Peace: The Exhibition
It’s an unusual place for an exhibition about peace. Instead of in a Mennonite institution, this exhibition is at the Canadian War Museum in Ottawa where permanent exhibit space has row upon row of war machines. “The mandate at the Canadian War Museum is to look at Canada’s military history,” explains Amber Lloydlangston, assistant historian…
A new low for Hollywood
Late in this summer’s first blockbuster film, Man of Steel, Superman declares, “I’m as American as it gets!” Truer words were never spoken. But when the overt underlying message of the film is the assertion that he is also as close to Jesus as it gets, I have a problem. The latest version of the…
Diverse voices speak out
In recognition of National Aboriginal Day in Canada, on June 21, 2013, Herald Press released Buffalo Shout, Salmon Cry: Conversations on Creation, Land Justice and Life Together, a new book edited by Steve Heinrichs, director of Mennonite Church Canada Indigenous Relations. The writers, whom Heinrichs assembled from both settler and indigenous communities in Canada and…
‘Portrait’ of peacemakers
More than a thousand people saw the movie Peace Makers at the Theodorskirch during the first Night of Faith Festival that took place in Basel on May 17.
On being ‘positively contaminated’
“Imagine spitting into a Dixie cup. After doing so, how would you feel if you were asked to drink the contents of the cup?” This is the opening image used by Richard Beck in Unclean to explore the relationship between disgust and morality. Disgust is a universal cultural expression. Human beings appear to be conditioned…
The impact of one woman pastor’s ordination
By telling the story of the ordination of Emma Sommers Richards, a new book from the Institute of Mennonite Studies aims to show that “all church members will share in the benefits and blessings that God will shower on faithful Anabaptist Mennonite congregations.” The impact of this first ordination of a Mennonite woman pastor is…
Church exclusivity challenged
A bottle of wine moves through Forgiven/Forgotten, the Mennonite Central Committee (MCC) Canada-sponsored play about restorative justice that premiered last month at the Conrad Centre for the Performing Arts in Kitchener, Ont. Theatre of the Beat actors play Phil and his wife Robyn, who receive the bottle as a wedding gift and save the vintage…
Beyond stereotypes
Miriam Rudolph has spent most of the past decade living in Winnipeg, but Canadians often ask her what it’s like living in Paraguay, where she grew up.
A fresh reading of the Apostle Paul
CMU Press of Winnipeg describes its latest release, Citizenship: Paul on Peace and Politics, by Gordon Zerbe, as a collection of essays that offers “a revisiting of Paul’s theological vision and practical activism around the theme of citizenship.” Zerbe, a professor of New Testament at Canadian Mennonite University (CMU), Winnipeg, is the author of Non-Retaliation…
Christian ethics for non-academics
The late John Howard Yoder has long been recognized as an important Mennonite theologian, but his work has mostly been used by scholars and has not been readily accessible to the people in the pew.
