"On the night of September 6, 2011, terror called at the Amish home of the Millers. Mrs. Miller opened the door to her five estranged adult sons, a daughter, and their spouses. Within moments, the men had pulled their frightened father out of bed and sheared his hair and beard. The women then turned on Mrs. Miller, yanking her prayer cap from her head and shredding it before cutting off her waist-long hair. About twenty minutes later, the attackers fled into the darkness, taking their parents' hair as a trophy.
Four similar beard-cutting attacks followed, disfiguring nine victims and generating a tsunami of media coverage.
Ten men and six women from the Bergholz community were arrested and found guilty a year later of eighty-seven felony charges involving conspiracy, lying, and obstructing justice. In a precedent-setting decision, all of the defendants were convicted of federal hate crimes.
Renegade Amish goes behind the scenes to tell the full story of the Bergholz barbers: the attacks, the investigation, the trial, and the aftermath. Donald B. Kraybill weaves a dark story in which a series of violent Amish-on-Amish attacks shattered the peace of these traditionally nonviolent people."
"In this second book, Donald Kraybill, Steven Nolt, and David Weaver-Zercher, authors' of Amish Grace, will shed further light on the Amish, this time on their spirituality and spiritual practices. The Amish Way interprets the distinctive practices of Amish spirituality in their cultural context and explores their applicability for the wider world. Using a holistic perspective, the text tells the story of Amish religious experience in their words and through their cultural lens, and compares it with other streams of spirituality. Written in a lively and engaging style, The Amish Way will appeal to a broad popular audience."
"On Monday morning, October 2, 2006, a gunman entered a one-room Amish school in Nickel Mines, Pennsylvania. In front of twenty-five horrified pupils, thirty-two-year-old Charles Roberts ordered the boys and the teacher to leave. After tying the legs of the ten remaining girls, Roberts prepared to shoot them execution style with an automatic rifle and four hundred rounds of ammunition. The oldest hostage, a thirteen-year-old, begged Roberts to 'shoot me first and let the little ones go.' Refusing her offer, he opened fire on all of them, killing five and leaving the others critically wounded. He then shot himself as police stormed the building. His motivation? 'I'm angry at God for taking my little daughter,' he told the children before the massacre.
The Amish community's remarkable responseto this horrific shooting stunned the larger world.Amish Gracetells the incredible story of this community's reaction to the senseless crime and explores its profoundly countercultural practice of forgiveness.
Outsiders often hold a stereotypical view of the Amish as a stubbornly backwards people—a view rooted in the picturesque images of buggies, beards, and bonnets. But the community's collective and radical act of forgiveness—the loving and compassionate response to the shooter and his family—gives us insights into who the Amish truly are and how they live their faith. In a world where religion spawns so much violence and vengeance, the surprising act of Amish forgiveness begs for deeper consideration."
