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Part memoir, part devotional reading
Stephanie Lobdell grew up in the church as a pastor’s kid. She was a high achiever with dreams of becoming a missionary, but things didn’t work out as she had hoped and she struggled to accept the losses that life threw her way. In Signs of Life, she reflects on her growing realization that…
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Fall 2019 List of Books & Resources
Theology, Spirituality Christ in Crisis: Why We Need to Reclaim Jesus. Jim Wallis. HarperCollins, 2019. Wallis argues that many Christians have become disconnected from Jesus’ primary message. He identifies eight questions that Jesus asked, or were asked of him, as a way to measure our spiritual foundations. He is critical of American religion that is…
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CommonWord shares books by the dozen
Still a hidden gem for some, CommonWord Bookstore and Resource Centre is a well of resources for the Mennonite community and beyond. One of the ways it shares these materials and guidance is through its “Cheaper by the dozen” program. This bulk-loan initiative lends 12 different resources to a church for an extended six-week period,…
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Readers ‘zoom’ to discuss Unsettling the Word
In a large city like Toronto, attending a church small group or Bible study may not be feasible for those with families or busy schedules. But Toronto United Mennonite Church has found a technological solution. Congregants recently completed a six-week book study based around Unsettling the Word: Biblical Experiments in Decolonization and conducted remotely by…
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Translation valuable to Swahili-speaking pastors
In mid-February, 50 Tanzanian Mennonite Church leaders, under the guidance of Palmer Becker, a Canadian Mennonite author and teacher, studied spiritual leadership, pastoral care and Anabaptist essentials using a translation of Becker’s book Begin Anew: Christian Discipleship Seminars. The training sessions were hosted by Bishop Chris Kateti of the Shirati Diocese of the Tanzanian Mennonite…
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From power to pathos
Peter M. and Susanna Friesen. “The story of Mennonites in Tsarist Russia, the Soviet Union and the Soviet successor states is relatively short, beginning only in 1789. Despite this brief history, our memories of Mennonite life in this region are etched with deeply contradictory images. “On the one hand, we remember a resplendent culture marked…
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Spring 2019 List of Books & Resources
Theology, Spirituality Beating Guns: Hope for People Who Are Weary of Violence. Shane Claiborne and Michael Martin. Brazos Press, 2019, 288 pages. Using the image of turning guns into garden tools, Claiborne and Martin explore how destructive gun violence has been and provide hopeful stories of how this carnage could be reduced. They examine how…
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A challenge to give loving attention to life
Meghan Florian’s name surfaced in the small circle of Mennonite pastors and friends I know in the United States. Because this is how I found this book, I assumed it would be a “churchy” (or religious, or theological, or spiritual) collection of essays. What I found was a case for better writing in the church.…
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Reading together in an uncertain world
A widely published poet, a retired professor, a farmer, a recent graduate and an engineer regularly discuss literature and theology together. Hard to imagine? The sight is more likely than you might think. Take and Read is a theological book discussion group run annually by Paul Doerksen, associate professor of theology and Anabaptist studies at…
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2018 Fall List of Books & Resources
Theology, Spirituality The Bible Unwrapped: Making Sense of Scripture Today. Meghan Larissa Good. Herald Press, 2018, 312 pages. This book is for readers with lots of questions about the Bible, especially young people. Good writes in a very down-to-earth and non-academic style, using lots of present-day images, and tackles tough questions with honesty. She…
