Jakob Ammann was a Swiss Anabaptist leader and the namesake of the Amish religious movement.
Jakob Ammann above the valley where his house stood near La Petite Lièpvre, Alsace, France
Jakob Amman’s house (dismantled in 1955) from the 17th century in Thal Erlenbach (Photo appr. 1900)
Jakob Amman’s house in Tal Erlenbach on an old painting including the barn
The barn in Tal Erlenbach from the 17th century today
The Amish, formally the Old Order Amish, are a group of traditionalist Anabaptist Christian church fellowships with Swiss German and Alsatian origins. As they maintain a degree of separation from surrounding populations, and hold their faith in common, the Amish have been described by certain scholars as an ethnoreligious group, combining features of an ethnicity and a Christian denomination. The Amish are closely related to Old Order Mennonites and Conservative Mennonites—denominations that are also a part of Anabaptist Christianity. The Amish are known for simple living, plain dress, Christian pacifism, and slowness to adopt many conveniences of modern technology, with a view neither to interrupt family time, nor replace face-to-face conversations whenever possible, and a view to maintain self-sufficiency. The Amish value rural life, manual labor, humility and Gelassenheit.
An Amish family riding in a traditional Amish buggy in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania
Cover of The Amish and the Mennonites, 1938
A scan of the historical document Diß Lied haben die sieben Brüder im Gefängnüß zu Gmünd gemacht
Amish couple in horse-driven buggy in rural Holmes County, Ohio, September 2004