Related Research Articles
The Nebraska Amish, also called Old Schoolers, are a relatively small affiliation of the Amish. They are the most conservative subgroup of Amish, indicated not only by their use of technology but also by their particular style of dress. They emerged in 1881 as a conservative split from the Byler Amish, who themselves emerged as the first conservative splinter group from the Amish mainstream in 1849.
Rumspringa, also spelled Rumschpringe or Rumshpringa, is a rite of passage during adolescence, translated from originally Palatine German and other Southwest German dialects to English as "jumping or hopping around", used in some Amish communities. The Amish, a subsect of the Anabaptist Christian movement, intentionally segregate themselves from other communities as a part of their faith. For Amish youth, the Rumspringa normally begins at age 16 and ends when a youth chooses either to be baptized in the Amish church or to leave the community. For Wenger Mennonites, Rumspringa occurs mostly between ages of 17 and 21.
The New Order Amish are a subgroup of Amish that split away from the Old Order Amish in the 1960s for a variety of reasons, which included a desire for "clean" youth courting standards, meaning they do not condone the practice of bundling during courtship. Tobacco and alcohol are also not allowed. They also wished to incorporate more evangelical elements into the church, including Sunday school and mission work. Some scholars see the group best characterized as a subgroup of the Old Order Amish, despite the name.
Donald B. Kraybill is an American author, lecturer, and educator on Anabaptist faiths and culture. Kraybill is widely recognized for his studies on Anabaptist groups and in particular the Amish. He has researched and written extensively on Anabaptist culture. He is Distinguished Professor Emeritus at Elizabethtown College and Senior Fellow Emeritus at Elizabethtown's Young Center for Anabaptist and Pietist Studies.
The Troyer Amish or Stutzman-Troyer Amish are a conservative subgroup of Old Order Amish.
The Amish, formally the Old Order Amish, are an ethnoreligious group with Swiss German and Alsatian origins. Consisting of several Anabaptist Christian church fellowships, they are closely related to Mennonites, a separate Anabaptist denomination. The Amish are known for simple living, plain dress, Christian pacifism, and slowness to adopt many conveniences of modern technology, with a view neither to interrupt family time, nor replace face-to-face conversations whenever possible, and a view to maintain self-sufficiency. The Amish value rural life, manual labor, humility and Gelassenheit. As they rarely accept converts, maintain a separate language and culture from surrounding populations, and hold their faith in common, they have been described by scholars as an ethnoreligious group, combining features of an ethnicity and a denomination.
The Swartzentruber Amish are the best-known and one of the largest and most conservative subgroups of Old Order Amish. Swartzentruber Amish are considered a subgroup of the Old Order Amish, although they do not fellowship or intermarry with more liberal Old Order Amish. They speak Pennsylvania German as their mother tongue as well as English.
Over the years, as Amish churches have divided many times over doctrinal disputes, subgroups have developed. The "Old Order Amish", a conservative faction that withdrew in the 1860s from fellowship with the wider body of Amish, are those that have most emphasized traditional practices and beliefs. There are many different subgroups of Amish with most belonging, in ascending order of conservatism, to the Beachy Amish, New Order, Old Order, or Swartzentruber Amish groups.
The Michigan Amish Fellowship is a subgroup or affiliation of Old Order Amish. In 2022 this network of churches consisted of 33 settlements in Michigan, Maine, Missouri, Kentucky, Montana, and Wyoming. Stephen E. Scott described the affiliation which emerged in 1970 in Michigan as "Amish Reformist".
The Lancaster Amish affiliation is the largest affiliation among the Old Order Amish and as such a subgroup of Amish. Its origin and largest settlement is Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, United States. The settlement in Lancaster County, founded in 1760 near Churchtown is the oldest Amish settlement that is still in existence.
The Buchanan Amish affiliation is a subgroup of Amish that was formed in 1914 in Buchanan County, Iowa. It is among the most conservative in the entire Amish world. It is the fourth largest of all Amish affiliations, having almost as many church districts as the Holmes Old Order Amish affiliation. Geographically it is more dispersed than any other Amish affiliation.
The Holmes Old Order Amish affiliation is a subgroup of Amish, that is almost only present at the Holmes-Wayne Amish settlement in Ohio. With 140 church districts there in 2009 it is the main and dominant Amish affiliation there, even though there were 61 another church districts of 10 other affiliations in the settlement. It is third in numbers of adherents of all Amish affiliation.
The Elkhart-LaGrange Amish affiliation is the second largest Old Order Amish affiliation and as such a subgroup of Amish. Its origin and main settlement lie in Elkhart and LaGrange counties in Indiana. While the Amish of Holmes County, Ohio, and adjacent counties split into several different affiliations in the last 100 years, the Elkhart-LaGrange affiliation remained united, but with a considerable internal diversity. The Elkhart-LaGrange affiliation had 177 church districts in 2011.
A Seeker is a person likely to join an Old Order Anabaptist community, like the Amish, the Old Order Mennonites, the Hutterites, the Old Order Schwarzenau Brethren or the Old Order River Brethren. Among the 500,000 members of such communities in the United States there are only an estimated 1,200 to 1,300 outsiders who have joined them.
The Byler Amish, also called Alt Gemee, are a small conservative subgroup of the Amish. They are known for the yellow color of their buggies, which earned them the nickname "yellow-toppers" and for wearing only one suspender. They are the oldest Old Order Amish affiliation that separated for doctrinal and not for geographical reasons.
Old Order Anabaptism encompasses those groups which have preserved the old ways of Anabaptist Christian religion and lifestyle.
The New Order Tobe Amish, or often only New Order Tobe, are a small subgroup of Amish that belongs to the New Order Amish. In 1967, they split from the Tobe Amish, who in 1940 had split from the Troyer Amish, a very conservative group. They live in Ohio. They share an unusual mix of conservative and progressive traits. In contrast to other New Order Amish groups, they have a relative high retention rate of their young people that is comparable to the retention rate of Old Order Amish.
The Tobe Amish, also called Tobe Hochstetler Amish, Old Order Tobe Amish or just Old Order Tobe to distinguish them from the New Order Tobe Amish, are a small subgroup of the Old Order Amish, that emerged in 1940 through a split from the Troyer Amish. They live in Ohio.
The New Order Amish Fellowship or New New Order Amish, most commonly called New Order Christian Fellowship, is the most progressive affiliation among the New Order Amish. Because some scholars see the New Order Amish just as a subgroup of the Old Order Amish, the New Order Christian Fellowship is thus the most progressive affiliation among the Old Order Amish. In spirituality, they are close to Beachy Amish. Their use of horse and buggy transportation and their preservation of the German language distinguishes them from the Beachys, except for the Old Beachy Amish who have also retained the German language but drive cars.
The Ohio Amish Country, also known simply as the Amish Country, is the second-largest community of Amish, with in 2023 an estimated 84,065 members according to the Young Center for Anabaptist and Pietist Studies at Elizabethtown College.
References
- ↑ "Amish Technology Use in Different Groups".
- ↑ Hurst, Charles E.; McConnell, David L.: An Amish Paradox: Diversity and Change in the World's Largest Amish Community, The Johns Hopkins University Press, Baltimore 2010, page 26. ISBN 0-8018-9398-4.
- ↑ Kraybill, Donald; Karen M. Johnson-Weiner; Steven M. Nolt (2013). The Amish. Johns Hopkins Univ Pr. p. 139.
- ↑ Amishamerica.com: Who are the Andy Weaver Amish?
