Amish Prayers, compiled by Beverly Lewis
Amish Prayers, compiled by Beverly Lewis, is a collection of translated selections from prayers that appeared in a 1708 German prayer book and were used by the Anabaptists and are today circulated among Amish and Mennonite communities.
The layout is clean, and the prayers are organized according to theme and followed by Scripture. Simple drawings of the country lifestyle and the non-frontal views of the Amish are sprinkled throughout. The English is modern.
For my taste, this book would hold more appeal if the cover and English language held a sense of antiquity, and if the drawings were merely outlines or not there at all. Also, instead of a paragraph-style presentation, I think if the layout revealed the prayers line-by-line and varied the spacing in a poetic manner, it would enhance the aesthetics, perhaps causing the readers to linger over some lines.
This book could be useful for people who want models of prayer. They could get ideas for how to pray by noticing elements such as mention of God’s attributes and an openness before Him. However, I may not recommend this book to a beginner in the faith unless they were Amish or Mennonite or had familiarity or particular interest or experience in the those cultures. For one thing, I wouldn’t want the book to push them toward embracing the Amish tradition for their own belief system or make them think the Amish path is the higher road. Secondly, I think they can learn about prayer from the Bible itself and don’t need to learn from these prayers that don’t all feel deeply profound and unique to me and that are written in modern English. But it is definitely possible that some would really benefit from the prayers or scriptures or find some gems here and there.
Disclaimer: I received this book from Bethany House Publishers for free in exchange for a review.
