Early assertions include a lot of thins I already knew, but yeah I appreciate her observation that Evangelical women are horny af and this is one of the few ways they can get off without guilt, by fantisizing about something that she calls "triply chaste" -- virginal, apart from the world, holy.

Weaver-Zercher considers that Amish fiction is an outlet where readers fear they can escape hypermodernity —all the speed and pressure they feel under modern capitalism—and also hypersexualization, particularly evangelicals but anyone who feels perhaps refreshed by things being sexually simple (as it’s perceived...obviously farming can have lots of pressures as can sexuality in not-mainstream-US situations)

She isn’t going to ask if the novels are “good” (while noting that even while doing research she behaved furtively about reading them in public, despite feeling angry for a writer of Amish fic who gets put down by family). She’s also not going to ask if they’re true to Amish life (though with her background she could)

More interested in what role they play in the lives of their readers. Ideologies they espouse. Under wha conditions are they written?

And how can you use these books to map evangelical discourse?

“Kline has opinions about everything from late capitalism to what he calls evangelicalism’s ‘Western industrial plan of salvation’” 👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻

This guy went from more to less liberal Amish because he felt it was getting less communitarian and too individualistic in salvation narratives. tbh a lot of us can learn from Amish communities. Anabaptists totally do mutual aid.

Wow. This book is an “Amish” one. But before the bonnet busters got going in force (though early classics existed).