Amish and Mennonite communities with Karen Johnson Weiner

Caer Hallundbaek interviews Professor Karen Johnson-Weiner, Professor and Chair of the Department of Anthropology at SUNY Potsdam in upstate New York and a widely recognized leading scholar on old order Amish and Mennonite communities and traditions. She is the author of the books "Train Up a Child: Old Order Amish and Mennonite Schools," and most recently, "The Amish of New York: Life in the Plain Communities of the Empire State." Currently she is a principal investigator of a three-year project, entitled “Amish Diversity and Identity: Transformations in 20th Century America,” which will explore the growth of Amish diversity; the construction of Amish identity; changing American conceptions of the Amish; and Amish contributions to American self-understandings of religious liberty. In this informative hour, topics include: the origins of the Amish and Mennonite communities; what differentiates the communities; persecution; American misconceptions about the Amish; the Amish in films and books; core beliefs of the Amish and Mennonite communities; the tension between church and state; marriage and family at the center of Amish and Mennonite life; clergy role and clergy selection; the Amish perception of, and barometers toward, secular culture; forgiveness; worship in family homes; experience of faith in all details of life; more.