Many Americans are amused at the quaintness of the Amish people. These descendants of Germanic pietism attempt to stop the clock, to idealize a segment of time as the kingdom of God. Almost wholly agricultural, they ride about their farms and towns in horse-drawn vehicles, avoid the modern conveniences of electricity, and disdain any instruction other than that of their own schools. For them, the ideal of the kingdom of God seems to be fixed somewhere around mid-19th century.

Riding about in modern automobiles with modern dress, many of us are more similar to the Amish than we like to believe. The ideal life, the ideal church, the ideal…