My wife Joetta, pastor of Faith Mennonite Church, recently spoke at the Third Way congregation here in Saint Paul about Mennonite-Catholic relationships. She told our story in a way that speaks for both of us. Click here or on screenshot below to listen or watch.
Tag: Mennonitism
Remembering my friend, Ivan J. Kauffman (1938-2015)
“Nothing that is worth doing can be achieved in our lifetime; therefore we must be saved by hope.” – Reinhold Niebuhr Some men and women measure their hope by business plans, grant proposals, and bullet points. Ivan J. Kauffman measured his hope by oceans. Ivan died on July 15, 2015, as he neared the age…
Meeting in exile
Historic peace churches and the emerging peace church catholic Journal of Religion, Conflict and Peace Volume 1. Issue 1, Fall 2007. First presented as a lecture for Presentation Sisters’ Peace Studies Forum, 23 January 2004, Fargo ND. For the three “historic peace church” colleges of Indiana to join together in the Plowshares Peace Studies Collaborative and its…
You converted to what?
One Mennonite’s journey Commonweal, June 1, 2007 At Pentecost 2004, I made a small yet formidable step in my life of Christian discipleship. Having considered myself a “Catholic Mennonite” for years, I entered into full communion with the Roman Church and became what I think of as a “Mennonite Catholic.” Catholic friends were gratified but puzzled. After all, this might not have seemed an…
At Peace and Unafraid:
Public Order, Security, and the Wisdom of the Cross
Co-edited with Duane Friesen Many Mennonites are clear about avoiding the violence of war and some types of police activities. Less clear, though, is the extent to which Mennonites should participate in the coercive systems needed for safe, stable and peaceful communities. This book provides theological reflection on this and other questions of Mennonite nonviolent…
In the belly of a paradox
Reflections on the Dubious Service of Reflecting on Service The Conrad Grebel Review 19, no. 4 (Fall 2001). First published in the Journal of Peace and Justice Studies 10:2 (2000) 65-78. Mennonites have had perhaps the most substantial experience of any Protestant tradition in the deployment of people for service – over against more conventional missionary work. Yet…
Faithfulness, temptation and the Deuteronomic juncture
Is Constantinianism the most basic problem for Christian social ethics? Marpeck Lecture, Associated Mennonite Biblical Seminary, 5 March 1998 For a fuller development of this lecture, see “Deuteronomic or Constantinian: What is the Most Basic Problem for Christian Social Ethics?” in The Wisdom of the Cross: Essays in Honor of John Howard Yoder, eds Stanley Hauerwas, et al. (Grand…
Guy F. Hershberger and Reinhold Niebuhr on Christian love
Will the Real Augustinian Please Stand Up? Conference on “Anabaptists in Conversation: Mennonite and Brethren Interactions with Twentieth-Century Theologies,” 19-21 June 1997. Young Center for the Study of Anabaptist and Pietist Groups, Elizabethtown (Pa.) College. Agapeism and Hershberger Niebuhr and Augustine Sacrificial and Mutual Love Could Mennonite Theology Be Augustinian? Notes Agapeism and Hershberger In…
Beyond two- versus one-kingdom theology
Abrahamic community as a Mennonite paradigm for Christian engagement in society by Gerald W. Schlabach Conrad Grebel Review 11 (Fall 1993): 187-210. The Need for a Paradigm Paradigm Shift? Or Paradigm Breakdown? Sifting Through Two- and One-Kingdom Theologies Two-Kingdom Theology: Strengths and Limitations One-Kingdom Theology: Strengths and Limitations A Partial Integration Beyond Two- Versus One-Kingdom…