Art exhibit explores the unjust food systems of society
The right to food is a non-issue for many Canadians. In fact, many people in the western world take food for granted. From a faith perspective, many feel that, although they may not be hungry themselves, food systems are unjust when there is abundant food available to some while others go without. Nineteen artists from…
Promotional video for Whatever Happened To Dinner? created
A short promotional video about the new Herald Press book, Whatever Happened to Dinner?, can now be found on YouTube, courtesy of Wayne Gehman, a video producer at Third Way Media. For Ron Rempel, executive director of Mennonite Publishing Network (MPN), the video illustrates the merit of merging MPN and Third Way Media. “It shows…
MC Canada approves MPN/Third Way merger
What began as a bit of barn-burner issue settled down this past weekend into a few comforting embers during the Mennonite Church Canada leadership assembly in Saskatoon, when members of the General Board approved a merger of two Mennonite organizations: Mennonite Publishing Network(MPN) and Third Way Media. During a brief 30-minute meeting earlier this month,…
Let the dialogue on sexuality ‘break forth’
Those who believe in a creating God must acknowledge that a bodily existence—our sexuality—and our spiritual essence—our souls—are both part of God’s creative action in bringing forth into existence human beings. We are human because we are embodied souls. Jesus was incarnated, becoming an embodied spirit, and, thereby, fully human. Our sexuality and spirituality are…
Helping Christians talk about sexuality
Anne Krabill Hershberger is editor of the second edition of Sexuality: God’s Gift (Herald Press, 2010). In July, she spoke to John Longhurst of Mennonite Publishing Network about why it’s hard for Christians to talk about sexuality, and about the nature of true intimacy. Longhurst: Sexuality: God’s Gift first came out in 1999. What is…
Media merger awaits denominational ratification
The merger of Mennonite Publishing Network (MPN), the publishing ministry of Mennonite Church Canada and MC U.S.A., and Third Way Media, a department of Mennonite Mission Network (MMN), was approved on Sept. 23 by the boards of MPN and MMN at a meeting in Pittsburgh, Pa. Final ratification, though, is subject to affirmation by MC…
A bleak picture of organized religion
I watched them to the very end, but Richard Dawkins was not in Agora’s list of credits, but he might as well have been. An “evangelical” atheist, Dawkins is known for quipping about Christopher Hitchens’ book God is Not Great: How Religion Poisons Everything, suggesting that the main title had one word too many: “Great.”…
Recovering a tradition of preserving food
Not that long ago, many people knew how to preserve food. Information about canning, freezing and drying was passed down from generation to generation. But that’s not the case today, say Susanna Meyer and Mary Clemens Meyer, co-authors of Saving the Seasons: How to Can, Freeze or Dry Almost Anything, a new book from Herald…
Not a forecast of unseen things
In his new book, Nelson Kraybill, most recently president of Associated Mennonite Biblical Seminary, Elkhart Ind., does not follow the Book of Revelation in a linear fashion, something that will be confusing for some. But it allows him to work on themes like emperor worship, the returning Nero myth, and the patronage system of client…
To Africa and back, again
On June 27, the Princess Twin Cinema in uptown Waterloo had to open up a second room to view the 2010 movie, Return to Africa: The Story of Elsie Cressman, with Cressman, now 87, in attendance. Cressman was only in her 20s when she went to Africa in 1953. Although she was “just a nurse,”…
