Kraybill, Donald B. 1945- (Donald Brubaker Kraybill)

PERSONAL:

Born September 24, 1945, in Mount Joy, PA; son of Wilmer G. and Helen Kraybill; married Frances Mellinger (a registered nurse), September 1, 1966; children: Sheila, Joy. Education: Attended Millersville State College, 1963-65; Eastern Mennonite College, B.A., 1967; Temple University, M.A., 1971, Ph.D., 1976. Religion: Anabaptist.

ADDRESSES:

Home—Elizabethtown, PA. Office—Young Center, Elizabethtown College, Elizabethtown, PA 17022. E-mail—kraybill@etown.edu.

CAREER:

Mennonite Voluntary Service, Salunga, PA, associate director, 1967-69; Mennonite Youth Services, Salunga, director 1969-70; Elizabethtown College, Elizabethtown, PA, faculty member, 1971-96, 2003—, director, Young Center for Anabaptist and Pietist Studies, 1989-96, Carl W. Zeigler Chair of Religion and Philosophy, 1994-96, interim provost and senior fellow, Young Center, 2003-04, Distinguished College Professor and senior fellow, 2004—; Messiah College, Grantham, PA, provost and professor of Anabaptist studies, 1996-2002. Lay pastor of Mennonite church in Willow Street, PA, 1968-72.

MEMBER:

American Sociological Association, Pennsylvania Sociological Society, Society for the Scientific Study of Religion, Association for the Sociology of Religion.

AWARDS, HONORS:

National Religious Book Award, 1979, for The Upside Down Kingdom; Steinman Award for excellence in research, Elizabethtown College, 1983; Professor of the Year, teaching and leadership award, Elizabethtown College, 1990; Exceptional Performance Award, Elizabethtown College, 1987-95; Choice Outstanding Academic Book Award, 1994, for The Amish and the State, and 1995, for Amish Enterprise: From Plows to Profits; Centennial Award for distinguished service to Elizabethtown College, 2000; Founder's Award, Mid-Atlantic Undergraduate Research Conference, 2000; Distinguished Sociologist Award, Pennsylvania Sociological Society, 2007. Fellowships and grants from National Endowment for the Humanities, Mennonite Historical Society, Pennsylvania Commission on Crime Research, Society for the Scientific Study of Religion, Elizabethtown College, Pennsylvania Humanities Council, Mennonite Central Committee, Center for Rural Pennsylvania, Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission, Sauder Foundation, Foundation for Improvement of Post Secondary Education, Schowalter Foundation, Kauffman Foundation, and Louisville Institute.

WRITINGS:

Our Star Spangled Faith, Herald Press (Scottsdale, PA), 1976.

Ethnic Education: The Impact of Mennonite Schooling, R & E Research Associates, 1977.

Mennonite Education: Issues, Facts, and Changes, Herald Press (Scottsdale, PA), 1977.

The Upside Down Kingdom, Herald Press (Scottsdale, PA), 1978, 25th anniversary edition, 2003.

Facing Nuclear War: A Plea for Christian Witness, Herald Press (Scottdale, PA), 1982.

(Editor, with Phyllis Pellman Good) Perils of Professionalism: Essays on Christian Faith and Professionalism, Herald Press (Scottdale, PA), 1982.

The Riddle of Amish Culture, Johns Hopkins University Press (Baltimore, MD), 1989, revised edition, 2001.

Passing on the Faith: The Story of a Mennonite School, Good Books (Intercourse, PA), 1991.

(Editor) The Amish and the State, Johns Hopkins University Press (Baltimore, MD), 1993, 2nd edition, 2003.

Old Order Amish: Their Enduring Way of Life, Johns Hopkins University Press (Baltimore, MD), 1993.

(Editor, with Marc A. Olshan) The Amish Struggle with Modernity, University Press of New England (Hanover, NH), 1994.

(With Leo Driedger) Mennonite Peacemaking: From Quietism to Activism, Herald Press (Scottdale, PA), 1994.

(With Steven M. Nolt) Amish Enterprise: From Plows to Profits, Johns Hopkins University Press (Baltimore, MD), 1995, 2nd edition, 2004.

(With Patricia T. Herr and Jonathan Holstein) A Quiet Spirit: Amish Quilts from the Collection of Cindy Tietze & Stuart Hodosh, UCLA Fowler Museum of Cultural History (Los Angeles, CA), 1996.

(Editor, with Willard M. Swartley) Building Communities of Compassion: Mennonite Mutual Aid in Theory and Practice, Herald Press (Scottdale, PA), 1998.

Who Are the Amish?, Stone Creek (Milford, NJ), 1998.

(With Conrad L. Kanagy) The Riddles of Human Society, Pine Forge Press (Thousand Oaks, CA), 1999.

(With Nelson Hostetter) Anabaptist World USA, Herald Press (Scottdale, PA), 2001.

(With Carl F. Bowman) On the Backroad to Heaven: Old Order Hutterites, Mennonites, Amish, and Brethren, Johns Hopkins University Press (Baltimore, MD), 2001.

(Editor, with Linda Gehman Peachey) Where Was God on September 11? Seeds of Faith and Hope, Herald Press (Scottdale, PA), 2002.

Who Are the Anabaptists? Amish, Brethren, Hutterites, and Mennonites, Herald Press (Scottdale, PA), 2003.

The Amish: Why They Enchant Us, Herald Press (Scottdale, PA), 2003.

(With James P. Hurd) Horse-and-Buggy Mennonites: Hoofbeats of Humility in a Postmodern World, University Press of Pennsylvania (University Park, PA), 2006.

(With Steven M. Nolt and David L. Weaver-Zerche) Amish Grace: How Forgiveness Transcended Tragedy, Jossey-Bass (San Francisco, CA), 2007.

(Author of text) The Amish of Lancaster County, photographs by Daniel Rodriquez, Stackpole Books (Mechanicsburg, PA), 2008.

Author of column "Nuts and Bolts" in Christian Living.

SIDELIGHTS:

Donald B. Kraybill, Distinguished College Professor at Elizabethtown College, has written extensively about the Amish. His book The Riddle of Amish Culture was welcomed as an insightful analysis of the ways in which the Amish have dealt with the challenges of coexisting with modern American society. Reviewing the revised edition of the book in UtopianStudies, William L. Smith praised Kraybill's ability to explain how the Amish have used "the strategy of resistance and negotiation to maintain the necessary boundaries that regulate the rate of social change within their community." Kraybill explains that the Amish, who eschew modern technologies, have found ways to accommodate new technologies, such as indoor toilets and the use of modern machinery so long as it is towed by horses. He also notes the concessions granted to the Amish by the state, such as exemption from unemployment insurance and Social Security, and discusses elements of Amish life that are nonnegotiable, including attire, worship, and the practice of shunning. The Amish hold to the concept of Gelassenheit, or self-surrender through the practices of submission, obedience, humility, and simplicity; this concept, in Kraybill's view, helps the Amish to adapt successfully to change while maintaining their distinctness from mainstream culture.

Perhaps the most devastating episode of recent Amish history occurred in 2006, when a milk truck driver took over an Amish schoolhouse near Nickel Mines, Pennsylvania, and shot ten schoolgirls before fatally shooting himself. Five of the children died. Kraybill's book about these events, Amish Grace: How Forgiveness Transcended Tragedy, recounts how the Amish community responded to this atrocity with forgiveness. Rather than demanding vengeance, the Amish expressed love and forgiveness toward the shooter, and offered compassion and understanding to his family. Moreover, as Kraybill shows, this forgiveness was not dictated by Amish church doctrine, but was a spontaneous response that revealed the ingrained values of the Amish community. Kraybill explains that the Amish concept of forgiveness is central to their belief; it does not condone or minimize wrongdoing, but emphasizes the importance of avoiding resentment and of extending compassion toward wrongdoers. Bill Williams, writing in National Catholic Reporter, called Amish Grace a "superb book" that offers a "nuanced discussion of forgiveness." Booklist contributor June Sawyers deemed the book an "anguished and devastating account of a national tragedy and a hopeful, life-affirming lesson in how to live."

Kraybill's numerous other works on the Amish include On the Backroad to Heaven: Old Order Hutterites, Mennonites, Amish, and Brethren, cowritten with Carl F. Bowman and described by Sociology of Religion critic Jeff Gingerich as a detailed "comparative analysis of four Old Order Anabaptist" communities. More recently, Kraybill wrote the text for The Amish of Lancaster County, a book of photographs by Daniel Rodriquez.

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

PERIODICALS

American Historical Review, February, 2002, Perry Bush, review of On the Backroad to Heaven: Old Order Hutterites, Mennonites, Amish, and Brethren, p. 225.

American Journal of Sociology, November, 1992, Stephen J. Stein, review of Passing on the Faith: The Story of a Mennonite School, p. 700.

Booklist, April 15, 1989, review of The Riddle of Amish Culture, p. 1414; February 15, 2001, Steven Schroeder, review of On the Backroad to Heaven, p. 1089; September 1, 2007, June Sawyers, review of Amish Grace: How Forgiveness Transcended Tragedy, p. 25.

Books and Religion, winter, 1989, review of The Riddle of Amish Culture, p. 8.

Catholic Historical Review, July 1, 2007, John F. Peters, review of Horse-and-Buggy Mennonites: Hoofbeats of Humility in a Postmodern World, p. 710.

Choice: Current Reviews for Academic Libraries, April, 1990, review of The Riddle of Amish Culture, p. 1357; November, 1993, W.K. McNeil, review of The Amish and the State, p. 497; March, 1995, review of The Amish Struggle with Modernity, p. 1136; April, 1996, L. Braude, review of Amish Enterprise: From Plows to Profits, p. 1398; July, 2007, M.A. Olshan, review of Horse-and-Buggy Mennonites, p. 1991.

Christian Century, May 12, 1976, review of Our Star Spangled Faith, p. 466; September 29, 1982, "Perils of Professionalism," p. 964; September 14, 1983, review of Facing Nuclear War: A Plea for Christian Witness, p. 820; January 3, 1990, review of The Riddle of Amish Culture, p. 26; May 8, 1991, "The Puzzles of Amish Life," p. 531; November 21, 2001, J. Brent Bill, review of On the Backroad to Heaven, p. 42.

Chronicle of Higher Education, April 25, 2008, Nina C. Ayoub, "Amish Agency; The Bones Will Tell?; The Church and Modernity."

Church History, June 1, 2007, Richard G. Kyle, review of Horse-and-Buggy Mennonites, p. 455.

Contemporary Sociology, January, 1995, John M. Janzen, review of The Amish and the State, p. 45; September, 1996, Ivan Light, review of Amish Enterprise, p. 670; March, 2003, Daniel V.A. Olson, review of On the Backroad to Heaven, p. 209.

Critic, December, 1979, review of The Upside Down Kingdom, p. 5.

Currents in Theology and Mission, February 1, 2003, Jodi Neumann Hinrichs, review of Where Was God on September 11? Seeds of Faith and Hope, p. 51.

Ethnic Forum, fall, 1994, Elizabeth Burns, review of The Amish and the State, p. 106.

Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion, September, 1989, Hans A. Baer, review of The Riddle of Amish Culture, p. 379; December, 1993, Thomas C. Langham, review of The Amish and the State, p. 414; December, 1995, Thomas C. Langham, review of The Amish Struggle with Modernity, p. 537.

Journal of American Ethnic History, fall, 2002, Steven D. Reschly, review of On the Backroad to Heaven, p. 73.

Journal of American History, March, 1997, Douglas Kachel, review of Amish Enterprise, p. 1508.

Journal of Church and State, autumn, 1994, James A. Jolly, review of The Amish and the State, p. 850; March 22, 1997, Steven D. Reschly, review of The Amish Struggle with Modernity, p. 372; March 22, 2003, Erich Geldbach, review of On the Backroad to Heaven, p. 391; June 22, 2003, William H. Brackney, review of On the Backroad to Heaven, p. 605; September 22, 2005, Nathan R. Lynn, review of The Amish and State, p. 898.

Journal of Economic Literature, June, 1996, review of Amish Enterprise, p. 893.

Journal of Religion, April, 1991, Thomas Meyers, review of The Riddle of Amish Culture, p. 266.

Library Journal, November 15, 1982, review of Facing Nuclear War, p. 2181; March 15, 2001, C. Robert Nixon, review of On the Backroad to Heaven, p. 89; October 1, 2003, review of The Riddle of Amish Culture and On the Backroad to Heaven, p. 51; October 15, 2007, Leroy Hommerding, review of Amish Grace, p. 72.

National Catholic Reporter, May, 1996, review of Amish Enterprise, p. 5; November 2, 2007, Bill Williams, review of Amish Grace, p. 17.

Newsweek, May 1, 1989, David Gates, review of The Riddle of Amish Culture, p. 72.

Other Side, September, 2003, review of The Upside Down Kingdom, p. 34.

Publishers Weekly, August 6, 1982, review of Facing Nuclear War, p. 66; March 12, 2001, review of On the Backroad to Heaven, p. 80; June 25, 2007, review of Amish Grace, p. 50.

Reference & Research Book News, May, 2002, review of On the Backroad to Heaven, p. 21; November, 2002, review of The Riddle of Amish Culture, p. 51; May, 2004, review of The Amish and the State, p. 22.

Religious Studies Review, July, 1983, review of Facing Nuclear War, p. 255; April, 1990, review of The Riddle of Amish Culture, p. 176; April, 2002, review of On the Backroad to Heaven, p. 185.

Rural Sociology, spring, 1991, William P. Kuvelsky, review of The Riddle of Amish Culture, p. 147.

Social Forces, December, 1990, review of The Riddle of Amish Culture, p. 664.

Sociological Analysis, spring, 1990, George A. Hillery, Jr., review of The Riddle of Amish Culture, p. 122.

Sociology of Religion, summer, 1994, Stephen G. Wieting, review of The Amish and the State, p. 212; September 22, 1995, Lori Beaman-Hall, review of The Amish Struggle with Modernity, p. 345; fall, 1996, Penny Edgell Becker, review of Mennonite Peacemaking: From Quietism to Activism, p. 327; March 22, 2003, Jeff Gingerich, review of On the Backroad to Heaven, p. 141.

Times Literary Supplement, June 10, 1994, Lynn Ross-Bryant, review of The Amish and the State, p. 31.

Utopian Studies, March 22, 2001, John W. Friesen, review of On the Back Road to Heaven, p. 325; March 22, 2002, William L. Smith, review of The Riddle of Amish Culture, p. 160; March 22, 2005, Timothy Miller, review of The Amish and the State, p. 269.

Virginia Quarterly Review, spring, 1995, review of The Amish Struggle with Modernity, p. 62.

Washington Post Book World, May 30, 1993, review of The Amish and the State, p. 12.

Whole Earth Review, January 1, 1989, Kevin Kelly, review of The Riddle of Amish Culture, p. 93.

ONLINE

Amish Grace Web site,http://www.amishgrace.com/ (July 28, 2008).

Elizabethtown College Web site, http://users.etown.edu/ (July 28, 2008), Kraybill faculty profile.

H-Net: Humanities and Social Sciences Online,http://www.h-net.org/ (July 28, 2008), John A. Lapp, review of On the Backroad to Heaven.

Spirituality and Practice,http://www.spiritualityandpractice.com/ (July 28, 2008), Frederic and Mary Ann Brussat, review of Amish Grace.