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I've long eyed novels by Beverly Lewis at the library with a mixture of curiosity and revulsion. They are romances set in Amish society, often at the intersection of Amish and "Englischer" (non-Amish) folk. I rather assumed prettified versions of the Amish life. I finally picked one up last week, and then another (free) on Kindle.
It's worse than I thought. Lewis uses the setting to preach evangelical theology. In the first book I read she never explicitly condemns Amish theology, but does so implicitly through the way the plot plays out. The second book I chose actually depicts a schism among the Amish, with a large group of Amish discovering the wonders of independent Bible study and all coming to be 'saved by the blood of Jesus'-- and ultimately separating from their Amish congregation. The condemnation of Amish beliefs is more open here, with a second layer of implicit criticism that adds up to a pile of nastiness-- all still in that pretty setting of homey sweet-smelling kitchens and plain dress. I feel icky.
In happier reading, I picked up two nonfiction books this week, in two of my abiding areas of interest-- theology and food. (My third major interest is nature studies, of course.) It turns out that they have a common thread: the use of words, and influence of language on thinking. One is wearing God by Lauren F. Winner, and it explores metaphors for God-- asserting, among other things, that most churches not only cling to masculine language about God, but to a very small assortment of images of God out of the many that can be found in scripture. The other book is The Language of Food by Dan Jurafsky. I'm only a couple of chapters in, but so far it's a very fun look at both names of foods and descriptions of food/dishes. For example, he points out that use of French words in high-end restaurant menus has been largely replaced with descriptions of the origin of the ingredients. I am looking forward to further reading in both books!
It's worse than I thought. Lewis uses the setting to preach evangelical theology. In the first book I read she never explicitly condemns Amish theology, but does so implicitly through the way the plot plays out. The second book I chose actually depicts a schism among the Amish, with a large group of Amish discovering the wonders of independent Bible study and all coming to be 'saved by the blood of Jesus'-- and ultimately separating from their Amish congregation. The condemnation of Amish beliefs is more open here, with a second layer of implicit criticism that adds up to a pile of nastiness-- all still in that pretty setting of homey sweet-smelling kitchens and plain dress. I feel icky.
In happier reading, I picked up two nonfiction books this week, in two of my abiding areas of interest-- theology and food. (My third major interest is nature studies, of course.) It turns out that they have a common thread: the use of words, and influence of language on thinking. One is wearing God by Lauren F. Winner, and it explores metaphors for God-- asserting, among other things, that most churches not only cling to masculine language about God, but to a very small assortment of images of God out of the many that can be found in scripture. The other book is The Language of Food by Dan Jurafsky. I'm only a couple of chapters in, but so far it's a very fun look at both names of foods and descriptions of food/dishes. For example, he points out that use of French words in high-end restaurant menus has been largely replaced with descriptions of the origin of the ingredients. I am looking forward to further reading in both books!
