Not Pledging as Liturgy: Lessons from Karl Barth and American Mennonites on Refusing National Oaths JOHN PERRY* Abstract: Controversy over whether Christians may offer national oaths-such as Barth’s refusal of Hitler’s loyalty oath and the Mennonite debate about the Pledge of Allegiance-can help the church better understand its relation…
Key Decisions in the Lives of the Old Order Amish: Joining the Church and Migrating to Another Settlement LAWRENCE P. GREKSA AND JILL E. KORBIN* Abstract: The rates at which adult children migrate to other Amish settlements and decide to leave the Amish church were derived from the 1993 directory…
The Mennonite Presence in the Chaco from a Catholic Perspective LUCIO ALFERT[*] TRANSLATED BY C. J. DYCK Abstract: For nearly 500 years the political and cultural life of South America has been deeply shaped by the institutions and faith of the Catholic church. The growing presence…
The Role and Authority of the Lutheran Confessional Writings: Do Lutherans Really “Condemn the Anabaptists”? DAVID G. TRUEMPER* Abstract: Written for the opening session of a round of dialogue between the Mennonite Church USA and the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, this essay explores the nature of the…
Confessions of Faith in the Anabaptist/Mennonite Tradition THOMAS FINGER* Abstract: Mennonites are neither a creedal church nor a confessional one in the sense of adhering to a single authoritative confession. They are confessional, however, in the sense of having authored numerous confessions that at times have played important roles in…
A Historical and Theological Context for Mennonite-Lutheran Dialogue JOHN D. ROTH* Abstract: Lutherans and Anabaptists first encountered each other in the tumultuous events of the sixteenth-century Reformation. In their struggle to defend their nascent reform movement against threats from within as well as without, the cohort of leaders around Martin…
The Church and Homosexuality: Review Essay WILLARD M. SWARTLEY* Life Together: Family, Sexuality, and Community in the New Testament and Today. By Stephen C. Barton. New York: T. & T. Clark. 2001. Pp. 256. $33.95. The Bible and Homosexual Practice. By Robert A. Gagnon. Nashville: Abingdon Press. 2001. Pp.
Historical Roots of a Post-Gulag Theology for Russian Mennonites WALTER SAWATSKY* Abstract: The 200-year sojourn of Mennonites in Russia can serve as a paradigm for Mennonites envisioning a post-Gulag future anywhere. It contains elements of living out early Anabaptist visions, of adapting those visions to changing historical contexts, of…
IN THIS ISSUE When Mennonites in North America turn their attention to the Russian Mennonite story, the narrative is typically anchored by a few key dates: Catherine the Great’s invitation to settle the fertile farmlands of the Ukraine in 1789; the formation of the Mennonite Brethren in 1860; the first…
John Knox Confronts the Anabaptists: The Intellectual Aspects of His Encounter RICHARD G. KYLE* Abstract: Along with the other Protestant Reformers, John Knox waged a war against two fronts-the Catholic establishment and the left wing radicals. While his great enemy was the Catholic Church, recognized by law and backed by…
