theology

Theology students learn to value varied perspectives

‘Engagement with sacred texts and local churches shape a person’s worldview and contribute to faith development,’ says Erika Mills, who has co-pastored Blue Mountain Community Church since she graduated from the MTS program in 2017. (Conrad Grebel University College photo)

Faculty and students in the master of theological studies (MTS) program at Conrad Grebel University College have found that conversations between those with different approaches to Christianity are a valuable learning experience.

God or coincidence?

'Her baby was crying loudly...' (Image by joffi/Pixabay)

Four weeks ago, just over 40 volunteers returned to Winnipeg from a week of service, learning and community engagement in Cross Lake, Man. This marked the 10th year that our church, Sterling Mennonite Fellowship, has taken an eight-hour trek to spend a week in the Cree First Nation, also known as Pimicikamak.

Every time I come back from Cross Lake, I’m filled with stories of where I and others have seen God do amazing things we could never have imagined.

Let me give you one example from this year.

Imagining a new world at Women Doing Theology 2018

Carolina Hinojosa-Cisneros presents her talk “A Theo(poetic) Revolution: The Language of Liberation” at the 2018 Women Doing Theology conference in Elkhart, Indiana (Photo by Kayla Berkey)

The speakers at the 2018 Women Doing Theology Conference (left to right), Rev. Yvette Blair, Dr. Malinda Elizabeth Berry and Carolina Hinojosa-Cisneros, explored the theme “Talking’ ’Bout a Revolution: Dialogue, Practice and the Work of Liberation.” (Photo by Kayla Berkey)

In the workshop, “Mennonite and Feminist: The Revolutionary Work of Theologian Lydia Neufeld,” a panel of Canadian women responded to Harder’s most recent book, The Challenge is in the Naming: A Theological Journey. Left to right: Michele Rizoli, Kim Penner, Susanne Guenther Loewen, Lydia Harder Neufeld, and Carol Penner. Other workshops were led by Canadians Sarah Kathleen Johnson (on questions of worship and language), Marilyn Zehr and Svinda Heinrichs (on post-Mennonite lesbian pastors) and Steph Chandler Burns (on queer theology). (Photo by Virginia A. Hostetler)

Joanne Gallardo (left) leads singing during a worship session of the Women Doing Theology conference. (Photo by Kayla Berkey)

“Wipe away all tears for the dawn draws near, and the world is about to turn.” Over 200 people from across North America filled the Chapel of the Sermon of the Mount with these lyrics, singing and dancing the “Canticle of the Turning” at the third biennial Women Doing Theology (WDT) conference. The conference, which took place Nov.

Reading together in an uncertain world

Paul Doerksen coordinates the Take & Read program, which gathers 30 people together four times a year to read and discuss books and theology. (Photo courtesy of CMU)

A widely published poet, a retired professor, a farmer, a recent graduate and an engineer regularly discuss literature and theology together. Hard to imagine? The sight is more likely than you might think.

Menno theology in light of feminist critique

This book collects essays by Mennonite theologian Lydia Neufeld Harder.

In their appreciative foreword to Mennonite theologian Lydia Neufeld Harder’s retrospective essay collection, Kimberley Penner and Susanne Guenther Loewen write of the time, hospitality and encouragement that Harder provided to both of them during their PhD studies and dissertation writing.

Studying the Bible through a feminist lens

Around 10 women and female-identifying people meet weekly at Erb Street Mennonite Church in Waterloo, Ont., for Feminist Bible Study, an initiative supported by Pastors in Exile. (Photo by Jessica Reesor Rempel)

‘In the framework of my churches that I was at growing up, women weren’t portrayed as powerful people God worked through,’ says Caitie Walker, left, pictured with fellow Feminist Bible Study participant Emily Leyland. (Photo by Jessica Reesor Rempel)

Kim Rempel, a Feminist Bible Study participant, takes part in a March 22 discussion about the ‘Gospel according to Mary Magdalene.’ (Photo by Jessica Reesor Rempel)

‘Feminist Bible Study has helped me connect with my faith,’ says Katie Steckly, right, pictured with Caitie Walker, left, and Jessica Reesor Rempel, centre. (Photo by Emily Leyland)

Around 10 women and female-identifying people sit in a circle at Erb Street Mennonite Church in Waterloo, every week, drinking tea and discussing biblical texts through a feminist lens.

Who’s winning at church?

Over the past while, a number of people have inquired about my thoughts on a recent “Theology matters” study conducted by Canadian scholar David Haskell that draws a strong connection between theological conservatism in Canadian mainline Protestant churches and church attendance.

More-with-Less for toddlers

A page from the children’s book The Dumpster Diver, by Janet S. Wong, illustrated by David Roberts.

Being a parent, I’ve found, can be profoundly clarifying in terms of what aspects of faith one finds most meaningful, and therefore most worthy of teaching to one’s children. One aspect of the Mennonite tradition that has shaped my faith profoundly is the ethic of simple living, of living in ecologically-sustainable and socially-just ways, of living more-with-less. This is something I want to pass along to my two-year-old son.

Theology for toddlers

The cover of the children’s book, Where is God? published by skylightpaths.com

Here’s an unusual question: Do the children in your life read theology books?

Reading list on atonement

Atonement, Justice and Peace: The Message of the Cross and the Mission of the Church by Darrin Snyder Belousek. Eerdmans, 2012.
Instead of Atonement: The Bible’s Salvation Story and our Hope for Wholeness by Ted Grimsrud. Cascade Books, 2013.

Atonement metaphors/theories

Christus Victor/Ransom

Atonement

A statue of the Good Shepherd at the St. Callisto Catacombs, Rome. In the early centuries, Jesus was much more likely to be portrayed as the Good Shepherd than as a crucified Messiah.

The Gero Crucifix in the Kölner Dom (Cologne Cathedral, Germany). In the Middle Ages, Jesus’ suffering on the cross came to the fore, shadowing other images of Jesus as Saviour.

Jesus is pictured on the side of this early Christian sarcophagus in the Vatican Museum turning his back on Moses and the old law, and giving the new law of love to Peter.

How Christ actually provides for our salvation is the theme of many Mennonite books.

Dave Rogalsky is the Eastern Canada correspondent for Canadian Mennonite and pastor of Wilmot Mennonite Church, New Hamburg, Ont.

In the 1990s, when the Mennonite church in Ontario was deciding whether to add Hymnal: A Worship Book to its pews, a dear (now departed) saint approached me, saying, “I hear that they’ve taken out all the blood songs.” The person wondered if this important part of church heritage and theology was going to be left behind.

The Wounded Heart of God

"The Wounded Heart of God: The Asian Concept of Han and the Christian Doctrine of Sin" by Andrew Sung Park is not light bedtime reading. Yet, I think this is one of the most influential theological books that I have read. The thorough articulation of the concept of "han" fills the gap of what I have noticed in trauma studies and trauma healing resources.

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Is this heaven? . . . No its the 44

A few weeks ago in the first Sunday of Lent I challenged our congregation to fast from the fruits of privilege. One minor act on my part has been to ride the bus as often as possible. As a country-boy the bus has always been a source of fascination for me and this spiritual exercise paid dividends this last week as my experience ended comprising about half the sermon

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Debating the existence of my caring about the debate over the existence of God

I recently had a conversation with an atheist that did not fit the narrow conception I had of how that should have gone. It was a helpful and constructive experience. In any event the encounter spurred me to do a little snooping around on the internet for local atheist blogs and see what was happening around Winnipeg. In the process I ran into The Winnipeg Skeptics. One of the contributors has his own blog Startled Disbelief. I started reading various

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The mockery of careful planning

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Thoughts on School for Leadership Training Opening Worship

The chapel was filled with faces, many of them known to each other, younger, older, in between, all excited

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EMU

theology

School for Leadership Training

Christ, Who Fills Everything in Every Way

This past Sunday I preached on Ephesians 4:4-16. I wanted to draw attention to two themes in the book. First is the abundance of language about abundance. Believers are filled with riches, power and wealth. Second, this is set within the context of the body of Christ which (who) fills all things. A broad theme in my recent reading is on the notion of capitalism as that body which currently (and rapidly) seeks to fill everything. From last Sunday’s sermon,

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Preaching Existentially?

I am detecting a consistent trend in my preaching. I am targeting the individual. This comes in part from my own experience and formation in existentialism but also in my experience of the Mennonite church in which it is easy for individuals to point to our good works in social services and non-violent initiatives. And then when the individual is called to account it is typically with some moral leveraging or slightly shamed response of what else we could be doing.

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Romans 13 - Be Indebted to No One for Nothing

Romans 13 has long been a thorn in my Anabaptist side. John Howard Yoder of course went a long way in clarifying the distinction between being subject to those in authority and actually obeying those in authority. That reading however still left me with many unanswered questions as to what Paul is calling the church towards. In preparation for the Romans readings of this season of Advent I reread Giorgio Agamben's The Time

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