American Voyeurism and the Amish

Note: I have significantly revised the introduction to this essay...  I am now much happier with the wording.  Thanks.

 

(c) Wikipedia Images

     They might not be exactly superstars, but America’s Amish have been increasingly in the spotlight lately – some good and some bad.  PBS has capitalized on this recent publicity with a documentary titled, imaginatively, The Amish.  While I will certainly view the documentary at a later convenience, I was intrigued by The New York Times critic, Neil Genzlinger’s, take on the whole thing (They’ve Got Cute Buggies and Kids, but Their Lives Aren’t Always Heavenly, The New York Times, New York, NY, 28 February 2012, p C5).

    I especially enjoyed reflecting on Genzlinger’s observation’s regarding why the Amish (and elsewhere, the conservative Mennonite sects and Hutterites) continue to mystify their neighbors and stimulate often unwanted curiosity and publicity.  Genzlinger seems to indicate that this might be a sort of cultural fetishism.  I would tend to agree – but why is this and how does it impact this Anabaptist ethnicity?

Rereading "Amish Voyeurism" in a different light, I decided that a couple of sentences could be taken differently than intended.  I have therefore removed the post until it might be rewritten.

Sorry about the deletion.  I will repost it later in the month.

Thanks.

Menno Lit -- Almost Ripe, Not Quite Ready

Michelangelo - Awakening Slave

     I walk a lot.  While I walk, I think about things – these days, I think a lot about Mennonite culture – and books.  So yesterday, I was thinking about my own relationship to contemporary Mennonite culture and the relationship between literature, identity and religion.

    The thought occurred to me that while I might live in my own sort of personal Mennonite world, I could never again survive in the more collective mentality of the home community.  What is the problem?  I cook traditional Mennonite foods, read Mennonite books and poetry.  I travel to Mennonite destinations and I can read both Fraktur and cipher notes. Of anyone, I definitely possess a true Mennonite identity.   To top it off, I actually attend Mennonite church and enjoy it – I mean, who does that anymore?

    The problem is simply this, that I have the Mennonite cultural  paradigm upside-down.  The basic Mennonite (or Amish) cultural model is “separation from society” and “integration with the local gemeinde” or congregation.  But in my world, this is upside down.  In order for me survive intellectually and spiritually, I need to be part of the larger world culture while achieving some sort of privacy or social distance from the sometimes overly, er, supportive church neighbors – even all the ones to which I’m so closely related. 

Mennonite Heirloom Gardens

Goadenfleky (garden patch)

  March is the perfect time to order those special heirloom garden seeds and plants.  Seed Savers' Exchange is a non-profit seed preservation club that has undertaken to preserve and distribute numerous heirloom seeds, including many of Russlander, Mennonite and Amish origin.  I have combed their catalog for seeds that pertain most directly to the Mennonite ethnic heritage.  Have a great time gardening -- and don't forget to tell your children and grandchildren the stories of the many Mennonite and Amish gardens that have come before...

Wer War Menno Simons?

Wer War Menno Simons?

 

Who was Menno Simons? by Isaac Peters (1911)

    He was one of the great reformers of the Christian church in the 16^th century at the time of the great Reformation, the time of Luther, Calvin and Zwingli in Holland.  From the pulpit, all three attacked the secular authorities, and the secular church of Rome while taking shelter in their own state churches to avoid severe persecution.  Menno Simons and his associates made a decisive break with these Reformers.  They determined to base their faith on the rock or foundation of Jesus Christ, testifying as their motto, “No other Foundation can any man lay than that which is laid, that is Jesus Christ.”  I Cor. 3: 11.  For this, Simons was willing to risk everything – loss of property, life and exile.  For this risk, he found plenty of opportunity, facing persecution not only from Rome but also from the other more newly-established state churches who were just as quick to stain their hands in martyrs’ blood. 

    Luther, the main Reformer, called these simple, quiet followers of Christ swarms (Schwärmer), of which he wrote to Duke Albrecht of Prussia:  “Wherefore do I have to ask why it pleases your highness to suffer such people in your country.  Why would you allow such factious spirits and suffering?  Prussia’s conscience should complain against this credible threat against Her soul, lest this swarm seduces the Holy Church (of Luther), against which their leader preaches.  It is not just I who fear this swarm, but all emperors and princes fear them.  Suffer just a little of this heresy and you will see what comes of it.”  Luther further advised Albrecht to overcome this monstrous threat with fire and sword.  All this was in pursuit of Menno and his companions in their following of the Lord’s leading.  But Luther wanted to please man, not God, to re-establish Rome, not God’s Truth.