Donald Kraybill
Development Proposal Threatens the Amish
The lush green and brown farmlands of central Lancaster County and the lives of the Amish and Old Order Mennonite farming families who live there are seriously threatened by a proposed development. Opponents of the development claim that the horse and buggy culture of the Plain People will be disrupted if not destroyed by all […]
New Book on the Amish
Donald Kraybill, who is undoubtedly the leading authority on Amish life, has just written another book on his favorite subject. Last week, LancasterOnline reviewed his new work, Simply Amish, which was published by Herald Press on June 26. It is a popularly-written, slender book of only 64 pages that is designed to answer questions about […]
Amish Forgiveness on the Tenth Anniversary of a Tragedy
Numerous news stories at the end of last week focused on forgiveness, unusual in an autumn dominated, in the United States at least, by unforgiving attacks on political opponents. The occasion was the 10th anniversary, on Sunday October 2, of the Nickel Mines tragedy, when a deranged man murdered five Amish girls in a one-room […]
Will the Amish Support Conservative Politicians?
Republican leaders in Pennsylvania are hoping that the Amish of Lancaster County will strongly support Donald Trump in the U.S. presidential election this coming November. An interesting news story last week in PennLive.com, an online companion to The Patriot-News from Harrisburg, reviewed the history of conservative voting by the Amish—when they decide to vote, that […]
Continuity and Change among the Amish
Many of the world’s foremost authorities on Anabaptist studies will gather at Elizabethtown College in Pennsylvania next month for this year’s conference on the Amish. According to a news report in LancasterOnline, over 60 speakers will attend the conference, titled “Continuity and Change: 50 Years of Amish Society.” Prominent speakers will include Steven Nolt, a […]
Donald Kraybill to Retire
Donald Kraybill, famed expert on the Amish, announced last week that he will retire as of the end of June from his positions at Elizabethtown College in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania. He has taught college classes and has served as Senior Fellow at the Young Center for Anabaptist and Pietist Studies at the college. He will […]
Amish Enterprises and Religious Practice
The Amish in Lancaster County are slowly moving into new business ventures as old ones cease to be profitable, but they have to cope with issues of growth, time, and technology that outsiders often don’t face. The Pottstown, PA, Mercury carried a feature story on Saturday that explored these issues. The reporter, Eric G. Stark, […]
Coming: Three More Books on the Amish
Donald Kraybill, a leading scholar of Anabaptist society and culture, mentioned in an interview last week that he is now working on three additional books about the Amish. A faculty member at Elizabethtown College in Elizabethtown, Pennsylvania, Kraybill is the author of The Riddle of Amish Culture and numerous other books and articles. He agreed […]
Bush Fever [journal article review]
The Iowa caucuses today will kick off the 2008 US primary elections, but the Lancaster County Amish may not be too interested—at least not like they were in 2004. The issue that year of the “Amish vote” in Pennsylvania captured headlines, but the publicity, ironically, may have helped reduce their turnout in November. Donald B. […]
Peace Conference Begins with Speech about the Amish
Donald Kraybill opened the annual conference of the Peace and Justice Studies Association in Elizabethtown, PA, on September 27 with an exciting speech about the Amish and their patterns of forgiveness. The first half of his presentation focused on the factors that shape and preserve Amish community identity, an appropriate topic for a conference with […]
