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Plain and Amish: An Alternative to Modern Pessimism
Bernd G. Langin combines sketches of Amish origins with his experiences from months of living with an Amish family in Indiana. Langin is able to explain many aspects of Amish life because of his grasp of their Swiss-German language and their European customs. Includes a 32-page color photo section.
- GenresAmish
416 pages, Paperback
First published May 1, 1994
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March 15, 2018
So many of us know of the Amish only from a quick trip as tourists through their community, and so we see these people only as quaint relics fading away in the face of the modern world; or even as a specimen of historical reenactors performing for our benefit.
Langin presents them as a real people, a vibrant, even growing community of people. He doesn't shy away from describing their factions and frustrations, their human frailties and foibles. But he also dares -- as the subtitle declares -- to suggest that their way of life is more than horse buggies and barn-raisings. It is a philosophy of which such things are merely an outward reminder and a shield. It is a serious way of life in which everything must be about family and community, humility and love for God -- values sorely lacking in the modern world. Motor cars invite the temptation of being solitary -- or almost solitary, if you get my drift --but they also facilitate families being miles apart. So they must not be used. And so it goes.
Their lives are hard -- his description of a family in an open buggy being utterly drenched by the spray of a passing truck; of the trek to the outhouse during a winter far below zero; or even the unthinkable for most non-Amish children, having to turn over your favorite cow to be turned into beef. But their lives are rich in hope and in contentment with simple things, free from the pervasive angst and jaded cynicism of the world beyond.
Langin is deeply German and perhaps only a native German could have written this kind of a book, moving back and forth from the New World Amish communities to their homelands in Europe, long emptied of their faith. His Old World research is deep and useful.
He loves and respects these people and he imbibes much of their spirit, especially in the farewell paragraphs, where the temptation would have been strong to indulge in deep sentimentality and mawkish sorrow at saying goodbye for possibly the last time to dear friends with whom he had spent so many months. Instead, he writes of shaking hands, accepting the gift of a jar of beets and then being on his way. Very Amish.
Langin presents them as a real people, a vibrant, even growing community of people. He doesn't shy away from describing their factions and frustrations, their human frailties and foibles. But he also dares -- as the subtitle declares -- to suggest that their way of life is more than horse buggies and barn-raisings. It is a philosophy of which such things are merely an outward reminder and a shield. It is a serious way of life in which everything must be about family and community, humility and love for God -- values sorely lacking in the modern world. Motor cars invite the temptation of being solitary -- or almost solitary, if you get my drift --but they also facilitate families being miles apart. So they must not be used. And so it goes.
Their lives are hard -- his description of a family in an open buggy being utterly drenched by the spray of a passing truck; of the trek to the outhouse during a winter far below zero; or even the unthinkable for most non-Amish children, having to turn over your favorite cow to be turned into beef. But their lives are rich in hope and in contentment with simple things, free from the pervasive angst and jaded cynicism of the world beyond.
Langin is deeply German and perhaps only a native German could have written this kind of a book, moving back and forth from the New World Amish communities to their homelands in Europe, long emptied of their faith. His Old World research is deep and useful.
He loves and respects these people and he imbibes much of their spirit, especially in the farewell paragraphs, where the temptation would have been strong to indulge in deep sentimentality and mawkish sorrow at saying goodbye for possibly the last time to dear friends with whom he had spent so many months. Instead, he writes of shaking hands, accepting the gift of a jar of beets and then being on his way. Very Amish.
Displaying 1 of 1 review