Essay on The Amish People is published for informational purposes only. The free papers are not written by our writers, they are contributed by users, so we are not responsible for the content of this free sample paper. If you want to buy a quality essay paper on Essay on The Amish People at affordable prices please use our essay writing services offered by EssayEmpire.

The reliance the Mennonites put on the Bible, in which each man tended to interpret the Scriptures for himself, as well as the lack of an educated ministry, led to disputes and even division within the church. Even before the emigration to Pennsylvania the Amish had split off from the Mennonites. The principal theological difference which caused this split was the Amish doctrine of Meidung--literally avoidance or shunning. Based on the Pauline injunction "not to keep company," "not to eat" with an unfaithful member (I Corinthians 5:11), but to "put away from among yourselves that wicked person," this doctrine is used to correct and punish an erring member.

In 1693 Jacob Amman, a Mennonite preacher in the canton of Bern, began to insist on the strict enforcement of the doctrine of Meidung. His followers, splitting off from the Mennonite Church, were given the name of their leader and called Amish. This ban, as determined by Dirk Philips, an early Amish preacher, includes all social relations and particularly those of bed and board. Today when an Amishman is put "under the ban" it means complete ostracism: business, social, religious, and domestic. He becomes literally "as a heathen man and a publican." None of his fellow church members may buy anything from him or sell anything to him; they may not visit with him or pass the time of day. His wife and his children may not even sit at the same table with him. The Mennonites held that this point of view was too severe, that Paul's injunction "not to eat" was intended only to keep the transgressor from taking Communion.

Foot washing, too, was stressed by Jacob Amman, and this tended to set the Amish off from the Mennonites even more. This rite was later adopted by the Brethren, or Dunkards, and became one of the characteristic features of that church. The holy kiss as an expression of fellowship and brotherly love was also commonly used by the Amish. In essentials, however, the Amish are a branch of the Mennonite Church, which they came to recognize more and more during the Second World War, when they worked with the Mennonites on relief.

Though little by little the Amish built up a culture of their own different in numerous ways from that of the Mennonites and in amazingly complete detail unlike that of "the world's people," in the eyes of most Pennsylvanians it is their use of wagons and buggies and the brilliant colors of their dress that distinguish the Amish from the Mennonites. Vivid delphinium-blue, bright violet, rich wine-red, and shouting winter-wheat green: such are the colors the Amish choose to wear. Mennonites usually dress in black or gray, or at most in a coffee-and-cream tan or a quiet print; but the Amish are a treat to the eye. The gaudy streak in the Pennsylvania Dutch comes out strongly in the clothes of the Amish. These gay colors have become so identified with the Amish in the Dutch country that storekeepers have difficulty in selling material of these colors to ordinary people; they are rejected as being too Amish. Men's and boys' shirts and women's and girls' dresses among the Amish are almost always of these colors. The men and boys except for their shirts wear black--broad brim hats with low crowns, in winter felt and in summer natural straw; coats without either lapels or outside pockets; vests and trousers. The trousers instead of buttoning or zipping up the front are of the broad fall type often known as "barn-door breeches." It is ironic that this type of trousers is confined to the Amish and--until this year--to sailors, the one group as guarded in their morals as any people in America and the other noted for the freedom of their ways with women. The trousers are kept up by homemade suspenders or by a drawstring around the waist. The men's and boys' clothes are made at home of by a local seamstress. After all, where would you go to buy barn-door breeches or coats without lapels? The hats are made by a hatter in the neighborhood. Hooks and eyes and even zippers take the place of buttons. It was the lavish use of buttons on military uniforms back in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries that led to the Amish ban on buttons. Neckties, too, are forbidden as worldly; but with the bushy Amish beards they are not missed. In winter an overcoat with a short cape reaching to the shoulders is worn, a garment that might well have kept warm the ancestors of these Amish men when they landed in Philadelphia in the reigns of George I and George II. . .

Free essays are not written to satisfy your specific instructions. You can order a term paper, research paper or custom essay on Essay on The Amish People at our site which offers professional essay writing services. Get your high quality custom paper at affordable price. EssayEmpire is the best solution for those who seek help in essay writing related to Essay on The Amish People and other relevant topics.