A New Paradigm in Anabaptist/Mennonite Historiography’ JAMES M. STAYER* Eifriger als Zwingli. Die frhe Tuferbewegung in der Schweiz. By Andrea Strbind. Berlin: Duncker & Humblot. 2003. Pp. 617. Andrea Strbind describes herself as a church historian and Baptist theologian linked to the historical Anabaptist tradition. She sees church history as…
Cultural Attitudes in Western Christianity Toward the Community of Goods in Acts 2 and 4 RETA HALTEMAN FINGER* Abstract: In Acts 2 and 4, the Lukan author summarizes the nature of the Jerusalem church by describing a community of shared material goods. Because the texts are descriptive, rather than…
BOOK REVIEWS Biblical Concordance of the Swiss Brethren, 1540. Anabaptist Texts in Translation, vol. 2. Translated by Gilbert Fast and Galen A. Peters, introduction by Joe Springer, edited by C. Arnold Snyder. Kitchener, Ont., and Scottdale, Pa.: Pandora Press and Herald Press. 2001. Pp. lv + 227. $23, U.S.; $25,…
Frans Houttuyn, Amsterdam Bookseller: Preaching, Publishing and the Mennonite Enlightenment KEITH L. SPRUNGER* Abstract: Frans Houttuyn, disciple of Newton and other Enlightenment thinkers, was an eighteenth-century Mennonite bookseller, publisher and preacher of Amsterdam. His bookshop, the “Isaac Newton,” was a hub for like-minded Mennonites in discussing new ideas and buying…
IN THIS ISSUE Although many contemporary Mennonites participate vigorously in the economics, culture and politics of modern life, memories of an identity defined by their separation from the “world” persist, fueled by stories of persecution and an on-going theological commitment to believer’s baptism and the church as counter-cultural community. In…
BOOK REVIEWS A Mennonite Family in Tsarist Russia and the Soviet Union 1789-1923. By David G. Rempel with Cornelia Rempel Carlson. Toronto: University of Toronto Press. 2003. Pp. 356. $70, Can. The noted Mennonite historian David G. Rempel worked on this book for over twenty years before his death…
"Mista Mid-nights": Mennonites and Race in Mississippi DAVID R. SWARTZ* Abstract: The racially charged atmosphere of Mississippi in the 1960s saw Mennonites respond by defending segregation, by warning against the dangers of civil rights demonstrations and by increasing evangelism among both ?colored? and white nonbelievers. But a growing…
The Way to the City of Peace: The Anabaptist Utopia of Pieter Pietersz TOM HARDER* Abstract: The Way to the City of Peace, written in 1625 by the Waterlander Mennonite minister Pieter Pietersz, was one of the earliest books in the pilgrimage genre of spiritual literature. In describing the “City…
Contents of Volume LXXV October 2003 Number Four Tribute to Ervin Beck In This Issue Postmodern Rhapsody: Faithful Negotiations in the Poetry of Jeff Gundy Todd Davis Coming Into Voice: Three Mennonite Women Poets and the Beginning…
BLUE SONG For Ervin Beck, upon his retirement Walking down the west side of this hill through maple and beech, you see the river beyond the river grass, wind blowing along its top like a child’s hand as he waves goodbye for…
