‘Winds of the Spirit’ blow through the Global South
Anabaptist churches in Asia, Africa, and Latin America have grown rapidly in recent years, while membership and attendance numbers in North American and European churches have declined. In Winds of the Spirit, authors Conrad Kanagy, Tilahun Beyene, and Richard Showalter examine some of the reasons for this pattern through a recent study of Anabaptist churches of…
Kiss of the Fur Queen
“Mush!” the hunter cried into the wind, through the rising vapour of a northern Manitoba February, so crisp, so dry, the snow creaked underfoot, the caribou hunter Abraham Okinasis drove his sled and team of eight grey huskies through the orange-rose-tinted dusk.” He was racing in desperation to win the 1951 Millington Cup World Championship…
Breaking the chain of violence
Is the New Testament inherently violent? What does Jesus’ brutal death on the cross mean to persons holding a more passive view of non-resistance? How does one seriously read the text and make sense of Jesus’ teaching of non-violence and his behaviour with the money-changers in the Temple, for instance? These are the tough questions,…
Reimer’s distinction between policing and just war questioned
In this wonderfully crafted booklet, the last before his untimely death, Reimer gifts his readers with a succinct summary of a topic that has preoccupied much of Christian theology. The genius of this work lies in a careful and eminently fair portrayal of how warfare has been understood in church history. He situates each perspective…
Mendelssohn biography an honest revelation of the whole man
When Felix Mendelssohn died in 1847 aged 38, it marked the close of a life which increasingly was lived in the glare and demands of great fame, public adulation, high honours at home and abroad, especially in Britain, and personal relationships with kings, queens, princes and nobility in general. I don’t think it’s an exaggeration…
A Classic Mennonite Tale of One City
As a relative newcomer to the Canadian scene, I found Driedger’s latest book on the Mennonites in Winnipeg, his 19th, a virtual map as he traces their development in what has become the largest concentration of them in the world, surpassing Amsterdam. While slightly on the decline since 1991 when they numbered 21,900, they still…
Tongue Screws and Testimonies: Poems, Stories and Essays Inspired by the Martyrs Mirror
Tongue Screws and Testimonies, a book of essays, poems and artwork reflecting on the Martyrs Mirror, is written by insiders for insiders. In the introductory essay, Kirsten Beachy, the editor, states that this volume reflects a wide variety of opinions and attitudes to the role that the Martyrs Mirror has played and is playing the Anabaptist…
Dora and the Prince of Peace
Enough with trying to save the world – that’s an impossible and thankless job. Our real task is to save Baby Jaguar. As I sit on the living room couch with my youngest child nestled on my lap and a “Dora the Explorer” book in my hand, I’ve concluded that we can accomplish this task…
Biography sheds light on story of southern Manitoba’s conservative Mennonites
This highly detailed and comprehensive biography of Wilhelm H Falk (1892-1976), founding bishop of the Rudnerweide Mennonite conference, is an important addition to the history of Mennonites, particularly in southern Manitoba. It provides a rich account of that era with an acknowledged bias in favour of the subject—Bishop Falk. Part of the author’s declared motivation…
Small Town Murder Songs: Movie Review
Small Town Murder Songs is a Canadian movie with a Mennonite connection, first shown at the 2010 Toronto International Film Festival. The story, set in what is supposedly a small Mennonite town in Ontario, deals with a local police chief who tries to solve a distressing rape and murder case. The movie was filmed at Conestoga…
