Teaching Forgiveness: How Writers Serve

Published March 5, 2014 in Tulare County's Foothills Sun-Gazette


     After hearing of yet another outrage emanating from Lindsay's City Hall, last week I began reading a book I found in the San Joaquin Valley Library System called Amish Grace:  How Forgiveness Transcended Tragedy.  The title intrigued me enough to order the book, although the subject was somewhat daunting.  What it covers is the Amish community's response to the schoolhouse massacre at Nickel Mines, PA in 2006, which took the nation by complete surprise.  What it flushes out is the meaning of forgiveness, the faithful reasons the Amish practice it to the best of human abilities, and what gives them the strength to be different from the rest of us.


     We would not have this insight into the incredible phenomenon that was widely reported in the media more than 7 years ago, then lost as other tragedies took our attention, but for the three authors of the book.  Donald B. Kraybill, Steven M. Nolt and David L. Weaver-Zercher are all college professors and scholars of religious history with particular emphases on the Amish.  As academics, they might have watched the events unfold in Nickel Mines long-distance, written a commentary or two, and continued with their teaching and administrative duties.  But at least one of them, Donald Kraybill, responded in the flesh, finding his way to Nickel Mines by sun-up the morning after the shooting.  His first-hand account of the place and the people gives us, the readers, an intimacy with the situation that brings home the reality of the tragedy and the transcendence so that we can understand how they are intimately linked.


     The Amish themselves would not have taught us this.  They are quiet, humble, unassuming, and keep to themselves for spiritual reasons as well as practical ones.  Coming from a faith tradition replete with persecutions, the Amish to this day must practice a kind of protective reserve to fend off harassment and vandalism by ignorant neighbors and passersby.  After this tragedy was put to rest, most would have been grateful to return to anonymity in that rural place.


     But these three scholars saw the light go on for the rest of us, and put their minds together to create a delicate, yet penetrating examination of the role of forgiveness in the Amish tradition and its roots in the Christian faith.  Published in 2007, the book has now sold over 100,000 copies and been translated into several languages, including a Chinese edition that will be released this year.  The website, www.amishgrace.com, includes a 9-page discussion guide that can be printed directly and used with reading groups.


     The language is beautiful, clear and understandable.  The book is graciously laid out, with line spacing wide enough to make the paragraphs pleasant to take in.  The subject of forgiveness and its root, faithfulness, is explored non-judgmentally, with an even hand, as though these authors might be sitting in our armchairs with us, wondering what does it mean, these people and this tragedy, then guiding us gently through their understanding of the relationship.  It's a book I certainly needed to read, and given the dissension and conflict in churches right now, probably many Christians would benefit from going through these pages.


     It might even help down at City Hall.
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Trudy Wischemann is a civic watchdog with a tendency to hold grudges.  You can send her your favorite gripes and their antidotes c/o P.O. Box 1374, Lindsay CA 93247 or leave a comment below.