The remarkable response of the Amish Community to the horrific shooting of ten schoolgirls at Nickel Mines, Pennsylvania, in October 2006 stunned the larger world. Amish Grace tells the incredible story of this community’s reaction to this senseless shooting and explores its profoundly countercultural practice of forgiveness.

Outsiders often hold a stereotypical view of the Amish as a stubbornly backwards people—a view rooted In the picturesque images of buggies, beards, and bonnets. But there is a much more to know about the Amish as a people, as we discovered after the Nickel Mines incident. The community’s collective and radical act of forgiveness—the loving and compassionate response to the shooter and his family—gives us insights into who the Amish are and how they live their faith.

Amish Grace explores the many questions the story raises about the religious beliefs that led the Amish to forgive so quickly. In a world where religion spawns so much violence and vengeance, the surprising act of Amish forgiveness begs for deeper consideration.

Donald B. Kraybill, Ph.D., is senior fellow at the Young Center of Elizabethtown College in Pennsylvania. Among his many publications, he has authored, coauthored, or edited six books on the Amish. Steven M. Nolt, Ph.D., is associate professor of history at Goshen College in Indiana. He has written on the history of the Amish and their culture. David L. Weaver-Zercher, Ph.D., is associate professor of American religious history at Messiah College in Pennsylvania. He is the author or editor of numerous books on the Amish.