Institute of Mennonite Studies

01/23/2025

Maxwell Kennel includes IMS publication "Resistance: Confronting Violence, Power, and Abuse within Peace Churches" in a short list of key books in Anabaptist and Mennonite studies.

Pick up a copy of the book here: https://www.amazon.com/Resistance-Confronting-Violence-within-Churches/dp/0936273585/

By Maxwell Kennel Anabaptist and Mennonite studies is a broad interdisciplinary conversation with distinct subfields and institutions with differing

01/20/2025

Need something to keep your mind off today's happenings? How about reading Andrea Cramer's article "The work of welcome in the wake of war: The story of Neighbor to Neighbor" in the latest issue of Vision?

The work of welcome in the wake of war The story of Neighbor to Neighbor Authors Andrea Cramer Neighbor to Neighbor Keywords: Muhammad Muheisen, refugees, asylum seekers, postflight, peacemaking, Afghanistan Abstract After growing up in a Christian community where support for the US military and its...

01/17/2025

The spring 2025 issue of VISION on War and peace, edited by Karl Koop, is now available for free online! Check out articles by Jonny Rashid, Janna Hunter-Bowman, Andrea Cramer, Rose Marie Berger, and many more, including prayers by Carol Penner!

https://press.palni.org/ojs/index.php/vision/issue/view/81

11/08/2024

"Ministerial leaders and theologians grappling with sexism, racism, subordination, suffering, and peacemaking...will find this an engaging and transformative read. As Soto Albrecht emphasises, the journey out of oppression is transformative, reminding us that God does not desire suffering in our lives: ‘Dios no desea sufrimiento para sus vidas.’"

Wan-Yin Lim reviews Liberating the Politics of Jesus: Renewing Peace Theology through the Wisdom of Women

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10/30/2024

In her article "Job and disability theology," Leah Thomas—assistant professor of pastoral care at Anabaptist Mennonite Biblical Seminary—reads the book of Job through the lens of René Girard's scapegoat theory and disability theology, arguing that "Girard’s scapegoat mechanism in conversation with disability theorists functions as a lens through which we can recognize the scapegoating of disabled people in contemporary society." Read more here:

Job and disability theology A lens for examining communal blame Authors Leah Thomas Anabaptist Mennonite Biblical Seminary Keywords: René Girard, Job, scapegoat, Ancient Near East, bodily suffering Abstract The book of Job has resulted in much discourse around suffering and disability. Among the ma...

10/29/2024

In his article "Disability contra Docetism," Daniel Rempel writes that "there is something about this focus on the disabled Christ—as understood in disability theology circles—that leads us to reject the allure of Docetism and move toward a more faithful Nachfolge of God incarnate." Read more here:

Disability contra Docetism Following the disabled Christ Authors Daniel Rempel Providence University College and Theological Seminary Keywords: disabled God, Christology, Nachfolge, Nancy Eiesland, Jesus' resurrection Abstract I attend not to the whole of Jesus’s human nature but rather to one par...

10/29/2024

In her editorial, Jackie Wyse-Rhodes describes the fall 2024 issue:

"In this issue of Vision, we bring together fifteen writers who engage with disability theology as a transformative conversation partner for biblical interpretation, theological reflection, worship leading and preaching, and spiritual autobiography. . . .

"In many ways, this issue of Vision serves as a tribute to the profound way Nancy Eiesland's life and work inaugurated—and continues to enliven—theologies that center disabled people in the context of a world (and a church) that often, knowingly and unknowingly, relegates disabled bodies to the margins or erases them altogether."

Read more here:

Editorial Authors Jackie Wyse-Rhodes Anabaptist Mennonite Biblical Seminary Keywords: disability, Nancy Eiesland, Anabaptist Disabilities Network Abstract Vision co-editor Jackie Wyse-Rhodes summarizes the 15 contributions to this issue on disability. She notes the influence of Nancy Eiesland on the...

10/23/2024

The fall 2024 issue of Vision on disability, edited by Jackie Wyse-Rhodes, is now available *for free* online. Check it out at this link!

Vision seeks to encourage theological reflection by church leaders on the identity, mission, and practices of the church from an Anabaptist-Mennonite perspective.

07/31/2024

IMS's new addition of Mennonite Peace Theology: A Panorama of Types is now available for purchase! This includes the original analysis of 10 different types of pacifism, plus a new preface by Alain Epp Weaver, and a new type by theologian Malinda Berry, who also writes a new afterword. This book is great for classrooms or for anyone interested in how Anabaptists think about peace.

Mennonite Peace Theology: A Panorama of Types, Mennonite scholars and church leaders analyze ten unique approaches to Mennonite peace theology.

07/17/2024

Free ebook of Anabaptism in Outline this week only!

This anthology provides the best introduction to the core beliefs and foundational principles of Anabaptism.

04/24/2024

The papers from the first two sessions of the Anabaptists & Philosophy Roundtable have been published in the Conrad Grebel Review. You can read them for free at the link below. Thanks to Laura Schmidt Roberts for serving as guest editor of this special issue.

The Conrad Grebel Review (CGR) is a multi-disciplinary peer-reviewed journal of Christian inquiry devoted to advancing thoughtful, sustained discussions of theology, peace, society, and culture from broadly-based Anabaptist/Mennonite perspectives. It is published three times a year.

04/22/2024

Missed the last Anabaptists & Philosophy Roundtable? Watch the video here! The roundtable focused on responses to Butler's Force of Nonviolence by Maxwell Kennel, Janna Hunter-Bowman, Laura Schmidt Roberts, and Marius van Hoogstraten.

The Anabaptists & Philosophy Roundtable is an occasional webinar series featuring scholars discussing Anabaptist life and thought in relation to philosophical themes, topics, and methods. The series is sponsored by Doopsgezind Seminarium, the Biblical and Religious Studies Division of Fresno Pacific...