"Molochna 2004: Mennonites and Their Neighbours (1804-2004)": An International Conference, Zaporizhzhia, Ukraine, June 2-5, 2004 PETER LETKEMANN* The year 2004 marks the 200th anniversary of the founding of the Molochna Mennonite settlement in southern Russia (present-day Ukraine). To mark this historic anniversary, scholars…
BOOK REVIEWS The Dogmatic Imagination: The Dynamics of Christian Belief. By A. James Reimer. Scottdale, Pa.: Herald Press. 2003. $9.99, U.S.; $15.79, Can. James Reimer boldly titled this slim collection of essays The Dogmatic Imagination in an attempt to ?counter the common misconception that confessions, doctrines, dogmas and creeds…
Ritual as My Third Language: An Autobiographical Account JOHN REMPEL* Abstract: This article addresses the enduring ambivalence in believers churches concerning sacraments. Since their beginning, they have feared that outward forms substitute for inward experience. At the same time they possess a rich ritual life. After describing the nature of…
IN THIS ISSUE Twice a year-at Easter and again in the fall-our small Mennonite congregation in central Ohio interrupted the routine flow of the Sunday morning service to celebrate the Lord’s Supper and the ritual of footwashing. The services clearly followed a pattern, comforting in its predictability. Yet, from a…
The Origins and Development of Anointing Among Nineteenth-Century Mennonites MARK R. WENGER* Abstract: The rite of anointing the sick with oil for healing, based on James 5:14-16, was generally not practiced among Mennonites until the late nineteenth century. Documentary evidence suggests that early Anabaptists joined other reformers in rejecting anointing…
