to as Amish Mennonites. The origin of the Amish community was during the early 1500’s in Europe; during the Protestant revolution. During this period in time Christians assembled in Zurich, Switzerland were they rallied to establish their own set of beliefs. Upon this happing Protestant Churches and the Catholic Church began to protest against it. They were unwavering believers that baptism should be limited to adults, and not infants. The involvement in military service participation and other acts of violence, were also areas they forbid their members to take part in. Due to their actions this Christian group was given the offensive name “Anabaptist” because of their opinion about adult baptism. “Anabaptism is a religion that came about during the reformation era. This term Anabaptist first came about as a nickname that meant re-baptizer, because this group rejected the idea of infant baptism, since an infant doesn’t have any knowledge of good and evil.” (Brunstetter, 2012) European religious groups and social institutions took action against the Anabaptist because they felt threatened and intimidated by them. The Anabaptist, were being portrayed as destabilizing the power of the State church. Doing this era a foreign belief was seen as taboo and because of this they were captured, tortured, and killed. This forced them to begin worshiping in secret. Over time they found refuge in several places thru Europe; this included parts of Switzerland, France, Germany, and Holland.” Although the Anabaptist were in Europe they settled lands with poor soil and had to find better methods to farming and growing their crops successfully. Do to their much success; they had a great reputation that dealt with agriculture.
This origin of the Amish church began in Switzerland with a group of Swiss in 1693. When the sixteenth century began in Europe, the once Anabaptist had evolved into the Amish people. The foundation of the Amish religion is based off a division of the Swiss Mennonites. The name Amish has been credited to a man by the name of Jacob Amman. He was influential in constructing the new religious group known as the “Amish.” Amman was crucial of the practices of the Mennonites because he felt as they had become too lenient. He believed that the principle of shunning or social avoidance should be aggressively enforced if applicable.
In 1700’s the Amish people came to American where they first settled in Pennsylvania. In Pennsylvania, they resided in Lancaster County; this once empty county soon began to gain popularity as one of the first areas the Amish community migrated too. Between the 1800’s and 1900’s many more Amish communities were established in this area as their population grew. The Amish community soon had to expand their

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