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An eye-witness account of Nazi occupation
At the age of 85, I am probably one of the few survivors of the German occupation of Ukraine/Russia from 1941 to 1943 who still have clear personal memories of that time. When the German army occupied Chortitza, Ukraine, where I lived, we Mennonites were exuberant. I remember vividly the euphoria of being liberated from…
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Barnyard philosopher on hope for the future
Life at the End of Us Versus Them is an unconventional critique of the postmodern world from the perspective of a youngish father who lives off the land. Part theologian, part philosopher, Marcus Rempel examines contemporary culture from the perspective of someone who takes the message of Jesus seriously. Rempel believes in being honest about…
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Spring 2018 List of Books & Resources
Theology, Spirituality I Corinthians: Believers Church Bible Commentary. Dan Nighswander. Herald Press, 2017, 403 pages. Like other commentary writers in this series, Nighswander provides explanatory notes as well as describing the text in the biblical context and in the life of the church. He also points out which parts of I Corinthians do not appear…
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A peace that ignores Jesus’ atoning work
Some years ago, in the book The Body and the Blood, reporter Charles Sennott of the Boston Globe lamented the Middle East’s vanishing Christian population, many leaving because of the bitter conflicts there. They were needed, Sennott argued, because they represented a mediating force, even those not committed to pacifism. Naim Ateek, an Anglican…
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‘Where do we go from here?’
Nobody knows the trouble I’ve seen / Nobody knows my sorrow / Nobody knows the trouble I’ve seen / Nobody knows but Jesus By entitling his book with the words of the African-American spiritual, one known by whites through popularization in modern entertainment, Drew Hart puts his thesis front and centre. Until whites, especially the…
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How to avoid ‘a tense faith’
Humans have a long history of elevating knowledge over trust. Consider Adam and Eve. They had God’s full attention and companionship—and Eden—but they couldn’t resist the off-limits “tree of knowledge.” What did that get them? Misery. That’s just one of the insights offered by Peter Enns, professor of Bible at Eastern University in St. David’s,…
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2017 Fall List of Books & Resources
Theology, Spirituality Approaching the Divine: Signs and Symbols of the Christian Faith. Margaret Loewen Reimer. CMU Press, 2017, 96 pages. This book explores the history and meaning of various Christian holidays, and the symbols and rituals connected with them. Many symbols have ancient roots, but Reimer also includes any Mennonite connections. She also considers the…
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Reading books in prison
Seven years ago, two friends and I from Rockway Mennonite Church in Kitchener, Ont., agreed to begin a book club with inmates in the local Grand Valley Institution for Women, a federal prison. Except for breaks in the summer, every month since then we have made our way through prison security and along a maze…
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Mennonites in Vietnam conflicted during war
As the government of South Vietnam teetered on the brink of collapse in the spring of 1975, Mennonite missionaries living in Saigon agonized over whether to leave or stay. In the end, mothers and children left the country, and only a few men stayed to experience the communist takeover. Luke S. Martin intended to return…
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Getting unfrozen about climate change
Christine Penner Polle knows well the warning in Al Gore’s presentations and his 2006 movie, An Inconvenient Truth. It is possible to move from denial to despair in regard to climate change, both of which result in nothing being done and people being frozen in place. First, she had to be unfrozen herself. Climate change…
