Before Malcolm Gladwell signed copies of his newest book, David and Goliath: Underdogs, Misfits, and the Art of Battling Giants, for a gathered crowd at Floradale Mennonite Church, he spoke at a fundraiser there for the Woolwich Counselling Centre in nearby Elmira, which was founded by the author’s mother Joyce.
The board and staff of MennoMedia, the publishing agency for Mennonite Church U.S.A. and MC Canada, has issued a statement regarding the continued publication of John Howard Yoder books in light of ongoing discussion of Yoder’s long-term sexual harassment and abuse.
The statement approved by the board of directors reads:
Directed by Frances Lawrence. Written by Simon Beaufoy and Michael deBruyn (screenplay); Suzanne Collins (novel). Starring Jennifer Lawrence, Liam Hemsworth, Woody Harrelson and Donald Sutherland. A Color Force/Lionsgate Entertainment release, 2013. Rated PG.
Logan Mehl-Laituri, a veteran of the war in Iraq, has written a new book, For God and Country (In That Order): Faith and Service for Ordinary Radicals, the first book written by such a recent war veteran published by Herald Press.
Sharing a meal is an important part of the day program offered by the Mennonite Benevolent Society in Ukraine. Several of the clients are blind, and this is a safe outing for them and one of the only times they get to socialize and talk.
Louis Sawatsky
I once read a quote describing the purest form of ministry as "everything believers do to honour and glorify God. " That's a broad definition. It gives us opportunity to do ministry with every breath we take. But while honouring and glorifying God, ministry also benefits both the giver as well as the receiver.
Markus Poetzsch
There are some verses in the Bible that we studiously avoid thinking about, let alone discuss publicly. They are like repressed memories or family secrets that threaten to cast us back into shame and confusion, to undo the semblance of peace, fellowship and orderliness that we have so diligently cultivated for ourselves.
Sandra Bullock and George Clooney, as astronauts Ryan Stone and Matt Kowalski in Gravity.
“Houston, I have a bad feeling about this mission,” says Matt Kowalski as he dances circles around the space shuttle Explorer, which is in orbit around the Earth. His words come early in this fall’s blockbuster film, Gravity, an awe-inspiring work of cinematic art.
(Shirley Hershey Showalter)
Born into a plain-dressing, plain-speaking Mennonite farm family in Lancaster County, Pa., Shirley Hershey Showalter was named after Shirley Temple, a movie star she was forbidden to watch.
Watch the World CD cover
Creating a CD is both simple and complex. The proliferation of digital recording equipment and the ease and non-expensive nature of producing CDs has led many local musicians and congregations to produce their own music recordings. But music and its recording is complex.
‘Book,’ a 2007 painting by Winnipeg artist Seth Woodyard.
Michael Boss began creating icons, including this 1998 image of St. Michael, as a way of tapping into an art tradition larger than himself.
A copper crucifix, created in 2000 by Michael Boss.
Today, when people think of the word “icon,” images of computers and technology come to mind. For centuries, though, the icon—derived from the Greek eikon or ikon—has referred exclusively to images of the divine or sacred.
English professors Monika Hilder and Stephen Dunning together bring more than 40 years of research on the Inklings’ authors. They head the newly formed Inklings Institute of Canada at Trinity Western University.
Trinity Western University has established a new research unit dedicated to the study of a group of popular British authors and thinkers, the Inklings. While the name may not be immediately familiar to many, the most famous members—C.S. Lewis and J.R.R. Tolkien—are certainly household names, conjuring memories of favourite childhood fantasy stories.
A smoke-filled hookah bar in Syria. A tense meeting with Israeli soldiers on a “Jesus Walk” in Nazareth. A classroom in the deep south of the U.S. in the 1970s. Standing by a hospital bed. On the streets of Calcutta. In a park full of playing kids.
Mark Vuorinen rehearses with his 250-voice mass choir in preparation for the performance of the War Requiem.
At a time when the world is once again gearing up for war, its horrors will be dramatized and brought home in Waterloo Region through an annual three-day international peace conference ending Oct. 19 with a rousing rendition of Benjamin Britten’s War Requiem by a mass choir and symphony.
If all the texts in the Bible are important, how do we decide which texts are the most important, the ones that deserve our utmost attention, discernment or devotion?
Hans Werner uses his father’s stories to reflect on questions of autobiography and Mennonite identity in the 20th century. The stories of his father’s (and mother’s) experiences of growing up in difficult circumstances in Stalinist Russia, and their harrowing experiences during World War II, are told from the perspective of the son who is trying to understand his parents.
Elmon Lichti’s boots represent the 10,000 Canadians who chose alternative service rather than army service during World War II. Lichti, from Tavistock, Ont., was in alternative service as a road builder, farmer, and forester.
It’s an unusual place for an exhibition about peace. Instead of in a Mennonite institution, this exhibition is at the Canadian War Museum in Ottawa where permanent exhibit space has row upon row of war machines.
Late in this summer’s first blockbuster film, Man of Steel, Superman declares, “I’m as American as it gets!” Truer words were never spoken. But when the overt underlying message of the film is the assertion that he is also as close to Jesus as it gets, I have a problem.
In recognition of National Aboriginal Day in Canada, on June 21, 2013, Herald Press released Buffalo Shout, Salmon Cry: Conversations on Creation, Land Justice and Life Together, a new book edited by Steve Heinrichs, director of Mennonite Church Canada Indigenous Relations.
Max Wiedmer’s Peace Maker film, created in ‘portrait’ format, rather than as a conventional ‘landscape,’ was shown seven times over seven hours on May 17 in Basel’s Theodorskirch as part of the city’s first Night of Faith Festival.
More than a thousand people saw the movie Peace Makers at the Theodorskirch during the first Night of Faith Festival that took place in Basel on May 17.
“Imagine spitting into a Dixie cup. After doing so, how would you feel if you were asked to drink the contents of the cup?” This is the opening image used by Richard Beck in Unclean to explore the relationship between disgust and morality.
As Frances Ringenberg, left, a member of the pastoral team of Prairie Street Mennonite Church in Elkhart, Ind., greets Emma Sommers Richards at the celebration of the book about Richards’ ordination, Ringenberg said, ‘You were the first woman pastor I ever saw.’ Richards was pastor of Lombard (Ill.) Mennonite Church, where Ringenberg was a member b
By telling the story of the ordination of Emma Sommers Richards, a new book from the Institute of Mennonite Studies aims to show that “all church members will share in the benefits and blessings that God will shower on faithful Anabaptist Mennonite congregations.”
A scene from Forgiven/Forgotten, the latest play by the Toronto-based Theatre of the Beat troupe, which is on a cross-Canada tour sponsored by Mennonite Central Committee Canada. Pictured: Kim Walker and Johnny Wideman.
A bottle of wine moves through Forgiven/Forgotten, the Mennonite Central Committee (MCC) Canada-sponsored play about restorative justice that premiered last month at the Conrad Centre for the Performing Arts in Kitchener, Ont.
Visual artists Miriam Rudolph and Bennie Peters explore their upbringing in Paraguay in the new art exhibit, ‘From Paraguay to Winnipeg: Explorations of Place, Home and Childhood,’ at the Mennonite Heritage Centre Gallery.
‘Working in the Garden’ by Bennie Peters. Peters, 32, works predominantly with paint on drywall to create his work.
‘Waving Goodbye’ by Miriam Rudolph. Rudolph, 30, grew up in Paraguay, lived in Winnipeg for nine years and currently resides in Minneapolis, Minn. Much of her work deals with searching for belonging.
Miriam Rudolph has spent most of the past decade living in Winnipeg, but Canadians often ask her what it’s like living in Paraguay, where she grew up.
CMU Press of Winnipeg describes its latest release, Citizenship: Paul on Peace and Politics, by Gordon Zerbe, as a collection of essays that offers “a revisiting of Paul’s theological vision and practical activism around the theme of citizenship.”
The late John Howard Yoder has long been recognized as an important Mennonite theologian, but his work has mostly been used by scholars and has not been readily accessible to the people in the pew.
