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Elmo Stoll (March 5, 1944 – September 2, 1998) was a former Old Order Amish bishop, writer and founder of the "Christian Communities".〔(Richard A. Pride: ''Elmo Stoll and the Christian Community at Cookeville'' in Border States: Journal of the Kentucky Tennessee American Studies Association, Volume 14 : 2003, page 36 )〕 He was one of the few Amish who "have risen to prominence over the years".〔Kevin Williams, Lovina Eicher: ''Amish Cooks Across America: Recipes and Traditions from Maine to Montana'', Kansas City 2013, page 145.〕 == Life == Elmo Stoll was born in Litchfield, Michigan, son of Peter and Anna Stoll, née Wagler. He was one of eleven children. Elmo still being a small child, his family moved to Piketon, Ohio, and then, in the early 1950, to a new Amish settlement of Aylmer, Ontario. In 1966 and '67 he was a teacher in a Beachy Amish school in Wellesley, Ontario. In 1968 he did not follow his family, who moved to Honduras, but stayed in Ontario, where he worked for Pathway Publishers. On June 4, 1970 he married Elizabeth Miller. He was ordained by lot as an Amish minister on April 14, 1971. He was ordained bishop by lot on October 10, 1984 and as such he forced the members of his church to dress plainer and he also enforced other changes in the direction of stricter plainness and less technology, e. g. he forbade to use of electronic calculators. Moreover, he became an ardent preacher.〔(''The Shepherd at Dawn: The Early Years'' at irawagler.com )〕〔(''The Shepherd at Noon: Empire & Exodus'' at irawagler.com )〕〔(Richard A. Pride: ''Elmo Stoll and the Christian Community at Cookeville'' in Border States: Journal of the Kentucky Tennessee American Studies Association, Volume 14 : 2003, pages 38-39. ) 〕 He also wrote a regular column in the Amish magazine Family Life, until he left the Amish and created the “Christian Communities”.〔Philip Crossan: ''Community: Looking at the Possibilities'', Sugarcreek, OH 2012, page 31.〕 Elmo Stoll helped a young couple, seekers of French-Canadian background, Marc Villeneuve and his wife, to join the Amish community at Aylmer. This young man started to raise questions about several religious practices and was backed by Elmo's sons and more and more by Elmo himself. In December 1989 the ministers of the Aylmer Amish settlement met to discuss five issues, Elmo and his followers had raised: Evangelizing outside the Plain churches, the use of the English language to reach seekers, Christian community of goods (like the Hutterites), the mandatory wearing of hats for men and the question of fellowship with other plain churches. Elmo Stoll was favoring fellowship with the Noah Hoover Mennonites and the Orthodox Mennonites. No decision was made after this meeting. Elmo Stoll then explained his ideas in the Book ''Let us reason together''.〔Richard A. Pride: ''Elmo Stoll and the Christian Community at Cookeville'' in Border States: Journal of the Kentucky Tennessee American Studies Association, Volume 14 : 2003, pages 38-39.〕 In July 1990 the real crisis came. Elmo, being a bishop of the Ayler community, challenged the Ordnung (set of rules of the community). The other bishops of Aylmer consulted with outside bishops and the decision was made to let Elmo start a new community, separated from the Aylmer community. Elmo and his followers were not excommunicated, but it was not allowed that individuals could freely move between the two communities.〔(Richard A. Pride: ''Elmo Stoll and the Christian Community at Cookeville'' in Border States: Journal of the Kentucky Tennessee American Studies Association, Volume 14 : 2003, pages 39-40. )〕 So Elmo Stoll and his followers withdrew from the Amish church in Aylmer in September 1990 to organize a plain, horse-and-buggy, English-speaking community in Cookeville, Tennessee, that should be rooted in Anabaptism. Cookeville was chosen because of its proximity to the like-minded Noah Hoover Mennonites in Scottsville, Kentucky〔(Elmo Stoll at University of Waterloo, Mennonite Archives of Ontario )〕〔(''The Shepherd at Noon: Empire & Exodus'' at irawagler.com )〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Elmo Stoll」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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