by Heather Tomlinson, Christian Today
From questioning the use of technology to taking the Bible very seriously, we can learn more than quilt-making and horse-and-buggy riding from these quirky American communities.
The Amish are a tight-knit Christian community who are best known for their eccentricities – funny bonnets, horse-drawn carriages, identical dress, not having electricity, and their deeply conservative values, for example.
This has drawn a lot of interest from the modern world in recent years, leading to a thriving tourist industry and numerous TV series to observe the quaint ways of these traditionalist people.
The faith of these communities is often ignored – yet they would say that it is the foundation of their unusual lifestyle. Can modern Christians learn from their unique interpretation of scripture?
Radical acceptance of Reformation principles
In many ways the Amish are a window into the past, as they have held on to traditions and their way of life since their beginnings in the radical wing of the Protestant Reformation known as the Anabaptists.
They and their related Mennonite communities were forced to move to the US in the 18th and 19th centuries, fleeing persecution from other Christians, and it is in the USA where they have managed to hold on to their ways.
As Anabaptists, they took Reformation principles seriously and refused to compromise, with the result that other Christians often persecuted them. Yet some of their theological disagreements of the time are widely accepted by Protestants today, such as adult baptism.