The Amish Way of Life and Culture Research Paper

The Amish Way of Life and Culture - Research Paper Example The first is the pity on a person who would not take advantage of technological advancements to ease the burden of his life and will lack the distinctiveness of individuality and modernization to decide his own way towards progress. The other view is the honesty, integrity and qualities of the saint hood in the Amish culture and traditions that portray them as the only true Christians remained on earth. The stagnant nature of Amish society has turned it into a tourist attraction but by no means neither are an archaeological discovery nor are the relics of a forgotten world. The only thing is that they have evolved their own perspective about the modernization of the other large cultures and have learned their own way to life in homogeneity with the larger society. They exhibit a deviating strategy of modernization than others (Kraybill, 2001). So called civilized ways have as always been in disagreement with Amish ways of life and culture as decades ago. The argument that Amish impos e greater fatigue and stress on themselves and their generations by denying use of modern technology to ease life or that they really want a more simple life needs validation. Survival, increase in life expectancy and transformation of tribes into rural and urban societies has been taught by the developments in the civilizations. However, Amish ways have taught us the cost of human life, when children leave their parents to old homage, people estrange from neighbors and spiritual and traditional life is cast away in paced forward life style (Hostetler, 1993). The purpose of this report is to communicate the Amish way of life and culture to equip reader with the comprehensive knowledge and place him in a position where he can develop an understanding of diversity in human cultures. The reports focuses on the formulation of Amish believes, development of communal life, ability to avoid rapid modernization, and consequences of a slow changing society. The Amish History Hostetler (1993) is of the view that most of the followers of the European history are well aware of religious movement Protestant Reformations in 16th century led by Martin Luther with aim to counter the imprudent and lavish expenses of the church. However, in the same time another significant movement was in place to reform the church based on religious teachings of Christianity in around 1525 originated at Zurich led by Ulrich Zwingli. This group was formally named as Brethren, also known as Anabaptists meaning rebaptizers. The major principle of this group was to baptized volunteer adults rather than children and distance from the worldly desires. The aim of Brethren was to form a church free from any state and political influences. Soon after its formation, the movement grew rapidly and its members were persecuted both by Roman church and by the faction of Martin Luther, who felt threatened by their ideology and radicalism. The consequences of these persecutions were prayers at night and meeti ngs at secret places. This is often viewed as a strong reason of their withdrawal from society. In the beginning there were indeed no influential leaders, thus the movement remained divided among different factions each with their own agenda and path to achieve it. One of the most renowned Anabaptist leaders was Menno Simons, who joined the movement in 1536. He made many efforts to unite all the factions of the Anabaptist movement under one umbrella. His followers are now known as Mennonites (Hostetler,