Emma Stutzman's Amish life was abruptly altered when she learned about her husband's sudden and tragic death. Now a single parent, Emma must figure out how to respond to the pressures of modernization and the pull of mainstream culture. Will she regain her strength as a woman after so much stress and tragedy in her married life? How will she lead her children to faith in the Amish Mennonite church without their father?

Journey into the world of Emma: A Widow among the Amish and follow this true-life story of a woman left to raise six young children on her own after her world collapsed. Ervin R. Stutzman, the youngest son of Emma, paints a fictionalized but ultimately true story of his mother's daily struggle to provide for her children and be faithful to God. This intimate portrait is a sequel to Tobias of the Amish, the true-to-life story of the author's late Amish father.

Also available in a hardcover edition.

Click here for an interview between Shirley Hershey Showalter and Ervin Stutzman.

"Ervin R. Stutzman's Emma invites us into the life of an Amish Mennonite community. Through Emma, I understand what Gelassenheit, the ultimate yielding to the will of the Lord, means for the Amish." —Karen M. Johnson-Weiner, The State University of New York Potsdam

Ervin Stutzman discusses his book "Emma: A Widow Among the Amish"

David W. Shenk and Ervin R. Stutzman weave into the biblical commentary practical applications gleaned from contemporary theology, anthropology, sociology, psychology, and communication theory. Includes questions for review, study, and discussion.

The more things change, the more they stay the same. From Nonresistance to Justice explores how this is true when it comes to teaching about peace for the former Mennonite Church, now part of Mennonite Church USA. Has the church changed in regard to its beliefs and practices about peace over the past 100 years? Yes. Has it remained the same? Yes. Reading this book will show that both are true.

Through the book, Ervin Stutzman shows how the church moved from an emphasis on nonresistance and nonconformity to engage in advocacy for peace and justice. At the same time, he presses for a greater emphasis on the way that God’s activity must guide our work in the world, arguing for a stronger link between God’s grace, justice, and peace.

Volume 46 in the Studies in Anabaptist and Mennonite History Series.

Book 2 of the Return to Northkill trilogy.

Unwilling captive or adopted son? Amish teen Joseph Hochstetler is taken into captivity by Native Americans during the French and Indian War. Initially he resists the Indians’ attempts to help him adapt to their ways—their food, games, and relaxed pace of life.

In this story of forbidden love, Joseph finds himself pressed between his unfolding romance with a young Indian woman and the tug of his heritage. His eyes newly opened to the wrongs committed by the white settlers, Joseph determines never to go back to his Amish community.

But the encroaching British army soon forces the Indians to give up their captives under threat of death. Based on actual events, Joseph’s Dilemma traces the wrenching dilemma of a young man caught between his Amish past, his love for a woman, and an unknown future.

Continues the story started in Jacob’s Choice.

Free downloadable study guide available here.

Jacob Hochstetler is a peace-loving Amish settler on the Pennsylvania frontier when Native American warriors, goaded on by the hostilities of the French and Indian War, attack his family one September night in 1757. Taken captive by the warriors and grieving for the family members just killed, Jacob finds his beliefs about love and nonresistance severely tested.

Jacob endures a hard winter as a prisoner in an Indian longhouse. Meanwhile, some members of his congregation—the first Amish settlement in America—move away for fear of further attacks.

Based on actual events, Jacob's Choice describes how one man's commitment to pacifism leads to a season of captivity, a complicated romance, an unrelenting search for missing family members, and an astounding act of forgiveness and reconciliation.

Free downloadable study guide available here.

Jacob Hochstetler is a peace-loving Amish settler on the Pennsylvania frontier when Native American warriors, goaded on by the hostilities of the French and Indian War, attack his family one September night in 1757. Taken captive by the warriors and grieving for the family members just killed, Jacob finds his beliefs about love and nonresistance severely tested.

Jacob endures a hard winter as a prisoner in an Indian longhouse. Meanwhile, some members of his congregation—the first Amish settlement in America—move away for fear of further attacks.

Based on actual events, Jacob's Choice describes how one man's commitment to pacifism leads to a season of captivity, a complicated romance, an unrelenting search for missing family members, and an astounding act of forgiveness and reconciliation.

Free downloadable study guide available here.

When Christian Hochstetler returns to the Amish after seven years in captivity, he finds that many things have shifted. Captured as a child during the French and Indian War, Christian has spent much of his life among Native Americans, who cared for him and taught him their ways. Now that Christian is home, his father wants him to settle back into their predictable Amish life of farming, and Christian’s budding friendship with Orpha Rupp beckons him to stay as well.

Yet Christian feels restless, and he misses his adoptive Native American family—who raised him as their own son. When faced with a life-altering decision, will Christian choose the Amish identity that his father desires for him? Or will he depart from his family and faith community yet again?

Christian’s Hope tells the story of the younger brother of Joseph and son of Jacob, whom readers have come to love in the first two books in the Return to Northkill series. Based on actual events and written by a descendant of the Hochstetler family, Christian’s Hope brings the sweeping epic of the Return to Northkill series to a soul-stirring end.

Free downloadable study guide available here.

Emma Stutzman's Amish life was abruptly altered when she learned about her husband's sudden and tragic death. Now a single parent, Emma must figure out how to respond to the pressures of modernization and the pull of mainstream culture. Will she regain her strength as a woman after so much stress and tragedy in her married life? How will she lead her children to faith in the Amish Mennonite church without their father?

Journey into the world of Emma: A Widow among the Amish and follow this true-life story of a woman left to raise six young children on her own after her world collapsed. Ervin R. Stutzman, the youngest son of Emma, paints a fictionalized but ultimately true story of his mother's daily struggle to provide for her children and be faithful to God. This intimate portrait is a sequel to Tobias of the Amish, the true-to-life story of the author's late Amish father.

Also available in a hardcover edition.

Click here for an interview between Shirley Hershey Showalter and Ervin Stutzman.

"Ervin R. Stutzman's Emma invites us into the life of an Amish Mennonite community. Through Emma, I understand what Gelassenheit, the ultimate yielding to the will of the Lord, means for the Amish." —Karen M. Johnson-Weiner, The State University of New York Potsdam

Ervin Stutzman discusses his book "Emma: A Widow Among the Amish"

David W. Shenk and Ervin R. Stutzman weave into the biblical commentary practical applications gleaned from contemporary theology, anthropology, sociology, psychology, and communication theory. Includes questions for review, study, and discussion.

The more things change, the more they stay the same. From Nonresistance to Justice explores how this is true when it comes to teaching about peace for the former Mennonite Church, now part of Mennonite Church USA. Has the church changed in regard to its beliefs and practices about peace over the past 100 years? Yes. Has it remained the same? Yes. Reading this book will show that both are true.

Through the book, Ervin Stutzman shows how the church moved from an emphasis on nonresistance and nonconformity to engage in advocacy for peace and justice. At the same time, he presses for a greater emphasis on the way that God’s activity must guide our work in the world, arguing for a stronger link between God’s grace, justice, and peace.

Volume 46 in the Studies in Anabaptist and Mennonite History Series.

Book 2 of the Return to Northkill trilogy.

Unwilling captive or adopted son? Amish teen Joseph Hochstetler is taken into captivity by Native Americans during the French and Indian War. Initially he resists the Indians’ attempts to help him adapt to their ways—their food, games, and relaxed pace of life.

In this story of forbidden love, Joseph finds himself pressed between his unfolding romance with a young Indian woman and the tug of his heritage. His eyes newly opened to the wrongs committed by the white settlers, Joseph determines never to go back to his Amish community.

But the encroaching British army soon forces the Indians to give up their captives under threat of death. Based on actual events, Joseph’s Dilemma traces the wrenching dilemma of a young man caught between his Amish past, his love for a woman, and an unknown future.

Continues the story started in Jacob’s Choice.

Free downloadable study guide available here.

Jacob Hochstetler is a peace-loving Amish settler on the Pennsylvania frontier when Native American warriors, goaded on by the hostilities of the French and Indian War, attack his family one September night in 1757. Taken captive by the warriors and grieving for the family members just killed, Jacob finds his beliefs about love and nonresistance severely tested.

Jacob endures a hard winter as a prisoner in an Indian longhouse. Meanwhile, some members of his congregation—the first Amish settlement in America—move away for fear of further attacks.

Based on actual events, Jacob's Choice describes how one man's commitment to pacifism leads to a season of captivity, a complicated romance, an unrelenting search for missing family members, and an astounding act of forgiveness and reconciliation.

Free downloadable study guide available here.

Jacob Hochstetler is a peace-loving Amish settler on the Pennsylvania frontier when Native American warriors, goaded on by the hostilities of the French and Indian War, attack his family one September night in 1757. Taken captive by the warriors and grieving for the family members just killed, Jacob finds his beliefs about love and nonresistance severely tested.

Jacob endures a hard winter as a prisoner in an Indian longhouse. Meanwhile, some members of his congregation—the first Amish settlement in America—move away for fear of further attacks.

Based on actual events, Jacob's Choice describes how one man's commitment to pacifism leads to a season of captivity, a complicated romance, an unrelenting search for missing family members, and an astounding act of forgiveness and reconciliation.

Free downloadable study guide available here.

When Christian Hochstetler returns to the Amish after seven years in captivity, he finds that many things have shifted. Captured as a child during the French and Indian War, Christian has spent much of his life among Native Americans, who cared for him and taught him their ways. Now that Christian is home, his father wants him to settle back into their predictable Amish life of farming, and Christian’s budding friendship with Orpha Rupp beckons him to stay as well.

Yet Christian feels restless, and he misses his adoptive Native American family—who raised him as their own son. When faced with a life-altering decision, will Christian choose the Amish identity that his father desires for him? Or will he depart from his family and faith community yet again?

Christian’s Hope tells the story of the younger brother of Joseph and son of Jacob, whom readers have come to love in the first two books in the Return to Northkill series. Based on actual events and written by a descendant of the Hochstetler family, Christian’s Hope brings the sweeping epic of the Return to Northkill series to a soul-stirring end.

Free downloadable study guide available here.