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Amish Grace: How Forgiveness Transcended Tragedy
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Average Rating:  out of 41 Reviews
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Price: $24.95
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Sale: $13.84
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Manufacturer: Jossey-Bass
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EAN (European Article Number): 9780787997618
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Number of Items: 1
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Binding: Hardcover
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Author: Donald B. Kraybill::Steven M. Nolt::David L. Weaver-Zercher
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Publisher: Jossey-Bass
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Edition: 1
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Dewey Decimal Number: 289.73
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Publication Date: 2007-09-21
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Reading Level: 256
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Description: 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 with an automatic rifle and four hundred rounds of ammunition that he brought for the task. 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 story captured the attention of broadcast and print media in the United States and around the world. By Tuesday morning some fifty television crews had clogged the small village of Nickel Mines, staying for five days until the killer and the killed were buried. The blood was barely dry on the schoolhouse floor when Amish parents brought words of forgiveness to the family of the one who had slain their children. The outside world was incredulous that such forgiveness could be offered so quickly for such a heinous crime. Of the hundreds of media queries that the authors received about the shooting, questions about forgiveness rose to the top. Forgiveness, in fact, eclipsed the tragic story, trumping the violence and arresting the world's attention. Within a week of the murders, Amish forgiveness was a central theme in more than 2,400 news stories around the world. The Washington Post, The New York Times, USA Today, Newsweek, NBC Nightly News, CBS Morning News, Larry King Live, Fox News, Oprah, and dozens of other media outlets heralded the forgiving Amish. From the Khaleej Times (United Arab Emirates) to Australian television, international media were opining on Amish forgiveness. Three weeks after the shooting, "Amish forgiveness" had appeared in 2,900 news stories worldwide and on 534,000 web sites. Fresh from the funerals where they had buried their own children, grieving Amish families accounted for half of the seventy-five people who attended the killer's burial. Roberts' widow was deeply moved by their presence as Amish families greeted her and her three children. The forgiveness went beyond talk and graveside presence: the Amish also supported a fund for the shooter's family. AMISH GRACE explores the many questions this story raises about the religious beliefs and habits that led the Amish to forgive so quickly. It looks at the ties between forgiveness and membership in a cloistered communal society and ask if Amish practices parallel or diverge from other religious and secular notions of forgiveness. It will also address the matter of why forgiveness became news. "All the religions teach it," mused an observer, "but no one does it like the Amish." Regardless of the cultural seedbed that nourished this story, the surprising act of Amish forgiveness begs for a deeper exploration. How could the Amish do this? What did this act mean to them? And how might their witness prove useful to the rest of us?
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Customer Reviews
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Review Summary: A profound book on grace and forgiveness for everyone |
Date: 2007-09-25 |
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Details: This book achieves what most books don't. It combines a rich well of scholarly research on the part of three academicians without sacrificing the soul of what occurred at Nickel Mines during and after the event. In addition to being well researched the book has a poetically lyrical and haunting quality that honors, reflects, and conveys the hearts, souls, and minds of the Amish community. One of the most difficult things a writer can achieve is to step out of the way and allow the pictures and voices tell the story without the writer's ego coming into play. This is what was achieved in this book. I haven't been grasped by anything this powerful in a long time. It challenges me to try to live with intentionality each day and continue to struggle with what forgiveness looks like in the ordinary moments and encounters of my life.
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Review Summary: Surprised me with its excellence |
Date: 2007-10-04 |
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Details: I love reading, and read voraciously. However, every once in a while, a book comes along that surprises me with its excellence. Amish Grace is one of those books.
In the aftermath of the October 2, 2006, massacre at the Nickel Mines School, much was made about the quick response the Amish made in forgiving the shooter. However, there were also many questions asked, and many dubious conclusions drawn from their forgiveness. As such, three experts on the Amish community talked with the Amish themselves, and sought to gain a true understanding of the Amish, their faith, and their forgiveness.
Overall, I found this to be a wonderful book. The authors do a great job of giving an in-depth explanation of Amish forgiveness in the context of their lives and theology (which are not truly separable). It gave me a much more deep understanding of the Amish than I had gained from many other books. Having been raised with the Anabaptist faith ever at my elbow (Mennonite, in my case), I never had a true feeling of otherness from the Amish that many people seem to feel, but now I more truly understand that feeling than I ever had before.
But, don't get me wrong, this is not a dispassionate, academic book. The tragedy that occurred that day echoes and reechoes throughout the book, and the Amish forgiveness is shown to have come from deeper within them than some people seem to think.
Overall, I found this to be a wonderful book. It helped me to understand the Amish intellectually, and it helped me to look at myself and my faith more deeply. I give this book my highest recommendations. |
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Review Summary: Amazing Amish Grace - Must Read |
Date: 2007-09-28 |
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Details: Amish Grace is a truly amazing and grace-filled book that will reach out to every reader. Written by three known scholars in the areas of Amish culture, history and religion - the early chapters recount the horrifying events of October 2, 2006 at the Nickel Mines Amish schoolhouse. The agony in reading these first few pages quickly gives way to the amazing story of sudden Amish forgiveness in the wake of tragedy. The authors, writing in one clear and concise voice - lead us through the story that emerges - how can they have forgiven such cruelty so quickly and what does this mean to each one of us? The violence of Nickel Mines has been described by the Amish as their 9/11. What role would such forgiveness have played as we each address the pain of 9/11. While this book does not attempt to solve the ongoing debates over such forgiveness, it goes a long way to help us understand the argument and determine what forgiveness may mean to each of us. This book is a must read on many levels - whether you are a student, teacher, parent, married, single, Christian, non-Christian - we are all human and this book is beautifully written on a human level. Amish Grace is an easy read and paints a broad enough picture that anyone can find the application of forgiveness in their own life - road-rage ring a bell? This is the kind of book that people will stop and ask you about as you read in the airport, doctor's office, and at home. It is also the kind of book that you will be more than happy to share as well. |
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Review Summary: Forgiveness is essential |
Date: 2007-09-21 |
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Details: Without forgiveness we can never heal our heart and those of others in times of grief. This book witnesses that Anabaptist lesson which all people of faith should emulate. As I read this I cried again, just as during those most sad days, for all humanity, tears of faith, joy and sadness the essence of which is to privately pray and publicly forgive. I thank the Anabaptists for reminding us what grace is and the authors for sharing this most important lesson with all of us. |
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Review Summary: A Five Star Book |
Date: 2007-10-18 |
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Details: This book is extaordinary, one of the most worthwhile I've read in the past five years. For starters, it is well written. Its prose is crisp, fresh and readable---even rewarding to read out loud.
The next thing to note is the authors' comprehensive knowledge of their subject, which includes not only the events of the Nickel Mines disaster but also the hearts of the Amish people. Their empathy for and rapport with the Amish community are what make this book possible. Though they are social scientists with impressive credentials, they obviously care for the Amish people and have earned their trust. When they quote, one can be confident that their quotes are valid examples of attitudes within the Amish community.
What is perhaps most important is that they have used a teachable moment, albeit a tragic one, to write a probing inquiry into the nature of forgiveness, To their credit they come up with no easy answers, although they do clarify what forgiveness is not. For one thing, it is not easy. It does not mean that the victim forgets or that the perpetrator cannot be punished. It is not the same as reconciliation, which only takes place if the perpetrator repents.
A large question that lurks in the background is how the Amish do it when other Christian groups preach it but seldom practice it. One obvious answer is that the Amish habitualy think forgiveness, refer to it in all of their church services, and teach it to their children from the ground up. In their close-knit communities, doing so may well be a necessary survival tool
The question that follows in our therapeutic society is, "How can forgiveness be healthy when it requires suppression of feelings, feelings that we normally think should be ventilated?" And then, "Can what works for the Amish really be applied outside the Amish community?" I am not sure, but as a clinician I am impressed by the evidence that ventilation may not be as essential a therapeutic technique as I had thought.
Of course, the notion of forgivenes also raises other big questions. Are some crimes or sins too heinous to forgive? Does forgiveness simply enable the perpetrator to continue his destructive pattern? These questions and other are addressed by the authors, who always use the Amish as their point of reference. They never stoop to simplistic answers. At the same time, they suggest that the simple approach of the Amish has alot to teach all of us.
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