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Amish Grace: How Forgiveness Transcended Tragedy
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Binding: Hardcover
Dewey Decimal Number: 289.73
EAN: 9780787997618
Edition: 1
ISBN: 0787997617
Label: Jossey-Bass
Manufacturer: Jossey-Bass
Number Of Items: 1
Number Of Pages: 256
Publication Date: September 21, 2007
Publisher: Jossey-Bass
Studio: Jossey-Bass
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Editorial Review:
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?
Customer Reviews
Average Rating: 
Rating:  - As We Forgive Those Who Trespass Against Us
The authors examine all aspects of the amazing grace demonstrated by the Amish people in tiny West Nickel Mines, PA after the ghastly killing of five school-age girls by a distraught "Englishman". The Amish's version of Christianity, focused sharply on the Lord's Prayer and the Sermon on the Mount, tells them to forgive others, lest they be forgiven by God for their sins. Centuries of thinking and living this way make other reactions to tragedy almost unthinkable within the Amish community, though ... Read More
Rating: - A refreshing tale of the good side of religion.
Sometimes kindness comes from the least expected of places. "Amish Grace: How Forgiveness Transcended Tragedy" is a look back at the shocking kindness shown by the Amish after a horrible tragedy in the Nickel Mines of Pennsylvania claimed the lives of ten schoolgirls. Shattering the stereotype of the Amish as a backwards people who condemn the outside world for their heretical ways, it's a refreshing look at a good, albeit unique type of people. "Amish Grace" is a refreshing tale of the good side of ... Read More
Rating: - Made me think of my commitment to anything
The mix of Amish background and history with the present gave me a much better understanding of the Amish,why they believe, and who they are.
I wish I could have a commitment and devotion as strong as theirs. This book not only shows their strengths, but also their weaknesses, and how they cope with both. Anyone whether religious,or a non-believer should read this book so they can strengthen their own personal beliefs.
Highly recommend for everyone interested in improving their own ... Read More
Rating: - Moving "Grace
This book is a moving portrait of the tragic shootings of Amish school children in Nickel Mines, PA. Above all, however, it an insightful view of Amish culture and faith, especially with regard to forgiveness. The book's spare and elegant prose was perfectly suited to the subject. I bought 2 additional copies as gifts for friends.
Rating: - Seventy times seven
This book is a grace note in an age of religiously fuelled hate crimes and suicide bombings. It is not only about how the Old Order Amish found it within themselves to forgive the killer of their young girls, it is also one of the best books on religion and ethics that I have ever read.
If the reader learns one thing from the Nickel Mines school shooting, it is this: "the Amish commitment to forgive is not a small patch tacked onto their fabric of faithfulness. Rather, their commitment ... Read More
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