Journal of Amish and Plain Anabaptist Studies: Volume 1, Issue 1 (April 2013)

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https://kb.osu.edu/handle/1811/54889

Issue DOI: https://doi.org/10.18061/1811/54889

Front Matter
p. i
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Editors’ Introduction
Anderson, Cory; Donnermeyer, Joseph F. pp. ii-iii
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Articles

Where Are the Plain Anabaptists?
Anderson, Cory; Donnermeyer, Joseph F. pp. 1-25
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Who Are the Plain Anabaptists? What Are the Plain Anabaptists?
Anderson, Cory pp. 26-71
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The Amish Population: County Estimates and Settlement Patterns
Donnermeyer, Joseph F.; Anderson, Cory; Cooksey, Elizabeth C. pp. 72-109
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A Peculiar People Revisited: Demographic Foundations of the Iowa Amish in the 21st Century
Cooksey, Elizabeth; Donnermeyer, Joseph F. pp. 110-126
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The Role of Social Capital for Amish Entrepreneurs in Pursuing Informal Economic Opportunities
Jeong, Seonhee pp. 127-166
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Articles by Members of Plain Anabaptist Churches

Realignment and Division in the Amish Community of Allen County, Indiana: A Historical Narrative
Petrovich, Christopher pp. 167-195
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Now showing 1 - 8 of 8

Front Matter (Volume 1, Issue 1, April 2013)
(Ohio State University. Libraries, 2013-04)
Editors' Introduction
(Ohio State University. Libraries, 2013-04) Anderson, Cory; Donnermeyer, Joseph F.
Where Are the Plain Anabaptists?
(Ohio State University. Libraries, 2013-04) Anderson, Cory; Donnermeyer, Joseph F.
This article discusses geographic analytical units of plain Anabaptist groups relevant for conceptualizing spatial dispersion across Canada and the United States. All plain Anabaptist groups are tied to the land, hence, the religious values, cultural traditions, and social organizations of plain Anabaptists are intimately and reciprocally bound up with geography. We discuss six geographic units of the plain Anabaptists and describe how we gathered information about their locations. These include: local church, local affiliation, settlement, region, broad affiliation, and global region. We present maps of their geographic distribution throughout Canada and the U.S., noting spatial patterns. Hence, this article provides a geographic introduction to plain Anabaptist groups, which are defined further in the next article, “Who are the plain Anabaptists? What are the plain Anabaptists?” (Anderson 2013).
Who Are the Plain Anabaptists? What Are the Plain Anabaptists?
(Ohio State University. Libraries, 2013-04) Anderson, Cory
I define the plain Anabaptists by answering two essential questions: “Who are the plain Anabaptists” and “What are the plain Anabaptists?” In asking “Who are the plain Anabaptists?” I investigate several dimensions of identity. First, I trace the history of seven religious traditions within Anabaptism: the Swiss Brethren/Mennonites, the Low German/Russian Mennonites, the Hutterites, the Amish, the Brethren, the Apostolic Christian Churches, and the Bruderhof. Second, I explore three categories of people in each group—mainline, conservative, and Old Order—describing the last two as “plain.” Third, I explore scales and indices on which plainness is measured, as well as other measures of who the plain Anabaptist people are. In asking “What are the plain Anabaptists?” I define several ways social scientists conceptualize and describe the plain Anabaptists. I organize the sundry definitions and frames under three categories: the plain Anabaptists as a religious group, as an ethnicity, and as a social system.
The Amish Population: County Estimates and Settlement Patterns
(Ohio State University. Libraries, 2013-04) Donnermeyer, Joseph F.; Anderson, Cory; Cooksey, Elizabeth C.
This article presents the findings of a county-based estimate of the Amish population. The results are from work commissioned by the Association of Statisticians of American Religious Bodies for the recently released 2010 U.S. Religion Census, plus research and updates associated with tracking the growth and geographic spread of Amish settlements in North America. County estimates are restricted to Amish church groups who rely on horse-and-buggy for travel. Using the terminology of the larger ASARB report, we break the Amish population into three groups: communicants (baptized members), non-baptized members (mostly children/young adults still living at home), and adherents (both baptized and non-baptized Amish). We report on population totals, state by state. We include tables showing the 25 largest Amish settlements, the 25 counties with the largest Amish populations, and the 25 counties with the highest percentage of Amish to their total population. Based on current rates of growth, we project the Amish population, decade by decade, to 2050.
A Peculiar People Revisited: Demographic Foundations of the Iowa Amish in the 21st Century
(Ohio State University. Libraries, 2013-04) Cooksey, Elizabeth; Donnermeyer, Joseph F.
This article describes the demographic foundations of the Amish in Iowa. We note that since the publication of “A Peculiar People” by Dorothy and Elmer Schwieder in 1975 (with an updated version in 2009) the demographic dynamics of the Amish have changed little. They remain a high fertility group, and, when coupled with increases in their retention of daughters and sons in the Amish faith, the Amish are currently experiencing rapid population increase and settlement growth. In turn, the occupational base of the Amish has become more diverse and less reliant on agriculture. We observe that the first or founding families for new settlements in Iowa come equally from outside of Iowa and older settlements within the Hawkeye state.
The Role of Social Capital for Amish Entrepreneurs in Pursuing Informal Economic Opportunities
(Ohio State University. Libraries, 2013-04) Jeong, Seonhee
This study explores the specific types of social relationships that influence initiation into and involvement in informal businesses. In particular, it examines the social capital possessed by Amish entrepreneurs who establish home-based, off-the-books tourism businesses. This paper theoretically refines social capital by identifying three dimensions of social relations: cognitive, reciprocal, and structural. I explore the relationship between social capital and Amish involvement in tourism businesses by using measures of tie strength, expected roles in one’s network, structural equivalence of network position, common culture, and religion. The results suggest that neither tie strength nor diversity alone accounts for one's involvement in informal entrepreneurship. Rather, a combination of both strong and diverse ties is positively related to informal business involvement and success. Therefore, researchers of entrepreneurship should give attention to the multiplicity of both network tie strength and diversity.
Realignment and Division in the Amish Community of Allen County, Indiana: A Historical Narrative
(Ohio State University. Libraries, 2013-04) Petrovich, Christopher
The Amish have long faced disagreement over matters of internal policy and adoption of external ideas like evangelical emphases. In Allen County, Indiana, several branches of Anabaptists have developed from the original Swiss Amish settlers because of such differences. This article first reviews the history of new movements among the Amish. It then provides a historical narrative of the events that led to a New Order Amish schism in 2005, emphasizing how fundamental differences between the New Order's evangelical theology and the Old Order Amish worldview played out on several symbolic fronts, including young adult behavior, home Bible studies, lines of fellowship, understanding of the Ordnung, church membership, re-baptism, excommunication and shunning, and language use in services. Even after the division, neither the New Orders nor the Old Orders were completely unified. The New Order church eventually dispersed with a Charity Church replacing it. Within the Old Order, a toned-down evangelical pulse continues, giving rise to some reforms in youth behavior and stress on internal religious experience. This case of Allen County Amish points to the importance of doctrinal, theological, and practical differences in shaping collective behaviors that leads to new movements among the Amish.

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