Categories: christianity, language
Date: 19 February 2009 15:30:17
Pennsylvania Dutch is the language spoken by the Amish communities in the US. The Dutch bit of the name is not Dutch at all but a corruption of the word "Deutsch" (German). This community left Europe (mainly Germany and Switzerland) in the 1700s to escape religious persecution. They live their lives pretty much the same as they always did as they do not allow modern innovations to intrude on their lifestyles. And their language has not been modernised either; it sounds like German but it has not developed in the same way as modern German.
I watched a BBC programme entitled "Trouble in Amish Paradise" last night - if you're interested it is still available on iPlayer.
The lifestyle, although hard work and somewhat old fashioned, seems very attractive in some ways. The Amish demonstrate an exemplary way of living in community - families go to enormous lengths to support other families when the latter face difficulties such as sickness, financial problems and so on.
The documentary focused on two men, Ephraim and Jesse, two very humble men, both of whom were having difficulty in accepting the Amish bishops' rules unquestioningly. These bishops are the leaders and effectively the guardians of Amish culture. Ephraim and Jesse had discovered for themselves that the Bible does not lay down the incredibly strict rules that the Amish live by; these are man made.
Why had the men only just discovered this? The Amish still use the German version of the Bible which was brought over from Europe 300 years ago. This written form of German is not the same as their current spoken form - and many Amish do not understand it all. And many now speak English as fluently as they speak Pennsylvania Dutch. Ephraim and Jesse had started to read the Bible in modern English and had been astonished by the lack of rules. (Their rules range from how wide your hat band can be, the way you should wear your braces, to the colour you can paint your buggy and how you may not make it to heaven if you break any of these, and many other, rules).
In wanting to study the Bible and have prayer meetings, they were considered to be going too far beyond the Amish way of doing things and so were under threat of excommunication. This is a serious situation because it is not just a case of being obliged to leave their particular church but being obliged to live outside their entire culture and everything they have ever known. [The point of excommunication was not entirely clear to me: Jesse for example was excommunicated but still attended church meetings. I would have thought that he had been banned from church - but perhaps I misunderstood that bit - or the editing went a bit wonky at that point!]
The programme makers did not point out the irony of this situation. I could not help but be struck by the fact that this community of believers had no doubt been in conflict with the Catholic church three hundred years ago. They would have been influenced by the protestant reformers of the time, Calvin, Luther et al. who were determined to translate the Bible from Latin into the vernacular to allow people to understand the Word of God and the services. Three hundred years later, the wheel has turned a full cycle. The Amish elders seem to be paranoid about allowing their congregations to use a translation that they will understand and seem to want to maintain their control of the people.
The world is a big scary place - with all sorts of temptations and problems. But it is not the elders' responsibility to sort all these things out. I would suggest that is their responsibility to equip their congregations with the wisdom and knowledge of how to face these challenges in a language they understand and to trust in God.
John 8:31 "If you obey my teaching," [Jesus] said, "you are really my disciples. Then you will know the truth. And the truth will set you free."
I take my hat off (band width unknown) to Ephraim and Jesse for having the courage of their convictions and for seeking out the truth for themselves. Be of good heart!