Magda's review
Rumspringa: To Be or Not to Be Amish by Tom Shachtman
One of the chief characteristics of American life in the early twenty-first century is its number of second chances—several careers, multiple marriages, lots of moving of residences, and plenty of opportunities for starting over. Amish youth have few such options, and only one moment in which to make the most important decision—perhaps the only significant decision—of their lives, one that will then define their lives until the end of their days. For once they have agreed to reenter their ancestral culture, it becomes to difficult to leave again, and the consequences of doing so are harsh.
...the stricter the church, the greater the likelihood it will survive and increase...
One added reason for noncomforming and for the practice of absonderung is that abstinence from pleasures helps to instill in the Amish a proper sense of suffering—a suffering that echoes Christ's and the agonies of all martyrs to the truth faith, the people whom the present-day Amish claim as f...more
...the stricter the church, the greater the likelihood it will survive and increase...
One added reason for noncomforming and for the practice of absonderung is that abstinence from pleasures helps to instill in the Amish a proper sense of suffering—a suffering that echoes Christ's and the agonies of all martyrs to the truth faith, the people whom the present-day Amish claim as f...more
