Amish Grace: How Forgiveness Transcended Tragedy

This book gave me hope and inspiration. It showed me how the kingdom of God looks face to face. It helps me to know how to live like a Christian in the face of pain and discouragement. I pray that this community will continue to grow in America, because we need them!

There are few traditional virtues more questioned today than forgiveness. Cynics dismiss it as a sign either of weakness or manipulation. Legalists see it as irrelevant. Civil contractarians view it as something that must be earned. And many Christians pay lip service to it but regard it as a highly impractical response to aggressors. In short, forgiveness isn't on too many radars.That's why the world was so captivated by the Amish response to the Nickle Mines shootings in October 2006. When the Amish community not only forgave the shooter but also went out of its way to embrace the shooter's family, the novelty of the response both startled and puzzled conventional society. To clear up some of that puzzlement--and, presumably, to help reinvigorate our culture's regard for forgiveness-- Kraybill, Nolt, and Weaver-Zercher wrote Amish Grace.The first part of the book is a straightforward account of the Nickle Mines shooting that a reader can just as easily get from newspaper and internet archives. The third, in all honesty, comes across as more filler than anything else, throwing together as it does essays on Amish shunning, a rather repetitious chapter on forgiving, and a rather vague chapter on grace. The heart of the book is the middle section, which explores forgiving in the Amish context and briefly compares it to other accounts of forgiving.To anyone familiar with Amish culture and the Anabaptist tradition, it comes as no surprise that community, humility, exemplification of Christ's love, the centrality of the Sermon on the Mount, and forgiving in order to be forgiven are the foundations on which Amish forgiving is based. The authors of Amish Grace do a good job in sketching them out. They do a less impressive job, however, of discussing the general nature of forgiveness or some of the very real questions raised by philosophers and theologians about its nature. Is forgiveness an internal act or overt behavior? Must an aggressor express remorse as a condition for forgiveness? Can we forgive on behalf of others? Are we sometimes obliged to withhold forgiveness for the good of the aggressor? These broader sorts of questions are at best touched on without being explored.Ultimately, then, Amish Grace is a primer for those who know nothing about the Amish. It's also a good resource for readers who are curious about but have never thought much about forgiveness. For deeper reflections on the nature and value of forgiveness, readers must turn elsewhere. Recommendations would include Trudy Govier's Forgiveness and Revenge, Robert Enright and Joanna North's Exploring Forgiveness, and Jeffrie Murphy's Getting Even.

I had read and finally finished this past September Kraybill and co.'s book THE AMISH, a companion to the PBS Documentary. I would say that the PBS documentary was a companion and add-on to the BOOK, THE AMISH. The AMISH was very thorough. Kraybill mentioned briefly in the book the happening at Nickel Mines.After playing around with a few other books, nothing really satisfying, I came across Amish Grace, and saw that Kraybill had written it, and so bought it expecting what happened: a great book. Kraybill obviously wrote this book before he (and company) wrote THE AMISH. In fact, Amish Grace's appendix is a VERY condensed format of The Amish book. Enough about that book though, Amish Grace is a really good read.Reading it, some of the time I wondered if the chapter structure was too loose, as in, "Okay, I know this is in some ways, about Amish and forgiveness, but what does this have to do about Nickel Mines?" If you feel that way, know that in the end Kraybill and co. bring it around to say, "Now that you've learned this, here's how it applies to what happened at Nickel Mines." I know and have heard that there is a Lifetime movie about this incident, and I have yet to see it, and don't know if I will. If I did, it would be purely for entertainment purposes, but even then(1) Watching a movie about people who don't watch TV doesn't seem right(2) Watching a movie to be entertained through the horrible tragedy that took place at Nickel Mines also doesn't seem right.Being an evangelical Christian Pastor, I learned a lot and was edified a lot by Kraybill and co.'s deep investigation into Amish Grace and what forgiveness is as the Amish see it, and as the Bible explains it. If you are curious about the whys, the suspected hypocrisies, or even the skepticism and doubt about the Amish and their forgiveness of this horrible tragedy, Kraybill, I believe, offers satisfying answers here.If you just want to take a study into what forgiveness is, this is a great place to study. Kraybill pulls no punches too, he will list chapter and verse that the Amish go to for their understanding of forgiveness. No matter if you're a Christian or not, or if you have a soft spot, or a skeptical spot for the Amish, this book ought to re-orient your thinking when considering how to respond to tragedies. I highly recommend it, and though I bought the Kindle version, I instantly bought a physical copy so I can share it.

I find the Amish, their way of life and thinking, very interesting. This book is about the terrible event at a small school and their view on forgiveness. It is a beautiful book about a wonderful philosophy and christian faith. I haven't finished it yet, but would recommend it highly.

The book is true story, it's made me very sad about schoolchildren shooting it was awful. Many thanks for your writing this book.

The story is wonderful. Gods grace is amazing. The power of forgiveness is unprecedented. Thank You Jesus for making it possible.

Interesting but I expected it to read more like a novel.

A magnificent real story