Issue: Number 9

In order to write this book, Barb Draper did a lot of digging among her roots. She performed an excellent job of searching out the reasons for some of the traditions and practices of the Mennonites of St. Jacobs and Elmira, Ont. Because she is a woman, a Mennonite and locally grown at that, she…

The way Mennonites talk about peace has changed in the past 100 years. While our grandparents talked about “nonresistance,” today we are apt to relate peace to “justice.” Stutzman, executive-director of Mennonite Church U.S.A., takes a careful look at what was written, especially in church periodicals, to trace how and why these changes happened. Through…

In this wonderfully crafted booklet, the last before his untimely death, A. James Reimer gives his readers a gift with his succinct summary of a topic that has preoccupied much of Christian theology. The genius of Christians and War lies in a careful and eminently fair portrayal of how warfare has been understood in church…

In the eyes of the watching world the Christian church is often seen for its mistakes, and as the church looks upon itself it must acknowledge this sinful past. While the church is not defined solely by these wrongs, the body of Christ must take responsibility for sinful actions committed in the name of Christ.…

I wish e-mail took up less of my life. I wish I could remember the last time I savoured a sunset. I wish I prayed more. “I do not understand my own actions,” wrote the Apostle Paul, “for I do not do what I want.” Arthur Boers explores this conundrum in his new book, Living…

More than a year after being diagnosed with lung cancer, Howard Willems is in the mood to fight. He’s not fighting the disease as much as the cause of his cancer, an illness that he believes could have been prevented. In the course of a 30-year career as a Canadian Food Inspections worker with the…

The four-year, $2.5-million Mennonite Central Committee (MCC) review process is over, and the single most significant outcome is a power shift from MCC’s Akron, Pa., office to its office in Winnipeg. MCC Binational, the arm of MCC that administered international programming out of Akron, was dissolved on March 30, and its work handed to MCC…

Despite war’s obstacles and disruptions, Mennonite Central Committee (MCC) partners in Afghanistan continue to provide life-enhancing and empowering services to Afghans. Traumatized women receive counselling. Students learn skills to constructively deal with conflict among their extended families. Malnourished children are fed, and their mothers are offered health, nutrition and childcare information. John and Lynn Williamson,…