1 The Amish traditionally use the term, Volliger Diener, when they speak of the head minister. In English, this sometimes translates into "bishop," although within the Amish community, the jurisdiction of the "bishop" is in most Amish communities that of one congregation only. The one exception to this happens when a bishop dies. At such a point, another bishop temporarily fills in, having in effect two congregations or districts as his charge. But this is meant to be temporary -- a time to allow for the process of choosing a new bishop for the congregation in question. There are exceptions to this, however; some Amish districts in the Lancaster area have a bishop who maintains regular, ongoing oversight over more than one district. Yet even here, a strong congregational principle is maintained.
2 Interview with Eli E. Gingerich, October 7, 1986 (reconstructed from notes taken at the time, and then edited by Gingerich). The best volume as background to the Gingerich commentary is Paton Yoder, Tradition & Transition: Amish Mennonites and Old Order Amish, 1800-1900, 1991.
3 Interview with Gingerich, 1985 -- quotations, a later expansion of the actual notes, the whole of which was then edited by Gingerich).
4 "Die rechte amische Gemeinschaft ist nach einem angewandten Christuswort eben auch weiterhin daran zu erkennen, daß sie 'Liebe untereinander hat.'" Bernd G. Längin, Die Amischen: Vom Geheimnis des einfachen Lebens, 88.
5 Later Amish literature, in the broader sense, undergirded this "classic" approach to ongoing Amish history. By 1708, Die ernsthafte Christenpflicht had found its way into the hearts of many Swiss Brethren, on both sides of the Amish line. Jan Philip Schabaelje's volume (already in German translation by -- if not before -- 1741), Die wandelnde Seele, too, was accepted into the Swiss Brethren groups, both Amish, and otherwise, and helped to strengthen the spiritual and moral foundations of both groups. Leenaerdt Clock's prayers, as found in Golden Apples in Silver Bowls, and in Die ernsthafte Christenpflicht (newly translated as Prayer Book for Earnest Christians (Scottdale, Pa.: Herald Press, 1997) -- and elsewhere, also continued to be of spiritual and ethical significance to both emerging parties within the Swiss Brethren tradition.
6 In: Eli E. Gingerich, Eine Untersuchung in die alt Amische Gemein von 1922 bis zu 1974 (Middlebury, Ind.,: private printing, 1978), 3-6 (English translation by Leonard Gross, edited by Gingerich, and published in Les Amish: origine et particularismes 1693-1993 , Ingersheim, 1996, 241-44).
7 Namely, shunning, as practiced in the Dutch Mennonite setting, and, according to Wüthrich, as begun by Menno Simons himself. Implied is the fact that shunning, before 1693, had not been part of the Swiss Brethren tradition.
8 Published by Isaac Zürcher in Informations-Blätter, 1987, 62.
10 Ein Fundament und Klare Anweisung von der seligmachenden Lehre unsers Herrn Jesu Christi, . . . Durch M.S., with added appendix, Eine gründliche Unterweisung, oder Bericht von der Excommunication, Bann, Ausschliessung, oder Absonderung der Kirche Christi. (The edition referred to in this paper is the Lancaster, Pennsylvania, 1835 reprinting, which notes on the title page: "Gedruckt in Europa, im Jahr 1575.")
11 The 1802 edition, printed in Basel.
12 Informations-Blätter, 1987, 63. The pages 780-83, as noted, are part of the Dirk Philips' Enchiridion, oder Hand-Büchlein: . . ., (Basel, 1802), to which is appended Dirk Philips' "Von der Ehe der Christen (727-70), and his "Von dem Evangelischen Bann (771-84).
13 For an English translation to the pages mentioned by Wüthrich, see Cornelius J. Dyck, William E. Keeney and Alvin J. Beachy, trs. & eds., The Writings of Dirk Philips: 1504-1568, 1992, 584-86. Just following is a vituperative fragment against the Swiss Brethren on the theme of shunning; whether or not Dirk had written this has not as yet been established with certainty.
14 Informations-Blätter, 1987, 64.
15 John B. Mast, tr. & ed., The Letters of the Amish Division of 1693-1711 (Oregon City, 1950), 101-02.
16 Mast, 102.
17 Mast, 78.
18 Mast, 77-78. Hans Reist came to be seen as the main leader within Switzerland of those Swiss Brethren who did not side with Jakob Ammann.
19 See Mast, 28-30.
20 See Bender, Harold S., "Strasbourg Conferences," Mennonite Encyclopedia, IV, 642-44.
23 See Menno Simons, "Reply to Sylis and Lemke," Wenger, 999-1015.
24 Themes discussed in 1555 and 1557, for example, were basically questions originating within the Dutch Anabaptist tradition, namely, that of the nature of the Incarnation, and the issue of shunning.
25 The volume, which includes Jacob Hertzler's signature, is housed in the Mennonite Historical Library, Goshen, Indiana.
26 Mast, 32.
27 Mast, 49.
28 A few Lancaster districts (see the first endnote, above) provide an exception to this.
29 This dare not take away from the fact that Jakob Ammann was a loyal leader among his own congregations in Alsace, where he at times is known to have risked his own neck in coming to the aid of his own congregational members when they were in trouble with the local government. In fact we need to continue in the search for local archival materials which will grant more information on this significant leader, in order to bring out other, more positive perspectives of Jakob Ammann which unfortunately are so often missing in many of our attempts to describe this complex individual.
30 Formally accepted by some Swiss Brethren leaders, gathered at Ohnenheim (Alsace), that year (see Die Ernsthafte Christenpflicht [in the 1986 ed., p. 214]). That all the Swiss Brethren concurred cannot be assumed; in fact, the controversy during the 1690s would show this not to be true, and Wüthrich's interpretation of 1807 grants a Swiss interpretation, disavowing the Dordrecht Confession as Swiss Brethren in nature. See Wüthrich, op. cit.,[ 63.
31 The volume, owned in 1993 by Gerald S. Oswald, Aurora, Nebraska, goes back, via Oswald's grandmother, Barbara Springer Oswald, to her mother, Anna Wagler Springer, and from there, back through the Wagler family into Alsace of the late 1700s. Nicolas Eimann was probably the first owner, who wrote the date 1686 into the volume. It includes the works of Thomas von Imbroich; of Soetken van den Houte; the Dordrecht Confession of 1632 (in German translation), published in 1686; the Schleitheim Confession of 1527 and the Michael Sattler corpus, reprinted ca. 1686; and various sections of hymns and songs.
32 See Article XVIII, as found in: Leonard Gross, ed., Golden Apples in Silver Bowls, Mennonite Sources and Documents, no. 5, Lancaster, Pa.: Lancaster Mennonite Historical Society, forthcoming.
33 See Uli Ammann's epistle of 1698, in Mast, 96. It seems that Golden Apples continued to be a volume read by the Amish, but apparently also by other Swiss Brethren -- although Wüthrich rejects the shunning elements therein.
34 See the 1686 "Amish" Sammelband as an example, which, as noted above, includes both the Schleitheim and Dordrecht confessions.
35 "Copy of a Letter Written by Uli Ammann to the Preachers and Elders of the Congregation at Markirch," (tr., Elizabeth Bender), Mennonite Historical Bulletin, October 1977, 2-3. The Amishman Hans Anken, whom Uli Ammann apparently viewed as being rather autocratic, had been deported to Holland in 1711. There, Anken was involved in a dispute among the Swiss living in Holland, resulting in yet another Swiss division there, in 1720 -- the basis for dating Uli Ammann's epistle. See "Anken, Hans," Mennonite Encyclopedia, I, 123.
36 Here, as well as with Jakob Ammann, the term bishop applies more appropriately than in the case of the Swiss Brethren, or, significantly, in the case of the Amish, as described by Uli Ammann in 1720. For Menno and Jakob, authority extended well beyond the confines of a specific congregation; for the Swiss Brethren in general, and also the Amish in general, as already noted, an elder's authority was limited to one specific congregation. Where such authority was extended -- as has happened at times -- it did not last long among the Amish, with a reverting back to the one elder, one congregation pattern (with few exceptions).
37 Gingerich interprets the Swiss scene of the 1690s as follows: "Some [Swiss Brethren leaders], apparently, were not certain what they believed. They felt that [in this matter] Scripture should be studied in greater depth by the other ministers, along with the counsel of the congregations, whereby all would arrive at a common understanding. But Jakob [Ammann] was not satisfied with this approach, taking issue especially with bringing in the counsel of the congregations [to help resolve] such matters. He refused this approach . . . ."
38 E.g., John Hüppi, a genealogist from Thun, has found further documentation on Jakob's daughter, which strengthens the traditional thesis of Jakob Ammann's place of birth.
39 See John A. Hostetler, Amish Society (revised, 1993), for the hypothesis that Jakob Ammann was from a Calvinist (Reformed) background.
40 To be sure, some of the many converts to Anabaptism from the Reformed tradition may well have brought with them something of a Calvinist (doctrinal) bent, helping to set the stage for the 1690s division.
41 See: "Versuch einer chronologischen Darstellung der amischen Spaltung . . . ," ms., 1993, p. 1.