https://www.osu.tests.sfulib4.publicknowledgeproject.org/index.php/JPAC <p><em>The Journal of Plain Anabaptist Communiti</em>es (JPAC) is a peer-reviewed journal dedicated to publishing both empirical and theoretical work related to plain Anabaptist communities, including, among others, the Amish, conservative Mennonites, Amish-Mennonites, Apostolic Christians, Brethren, Bruderhof, and Hutterites. JPAC articles may include emerging issues associated with plain Anabaptist communities, diverse theoretical perspectives and methodological approaches to the study of plain Anabaptist groups, and significant research findings about plain Anabaptist populations.</p><p>JPAC aims to facilitate the advancement of scholarship and research on plain Anabaptist communities in North America and around the world, and to strengthen the networks of scholars from all disciplines who examine faith groups that emerged from the Anabaptist movement of the 16^th century and who today maintain distinctive sectarian lifestyles and religious practices. JPAC enjoys the support and collaboration of the Young Center for Anabaptist and Pietist Studies, Elizabethtown College, Elizabethtown, Pennsylvania and the Amish &amp; Mennonite Information Center, Berlin, Ohio.</p><p>JPAC is a new journal in the field of plain Anabaptist studies developed by an editorial board that includes a founding editor of the The Ohio State University Libraries en-US The Journal of Plain Anabaptist Communities 2689-7458 <p>This Author Agreement for <em>The Journal of Plain Anabaptist Communities</em> ("Agreement") is entered into by and between The Ohio State University, on behalf of its University Libraries ("Publisher") and the author ("Author"). </p> <p>For good and valuable consideration, Publisher and Author agree as follows:</p> <p>1. Author hereby grants to Publisher the right to publish, reproduce, distribute, translate, transmit and display his/her submitted work and an abstract thereof ("Work") in <em>The Journal of Plain Anabaptist Communities</em> in whole or in part and in all formats and all media. Author also hereby grants to Publisher the right for Publisher to enter into agreements with third parties that grant such third parties any or all of the rights that Author has granted to Publisher herein. The aforementioned rights may include the rights necessary to index and abstract the Work. The Author agrees that any subsequent publication of the Work will credit <em>The Journal of Plain Anabaptist Communities</em> as the site of first publication and provide a link to <em>The Journal of Plain Anabaptist Communities</em> website. This Agreement is subject to the terms and expectations outlined on Publisher's website (<a href="http://go.osu.edu/publishing-services">http://go.osu.edu/publishing-services</a>).</p> <p>2. Author represents and war­rants that: (1) they are the creator and rights holder of the Work; (2) Publisher's exercise of the rights granted to Publisher herein will not infringe or violate any copyright or any other right of a third party; (3) if the Work contains any third party content, they have obtained the unrestricted permission of the copyright owner or that use of third party material is allowed because the material is in the public domain or an appropriate fair use analysis has been performed and there is a reasonable belief that use is permitted and (4) the Work contains nothing libelous or otherwise unlawful. Author hereby agrees to indemnify and hold harmless Publisher and its trustees, officers, employees, agents, and subgrantees from all claims related to Publisher's exercise of the rights granted to Publisher herein or related to the subject matter covered in Author's representations and warranties.</p> <p><em>The Journal of Plain Anabaptist Communities</em> is published under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International license, to allow for certain types of reuse without permission. By submitting this agreement, the Author agrees to apply a CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 license to the Work upon publication.</p> https://www.osu.tests.sfulib4.publicknowledgeproject.org/index.php/JPAC/article/view/9154 <p style="font-weight: 400;">This article provides a demographic profile of the Amish in the Greater Lancaster County settlement, the oldest extant community and the largest in the world today. A dataset, based on a sample of about one in five households (N = 1,494), was developed from the 2015 directory for the Greater Lancaster settlement. The data is summarized along 10 major topics, including widows and widowers, ordained men, occupations of men, age at first marriage, most popular months for weddings, most popular days for weddings, number of children, birth intervals, stillbirths and infant deaths, and age and sex distribution of the population. The results are compared with the findings from a study of the Lancaster County Amish by Elmer Lewis Smith, published in 1960, that includes selected population statistics from the first half of the twentieth century and information that goes back to the final decade of the nineteenth century. The findings show a great deal of demographic stability; that is, trends in such demographic features as family size show only small, incremental changes. Only infant mortality and the occupations of men have shifted significantly. The article concludes by discussing the need for additional demographic research utilizing directories from other communities, large and small, old and new, and of different Amish groups based on the relative conservatism vs. progressivism of their church disciplines.</p> Joseph F. Donnermeyer Copyright (c) 2023 Joseph F. Donnermeyer https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0 2023-05-30 2023-05-30 3 2 1 34 https://www.osu.tests.sfulib4.publicknowledgeproject.org/index.php/JPAC/article/view/9502 <p>Letter writing is one method researchers can use to build on their in-person fieldwork experience. Through letters, a researcher can approach the Amish in a way that equalizes the exchange, allowing the correspondent the time and space to consider their responses. Moreover, while a visit from a non-Amish researcher interrupts daily activity, reading and writing letters remains a daily activity in the Amish world, especially among Amish women. Researchers may find that correspondence opens new areas of inquiry as Amish writers make connections to topics and subjects the researcher had not considered. By revealing deeper aspects of daily life, correspondence can force researchers to rethink their stereotypes and assumptions. Finally, the author reflects on some of the challenges of correspondence as a research method.</p> Karen M. Johnson-Weiner Copyright (c) 2023 Karen M. Johnson-Weiner https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0 2023-05-30 2023-05-30 3 2 35 47 https://www.osu.tests.sfulib4.publicknowledgeproject.org/index.php/JPAC/article/view/9509 <p>This article utilizes a narrative methodological research paradigm to explore perceived distinctions between the Old German Baptist Brethren (the main Old Order expression of the Schwarzenau Brethren) and other Plain groups. The authors explore three areas of specific distinction: (a) The group’s weave of Pietist as well as Anabaptist historical and theological influences, (b) a strong emphasis on the ritualized enactment of a discrete array of ordinances, (c) an emphasis on orthopraxis rather than doctrinal uniformity as a marker of church unity. All these, together with four other areas addressed in the second part of the article, combine to create a distinctive and unusual expression of Plain spirituality and life practice.</p> Tony Walsh Jeff Bach Sam Funkhouser Copyright (c) 2023 Tony Walsh, Jeff Bach, Sam Funkhouser https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0 2023-05-30 2023-05-30 3 2 48 78 https://www.osu.tests.sfulib4.publicknowledgeproject.org/index.php/JPAC/article/view/9510 <p>No abstract available.</p> Gerald J. Mast Benuel Riehl Erik Wesner Copyright (c) 2023 Gerald J. Mast, Benuel Riehl, Erik Wesner https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0 2023-05-30 2023-05-30 3 2 139 146 https://www.osu.tests.sfulib4.publicknowledgeproject.org/index.php/JPAC/article/view/9511 <p>No abstract available.</p> Susan Trollinger Copyright (c) 2023 Susan Trollinger https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0 2023-05-30 2023-05-30 3 2 147 149 https://www.osu.tests.sfulib4.publicknowledgeproject.org/index.php/JPAC/article/view/9512 <p>No abstract available.</p> Rachel Grove Rohrbaugh Copyright (c) 2023 Rachel Grove Rohrbaugh https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0 2023-05-30 2023-05-30 3 2 127 138 https://www.osu.tests.sfulib4.publicknowledgeproject.org/index.php/JPAC/article/view/9513 <p>No abstract available.</p> Carl Desportes Bowman Copyright (c) 2023 Carl Desportes Bowman https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0 2023-05-30 2023-05-30 3 2 79 88 https://www.osu.tests.sfulib4.publicknowledgeproject.org/index.php/JPAC/article/view/9366 <p>No abstract available.</p> Rachel E. Stein Copyright (c) 2023 Rachel E. Stein https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0 2023-05-30 2023-05-30 3 2 89 104 https://www.osu.tests.sfulib4.publicknowledgeproject.org/index.php/JPAC/article/view/9501 <p>No abstract available.</p> Kyle C. Kopko Copyright (c) 2023 Kyle C. Kopko https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0 2023-05-30 2023-05-30 3 2 105 126 https://www.osu.tests.sfulib4.publicknowledgeproject.org/index.php/JPAC/article/view/9516 <p>No abstract available.</p> Joseph F. Donnermeyer Donald B. Kraybill Mark L. Louden Cynthia L. Nolt Steven M. Nolt Marcus A. Yoder Copyright (c) 2023 Joseph F. Donnermeyer, Donald B. Kraybill, Mark L. Louden, Cynthia L. Nolt, Steven M. Nolt, Marcus A. Yoder https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0 2023-05-30 2023-05-30 3 2 i iv https://www.osu.tests.sfulib4.publicknowledgeproject.org/index.php/JPAC/article/view/9515 <p>No abstract available.</p> Joseph F. Donnermeyer Steven M. Nolt Copyright (c) 2023 Joseph F. Donnermeyer, Steven M. Nolt https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0 2023-05-30 2023-05-30 3 2 v vi