A Peculiar People
eBook - PDF

A Peculiar People

Iowa's Old Order Amish

  1. English
  2. PDF
  3. Available on iOS & Android
eBook - PDF

A Peculiar People

Iowa's Old Order Amish

About this book

Now back in print with a new essay, this classic of Iowa history focuses on the Old Order Amish Mennonites, the state's most distinctive religious minority. Sociologist Elmer Schwieder and historian Dorothy Schwieder began their research with the largest group of Old Order Amish in the state, the community near Kalona in Johnson and Washington counties, in April 1970; they extended their studies and friendships in later years to other Old Order settlements as well as the slightly less conservative Beachy Amish.

A Peculiar People explores the origin and growth of the Old Order Amish in Iowa, their religious practices, economic organization, family life, the formation of new communities, and the vital issue of education. Included also are appendixes giving the 1967 "Act Relating to Compulsory School Attendance and Educational Standards"; a sample "Church Organization Financial Agreement," demonstrating the group's unusual but advantageous mutual financial system; and the 1632 Dortrecht Confession of Faith, whose eighteen articles cover all the basic religious tenets of the Old Order Amish.

Thomas Morain's new essay describes external and internal issues for the Iowa Amish from the 1970s to today. The growth of utopian Amish communities across the nation, changes in occupation (although The Amish Directory still lists buggy shop operators, wheelwrights, and one lone horse dentist), the current state of education and health care, and the conscious balance between modern and traditional ways are reflected in an essay that describes how the Old Order dedication to Gelassenheit—the yielding of self to the interests of the larger community—has served its members well into the twenty-first century.

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Yes, you can access A Peculiar People by Elmer Schwieder,Dorothy Schwieder in PDF and/or ePUB format, as well as other popular books in Theology & Religion & North American History. We have over one million books available in our catalogue for you to explore.

Table of contents

  1. Contents
  2. A Peculiar People in a Brave New World: Iowa's Old Order Amish in Recent Years, by Thomas J. Morain
  3. Preface
  4. 1. The Old Order in Iowa
  5. 2. Origin and Growth
  6. 3. Religious Practices
  7. 4. Economic Organization
  8. 5. Family Life
  9. 6. Mobility and New Communities
  10. 7. The School Controversy
  11. 8. The Vital Issue: Education
  12. 9. The Beachy Amish
  13. 10. The Plain People in the Midwest
  14. APPENDIXES
  15. Notes
  16. Bibliography
  17. Index