The Church Today and Tomorrow, edited by David Wieand, is a collection of papers from the Bethany Faculty Series. The main idea of this book is to look at the Brethren church and recognize the psychology and the meaning behind the Brethren ways. When the book talks about the church, it mentions that the Brethren church focuses on the New Testament. Jesus was more the source of spiritualism and moral truth (12). The book also states the churches' view of church and state. The Brethren believe in peace, and of staying out of war. Many members have accepted military duty, though, and have developed a "just war" theory (37). Conflicts have arisen between the church and state during the past 100 years. The Brethren do believe in voting and in expressing opinions to the government. With this belief, the understanding of keeping church and state separate is still understood. Brethren try to work with the government to solve problems. The church is a follower of God first, and to the country second (47). The Church Today and Tomorrow also looks at the downfalls of the church. Religious illiteracy is a major issue that is addressed and there are possible solutions to help fix this problem. A final focal point of this book is the mission of the Brethren church today. The church focuses on teaching the young about the Brethren religion and about teaching new members right from wrong according to Brethren beliefs. These were the main points that were picked up from reading this book edited by Wieand.
             The Amish was a more fun and interesting book for me to read. This narrative book tells stories about an Amish family, but along with this it tells a lot of about the Amish culture. The stories reveal differences between the several types of Amish (the strict conservatives and the more liberal groups). The Amish, like other Anabaptist groups, show their belief of adult baptism. The young Amish boy or girl does no...