Reynold Kremer Amish Book

"Driving the Back Roads - The Amish, In the World, but Not of It"

Amish Book Sample Chapter

About the Amish Book "Driving the Back Roads"

Pages: 182

Available Formats: Paperback & Amazon Kindle

Publisher: Kremer Resources LLC

ISBN: 978-0-9745631-5-2

DISCOVER THE ANSWERS TO THE RIDDLES OF THE AMISH CULTURE IN THIS CHRISTIAN BOOK.

The author, Reynold Kremer, gives an insight into the fascinating world of the Amish, Hutterites, and Old Order Mennonites.  This is a great Christian Amish book for pastors, teachers, church libraries, and interested members.  Here you will find the answers to the puzzle of the Amish as you explore their Anabaptist history, their family lives, and their religion.

"Mr. Kremer makes it clear that religion and life are inseparable for these people.  Not only does he give us a healthy appreciation for their everyday lives, he examines the faith upon which they build their lives.  This book is a pleasure to read.”

Prof. James F. Korthals, Wisconsin Lutheran Seminary, Mequon , WI

 

Listen to a radio interview with the author by clicking the WTKM link below:

 

 

How to Order

This Amish book is available in a hard copy paperback format or as an Amazon Kindle e-Book. To purchase the hard copy version, use the form below. To purchase for your e-Reader, please click the Amazon Kindle button to be directed to the purchasing page at Amazon.

 

For quantity pricing on this Amish book, contact Kremer Resources.


We offer complementary S&H for books written by author Ren Kremer.

"Driving the Back Roads" Paperback Book

Shipped Version

$20.99


Amish Book on Kindle

 

Amish Book Preface

Amish is a religion! The Amish clock did not simply stop ticking.  Amish is a religion.  The Amish people are not museum employees trying to show outsiders how things were done 100 years ago, nor are they entertainers like those who put on Civil War reenactments.  Amish is a religion.  Many tourists love to sneak photos of these unique people who seem so vulnerable and helpless.  They are neither.  They are a religion.  The Amish do what they do for one reason only: it’s their religion.  And they are not ashamed to let the world know that they are different.  They are proud to be a people “in the world, but not of it.” 

This is the study of a religion that began at the front door of a church in Wittenberg, Germany, where a young man named Luther nailed Ninety-five Theses. Lutherans, Reformed and Anabaptists grew out of that movement. We are about to focus especially on the Anabaptists and their descendants, the Hutterites, Mennonites and the Amish.

Many people enjoy the friendly shops, craft stores, restaurants and overall homey feeling they get when they visit Shipshewana, Indiana, or Lancaster County, Pennsylvania. These are fun and interesting places where millions of tourists walk the streets and sidewalks to contribute to the million dollar industry spawned by these Plain People.  Few however take the time to learn much about them.  Instead they just shrug their shoulders and admit that the sights are great, the products are well-made, but none of it makes any sense.

In this Amish book we will find some answers to the whys and wherefores of these people.  It is indeed a difficult puzzle to piece together, but if we look at the puzzle pieces one by one, we begin to see what it is that makes this culture exist as it does.

Thoughout this Amish book I have attempted to treat these people with utmost Christian respect.  The Plain People deserve neither ridicule nor stoning, nor even odd looks.  Instead we must begin to understand them in order to see their ways and their faith.  Only then can we respond.

I would like to give special thanks to author Ruth Irene Garrett, for the valuable time she spent with me. Thanks to Ruth and her husband Ottie, I was able to ask the tough questions that only a former Amish person could answer.  Ruth left her Amish home in Iowa to marry an "English" man. As a result she was excommunicated (by her bishop uncle), and shunned. Her candid answers to a multitude of questions gave me insights that no books could have. To Ruth and her husband I am most indebted.

I would also like to offer special thanks to Pastor Reuben Kleinsasser and the people of the Springfield Hutterite Colony just outside Winnipeg, Canada, for the hospitable tour, dinner and personal “concert” they gave my wife Edith and me, and to Hutterite Pastor Edward (last name withheld) for kindly answering my questions and reviewing the chapter on the Hutterites.  Thanks are also in order for John and Esther (last name withheld), an Amish couple in Indiana, who took time to show us their home-based business and graciously invited us into their home, and to Mennonite pastor Joseph Yoder, head curator of the Mennohof Museum in Shipshewana, Indiana, for sitting down with me and answering my many questions.  Very special thanks also go to best-selling author Beverly Lewis who gave of her time to clarify a number of important points.  

Now let’s jump into the car and head toward the back roads.  Just maybe we’ll see one of those buggies clippety-clopping along the shoulder, or maybe we’ll happen to see an Amish woman hanging out her wash, or just maybe we’ll catch a glimpse of some Amish kids running barefoot on their way to school.

Reynold R. Kremer

 

Amish Book Table of Contents

Chapter 1: The Radical Reformers

 

The Reformation Climate and Martin Luther

 

The Swiss Reformation

 

Anabaptism Is Born

 

The Martyrs

 

 

Chapter 2: Anabaptist Foundations

 

A Change of Life

 

The Schleitheim Articles

 

The Dordrecht Confession of Faith

 

Methods of Evangelism

 

 

Chapter 3: A Home for the Hutterites

 

A Fascinating History

 

The Hutterite Life

 

Hutterite Worship

 

The Dining Hall

 

Hutterite Education

 

Hutterite Farming and Commerce

 

Hutterite Women

 

Courtship and Marriage

 

The Hutterite Family

 

Sports and Leisure

 

Hutterite Dress

 

Hutterites Today

 

 

Chapter 4: Menno Simons Takes Over

 

Mayhem at Muenster

 

Menno Simons Takes Control

 

William Penn's Holy Experiment

 

A Dangerous Journey

 

The Mennonites Today

 

Old Order Mennonites

 

Moderate Mennonites

 

Main Body of the Mennonite Church

 

The German Baptist Brethren

 

 

Chapter 5: Amish Riddles

 

Jacob Ammann Disagrees

 

Gelassenheit

 

The Ordnung

 

No Telephone

 

No Cars

 

No Electricity

 

 

Chapter 6: The Amish at Worship

 

The Church District

 

The Worship Service

 

The Singing

 

The Communion Service and Foot Washing

 

Choosing Bishops, Ministers and Deacons

 

Amish Divisions

 

Old Order Amish

 

New Order Amish

 

Beachy Amish

 

Amish Mennonites

 

 

Chapter 7: Within the Amish Community

 

Birth

 

Education

 

Rumspringa

 

Courtship and Dating

 

Baptism

 

Weddings

 

The Grandpa House

 

 

Chapter 8: Amish Traditions

 

Dress
    1. Children's Clothes

    2. Women's Wardrobe
    3. Clothing for Men

 

Sewing and Quilting

 

Diet

 

Barn Raisings

 

Language

 

Amish Names

 

The Horse and Buggy

 

 

Chapter 9: An Amish Day

 

A Day of Honest Housework

 

Farming and Lunch-pail Work

 

Recreation and Relaxation

 

Health

 

Folk Medicine

 

Hospital Treatment

 

Hereditary Diseases

 

Mental Illness

 

Funerals

 

Tourism

 

 

Chapter 10: Personal Reflections

 

It Seems So Good

 

All Is Not as It Seems

 

Problems with the Government

 

Too Difficult to Discuss

 

Never Certain of Salvation

 

God Is a Gracious God

 

Intimidation and Fear

 

God is a Loving God

 

Sharing with the Amish


For more Amish related products and information, please visit Reynold Kremer's Amish book website at www.amishinsights.com.