Focus on Books & Resources
Mennonite leader offers approaches to polarization
Experiences of violence to be overtly named and resisted
Spring 2023 List of Books & Resources
‘Our blood can change things in your country’
MJ Sharp, a young Mennonite peacemaker from the United States, was killed in the Democratic Republic of the Congo five years ago. This book by Marshall King explains not only how and why he died, but it also tells the story of his remarkable life.
Not just a book of big ideas
Four panels on page 108 of Jonathan Dyck’s graphic novel Shelterbelts are stuck in my mind.
Overcoming the fear of not being believed
Five years ago, a congregant of First Mennonite Church in Winnipeg asked David Driedger about church policy addressing sexual abuse and harassment between members of a congregation, following an incident with another congregant.
A peacemaker’s guide to Revelation
Menno Media: Jeremy, your book Upside-Down Apocalypse is being referred to as a peacemaker’s guide to the Book of Revelation. What prompted you to write about Revelation?
Laughs at book launch
After several years of pandemic-induced Zoom book launches in B.C., satirist Andrew Unger winged his way to Abbotsford to face a living, breathing audience at the Mennonite Heritage Museum on April 2.
‘I wanted to know more about it’
When Marion Roes began researching her family history, she came across some surprises connected to her family’s business. Intrigued, she tried to find out more about local undertakers, but there was almost no material available. So she began collecting information and doing interviews.
Spring 2022 List of Books & Resources
Writer’s struggles offer reassurance to young mothers
When it comes to motherhood, Shari Zook asks, “Why don’t we get more training for the hardest job of our lives? Why do we feel that we have to do it alone?”
Because she is so open and honest about the challenges of raising young children, this book can provide comfort and reassurance for others who are feeling inadequate.
Podcast creator shares insights into his craft
Ken Ogasawara counts it a “sacred gift” when he is trusted with another person’s story. As he shapes that into a podcast episode, he is mindful of “doing justice to their story.”
Book mixes Menno history, cocktail recipes
There are countless Mennonite cookbooks, but last month saw the debut of what is likely the world’s very first Mennonite cocktail book.
What happens when we read together?
When my family moved to Canada, I was amazed to learn that the Canadian Broadcasting Company ran a reality show featuring—of all things!—books. Each year, the Canada Reads program selects five books it encourages Canadians to read, with each title being championed by a public personality.
Digital corner
To watch
“Who cares? The elderly among us... ” (length 1:27:30).
In the light of COVID-19, a panel explores how the pandemic has challenged systems that care for elders and offers insight into the experience of seniors. Part of the Face2Face series offered by Canadian Mennonite University at cmu.ca/face2face.
New hymnal will be ‘part of the fabric of our lives’
The Mennonite Worship and Song Committee, pictured in Winnipeg in July 2019, from left to right, front row (kneeling): Adam Tice and Anneli Loepp Thiessen; middle row: Mike Erb, Paul Dueck, Darryl Neustaedter Barg, SaeJin Lee, Tom Harder, Allan Rudy-Froese, Katie Graber, Sarah Kathleen Johnson, Bradley Kauffman and Cynthia Neufeld Smith; and back row: Benjamin Bergey. (Photos courtesy of MennoMedia)
It’s the result of an idea proposed over a decade ago and the culmination of more than four years of intense work. It includes close to a thousand hymns and worship resources that were chosen from a body of work more than 10 times that number. It represents the efforts of hundreds of Mennonites from across Canada and the United States.
Living at ‘home together’
Using the metaphor of home, a new book relates the history of the Menno Simons Centre, a residence community for university students in Vancouver for more than 30 years.
Pastor channels love of stories into children’s books
When Kevin Drudge needed a children’s story for his church’s Sunday morning worship service, he decided to write one himself. But what began as a one-time occasion has become more than two dozen stories and a deal with a publisher.
Fall 2020 List of Books & Resources
A story that ‘wanted to be told’
After high school, Susanna Compton took a gap year before heading off to university. She turned that experience into her first published book.
Intriguing novel explores family trauma
Unsettled with her status as a newly retired person, an archivist uses her skills to look into the difficult parts of her own family history. Along the way, she uncovers a shocking event that explains the intergenerational trauma in the family. The experience helps her learn to accept herself and love others more unconditionally.
Classics of the Radical Reformation series relaunched
Over the past 50 years, the Institute for Mennonite Studies at Anabaptist Mennonite Biblical Seminary, Elkhart, Ind., has published a series of books making primary works of the Radical Reformation available in English.
Shaped by our essential book
The name Arab Christians use for the Bible translates literally as “The Holy Book,” and they often shorten it to “The Book.” Article 4 of the Confession of Faith in a Mennonite Perspective states: “The Bible is the essential book of the church.” What does it mean if we see the Bible as the book above
The world in colour
If the Bible is a story, it is also something more: It’s a book that dares to make an authoritative claim on life. Between the poems and proverbs and parables, a portrait is taking shape of who God is and what exactly God desires. The Bible suggests that to learn to walk with God and love the things that God loves is to begin to live in sync with the world’s true design.