Like some Mennonites, the Amish are descendants of Swiss Anabaptist groups formed in the early 16th century during the radical reformation.
An old Amish cemetery in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, 1941. The stones are plain and small and the inscriptions are simple.
The name "Mennonite" was applied later and came from Menno Simons (1496–1561). Simons was a Dutch Roman Catholic priest who converted to Anabaptism in 1536 and was baptized by Obbe Philips after renouncing his Catholic faith and office. He was a leader in the Lowland Anabaptist communities, but his influence reached Switzerland.
The Amish movement takes its name from that of Jacob Amman (c. 1656 – c. 1730), a Swiss Mennonite leader. Amman believed the Mennonites were drifting away from the teachings of Simons and the 1632 Mennonite Dordrecht Confession of Faith. Particularly something he realy deespised was when somone in the group did something wrong, they didn’t get excluded. This strict literalism brought about a division in the Swiss Mennonite movement in 1693 and led to the establishment of the Amish. Because the Amish are the result of a division with the Mennonites, some consider the Amish a conservative Mennonite group.
A modern Amish cemetery in 2006. Stones are still plain, small, and simple
Det er gratis at oprette en konto