Ninety-two-year-old artist publishes children's book
Photo: Ruth Bergen Braun
When Rita Dahl was a child, the bottom third of the family’s kitchen door was her canvas. The top sections were for her older sisters to draw on.
books
Seeing beauty and injustice
Since her death in 1943, Simone Weil’s philosophy has impacted dozens of writers, thinkers and theologians. T.S. Eliot named her a saint. Simone de Beauvoir envied her spirit.
Author imagines a way forward amid environmental upheaval
‘This is a book about how to be people of hope,’ says Leah Reesor-Keller. Supplied photo.
A new book offers practices for leaders and communities to foster healthier cultures during a time of ecological devastation.
A summer of page-turners
(Book cover compilation by Betty Avery)
Are you browsing the library shelves aimlessly, uncertain as to which book to take home? Did you spend the entire summer gardening or at the lake, unable to find time to read? Or are you looking for a wonderful story to carry you through the gloomy winter? Look no further! Avid readers from across Mennonite Church Saskatchewan have plenty of recommendations to share.
Humble confessions, compelling stories
Norman Meade and his late wife Thelma, left, are pictured with Neill and Edith von Gunten along the Manigotagan River in 2010. (Photo courtesy of the von Guntens)
Walking Together: Intercultural Stories of Love and Acceptance (book cover)
As Neill von Gunten and his Black companions departed an increasingly volatile Chicago rally at which Martin Luther King Jr. had taken a brick to the head, KKK members and other whites attacked their bus at a red light. Bricks flew through windows. Rioters rocked the bus.
Author launches her new children’s book
Mennonite author Barbara Nickel of Yarrow, B.C., launched her new children’s historical novel, Dear Peter, Dear Ulla at the Mennonite Heritage Museum in Abbotsford on Nov. 6, following a virtual book launch in October from her home province of Saskatchewan. The book tells the story of two 12-year-old cousins at the start of the Second World War, Peter in a Mennonite farming community in Saskatchewan, and Ulla in Danzig, Germany. The two have never met but develop a relationship through letters as pen pals.
The story behind a 500-year-old book
John Thiesen, left, archivist at the Mennonite Library & Archives at Bethel College, and Dale Schrag look at Schrag's favourite book in the MLA collection: the third edition of Erasmus’ Greek and Latin translation of the New Testament, which turns 500 years old in 2022. The photo was taken in early March of 2020, when Schrag, working as a volunteer fundraiser, had successfully completed a $1 million endowment campaign for the MLA. (Photo by Taylor Brown)
The Mennonite Library and Archives (MLA) at Bethel College in North Newton, Kan. is inviting the public to view the oldest book in its collection, which celebrates its 500th birthday in 2022.
New book explores God’s vision for the church
Robert J. Suderman is the author of 'The Baby and the Bathwater: Aspiration and Reality in the Life of the Church.'
In his new book, The Baby and the Bathwater: Aspiration and Reality in the Life of the Church, Robert J. Suderman, former general secretary for Mennonite Church Canada, makes a case for the importance of the church at a time when its relevance is in question, even by its own members.
Mennonite recipes with a plant-based twist
Jo Snyder is the author of ‘The Vegan Mennonite Kitchen,’ a new cookbook published by Pandora Press. (Photo courtesy of Jo Snyder)
Jo Snyder has moved around Canada pursuing a career in communications and toured across Europe playing punk music, but a new project has brought her back to her Mennonite roots in the Waterloo Region.
Heinrichs launches online book club
‘It is a text that, if made flesh in Canada, would revolutionize the church’s relationship to Indigenous peoples, spiritualities and lands,’ Steve Heinrichs says of ‘Beloved Amazonia.’ (Photo by Steve Heinrichs)
Mennonite Church Canada’s Indigenous-Settler Relations program is running a five-week online book club beginning this April.
The chosen text is Beloved Amazonia, a courageous collection of documents from the Pan-Amazon Synod, including an “apostolic exhortation” to the church from Pope Francis.
CommonWord’s top hits of 2020
The year of the coronavirus pandemic saw everyone spending more time at home, and many paying increased attention to their bookshelves. We asked CommonWord, the bookstore and resource centre of Mennonite Church Canada and Canadian Mennonite University, what people read in 2020. In-store and curbside pickup sales and loans across Canada have declined, says Arlyn Friesen Epp, CommonWord’s director. But online orders have increased significantly, making the staff busier than ever.
'Be It Resolved' released
(Photo courtesy of Steve Heinrichs)
A new anthology published by Mennonite Central Committee (MCC) Canada and Mennonite Church Canada hit the press this fall. Be it Resolved: Anabaptists & Partner Coalitions Advocate for Indigenous Justice, 1966-2020 is a collection of more than 90 documents detailing commitments Anabaptists have made to Indigenous justice and decolonization since the 1960s.
Making believe together, participating in dialogue
Magdalene Redekop (right), a professor emerita of English at the University of Toronto who grew up in a conservative Mennonite community in Manitoba, argues in her new book that 'art provides a space where we can deal with the crisis of representation by making believe together and by participating in dialogue.'
Ancient cave drawings illustrate that artistic expression is endemic to humanity. And throughout history, artists have pushed boundaries and come into conflict with their communities.
Century-old photos shed new light on Mennonites
Johann E. Funk took the cover photo for Mennonite Village Photography: Views from Manitoba 1890–1940 in 1903.
Photographer Peter H. Klippenstein took this portrait in the 1910s. Subject unknown. (Mennonite Heritage Archives photo)
Peter H. Klippenstein took this photo of the Altbergthal village road in the 1930s. Subjects unknown. (Mennonite Heritage Archives photo)
Peter G. Hamm took this photo of a horse and wagon in the 1920s. (Mennonite Heritage Archives photo)
Hundred-year-old images on fragile glass negatives, discovered in a dusty barn in the heritage village of Neubergthal, Man., open a window to Mennonite life in Manitoba in the early 20th century.
Who goes canoeing with their mother-in-law?
The adventurous canoe trip of Kyle Penner and Patti Enns is one of the 17 stories in the book. (Photo by Ashley Penner)
Patti Enns drew by hand 18 delicately detailed maps for the book.
Who goes canoeing with their Mother-in-Law?
Kyle Penner’s December wasn’t filled with just Christmas preparations, but with a multitude of book launches.
Help for reading the Old Testament
Many conversations about the Old Testament are determined by questions of modernity. What are the facts? What really happened? The facts are then loaded as ammunition in the culture wars of “liberal” and “conservative.” Other questions bring faith to the shoals of doubt on matters of a potentially violent and misogynistic God.
A global conversation through books
Korean translations of Mennonite books are a boon to seminarians and lay leaders in Anabaptist house churches, but they also appeal to other Christians in Korea. (Image by Free-Photos/Pixabay)
“Although each congregation has its own history and social and cultural background, it is common to experience the same sorts of conflicts, troubles and situations,” says Ellul Yongha Bae, a Mennonite church leader and publisher in South Korea.
Building resource connections
CommonWord is partnering with Herald Press to make 'The Bible Unwrapped' available for small-group study at a discounted price. (Photo by Aaron Epp)
CommonWord is just over four years old. In that short time we have doubled our sales (reaching more than 10,000 retail customers last year), more than doubled the number of website users, and have continued to circulate half of our loan materials outside Manitoba—and increasingly to people outside our immediate Mennonite Church Canada and Canadian Mennonite University communities.
‘It Takes Raindrops to Fill a Lake’
Walter Paetkau cuts the cake celebrating the release of his book 'It Takes Raindrops to Fill a Lake' at the Reach Gallery Museum in Abbotsford. (The Abbotsford News photo by Dale Klippenstein)
More than 50 years ago, Walter Paetkau founded Abbotsford Community Services (ACS), an umbrella organization bringing various local service organizations under one roof.
Remembering Rachel Held Evans
Author Rachel Held Evans impacted thousands of people. (Photo courtesy of RachelHeldEvans.com)
When Rachel Held Evans died on May 4 at the age of 37, it shocked the thousands of people who follow her work.
CommonWord shares books by the dozen
Arlyn Friesen Epp is the director of CommonWord Bookstore and Resource Centre, located in Canadian Mennonite University’s Marpeck Commons. (Photo by Nicolien Klassen-Wiebe)
CommonWord’s ‘Cheaper by the dozen’ program sends 12 books to Mennonite Church Canada congregations anywhere in Canada, free of charge, on a six-week loan. (Photo courtesy of CommonWord Bookstore and Resource Centre)
Still a hidden gem for some, CommonWord Bookstore and Resource Centre is a well of resources for the Mennonite community and beyond. One of the ways it shares these materials and guidance is through its “Cheaper by the dozen” program.
Readers ‘zoom’ to discuss Unsettling the Word
Congregants at a Toronto church did a six-week study of 'Unsettling the Word: Biblical Experiments in Decolonization' via video conference. (Photo courtesy of David Warkentin)
In a large city like Toronto, attending a church small group or Bible study may not be feasible for those with families or busy schedules. But Toronto United Mennonite Church has found a technological solution.
Translation valuable to Swahili-speaking pastors
Begin Anew, authored by Palmer Becker, and its Swahili translation, Anza Upya. (Photo by Joyce Maxwell)
Palmer Becker, centre, leads a workshop session in Tanzania in February. Also pictured are Debbi DiGennaro, Eastern Mennonite Missions’ regional representative, and translator Baraka Amolo Ouso. (Photo by Joyce Maxwell)
In mid-February, 50 Tanzanian Mennonite Church leaders, under the guidance of Palmer Becker, a Canadian Mennonite author and teacher, studied spiritual leadership, pastoral care and Anabaptist essentials using a translation of Becker’s book Begin Anew: Christian Discipleship Seminars.
From power to pathos
The Brodsky estate of Peter and Marie Bahnmann. (Photo from The Russian Mennonite Story: The Heritage Cruise Lectures. www.therussianmennonitestory.com)
‘Called to be a church for others’
The August sky was an eerie brownish-orange as the morning news warned Edmontonians not to exert themselves outside. Thick smoke smelling of charred forests blanketed the city, and the air quality was so poor that even healthy young people stayed indoors.
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