We reported on this on May 19, 2022. Apparently Doug Mastriano and his family attends Pond Bank Mennonite Church in Chambersburg, Pennsylvania. Now Tim Huber, a writer at Anabaptist World, reports on it: CMC executive director Brian Hershberger told Anabaptist World by...
Anabaptism
The complicated history of John Howard Yoder’s The Politics of Jesus
Yoder’s book turns fifty this year. Asbury University historian David Swartz reflects on its complicated history. Here is a taste of his piece at The Anxious Bench: I’ve not seen this anniversary mentioned anywhere yet—and for good reason: John Howard...
An Anabaptist scholar weighs-in on nonviolence and the Metaxas punch
If you are unfamiliar with what I mean by the “Metaxas punch,” get up to speed here and here and here. Jared Burkholder, a history professor at Grace College in Winona Lake, Indiana and advocate of nonviolence, weighed-in at his...
The *Believe Me* Book Tour Comes to Mechanicsburg Church of the Brethren
I had a great visit yesterday with an adult education class at Mechanicsburg (PA) Church of the Brethren. The class is reading Believe Me: The Evangelical Road to Donald Trump and it was a privilege to be present to answer questions...
Teaching this Semester
This semester, for the first time in my eighteen-year career at Messiah College, I will not be teaching any history courses. Instead, I will be teaching three sections of a required first-year seminar titled “Created and Called for Community.” This...
The GOP is Trying to Win the Amish Vote for Trump
Over at The Washington Post, Julie Zauzmer reports on the “Amish PAC,” an attempt by Republican operatives to get the Pennsylvania Amish to vote for Donald Trump. Here is a taste: Amish PAC aims to win more votes for Trump in...
What Hath Anabaptists To Do With Evangelicals?
A few years ago I wrote an essay in a book, edited by Jared Burkholder and David Cramer, titled, The Activist Impulse: Essays on the Intersection of Evangelicalism and Anabaptism. Since I self-identify as an evangelical, work at a college with...
The *Believe Me* Book Tour Rolls Through Elkhart, Indiana and Holland, Michigan
During the Q&A session at Taylor University on Tuesday night someone asked me if my work at a college with Anabaptist roots (Messiah College) influenced what I wrote in Believe Me: The Evangelical Road to Donald Trump. It was a great...
The *Believe Me* Book Tour is Coming to Anabaptist Mennonite Biblical Seminary in Elkhart, Indiana
I will be talking about Believe Me: The Evangelical Road to Donald Trump at Anabaptist Mennonite Biblical Seminary (AMBS) in Elkhart on October 3, 2018. The event is part of the AMBS Noon Lunch Forum and will take place in the...
Jared Burkholder Reviews *Believe Me*
When you get a chance, check out the new look at Jared Burkholder‘s blog The Hermeneutic Circle. Today he is running a review of Believe Me: The Evangelical Road to Donald Trump. This is my favorite review so far! Not only is...
Can Progressive Evangelicals Claim the “Anabaptist” Label?
Richard Beck of Abilene Christian University has written a very interesting piece explaining the difference between progressive evangelicalism and Anabaptism. Â The election of Donald Trump has led many progressive Christians to claim the Anabaptist mantle But as Beck explains,...
The Author's Corner with David Weaver-Zercher
David Weaver-Zercher is Professor of American Religious History at Messiah College. This interview is based on his new book, Martyrs Mirror: A Social History (Johns Hopkins University Press, 2016). JF: What led you to write Martyrs Mirror? DWZ: Anyone who...
The Anabaptist Turn in American Evangelical Historiography
In some respects we are all Anabaptists these days–at least those of us who are bothered by the way politicians tend to conflate the church and the United States of America. I don’t know what the prevalence of Christian nationalism...
“The Search for Piety and Obedience” Moves To a New Location
Devin Manzullo-Thomas Some of you are familiar with Devin Manzullo-Thomas‘s blog “The Search for Piety and Obedience.” It just came to my attention that this great blog on the Brethren in Christ Church and the connections between Anabaptism and evangelicalism...
Is There An Anabaptist Vision of Sport?
Does look like an Anabaptist celebration? Over at The Pietist Schoolman, Chris Gehrz gives us a preview of his forthcoming presentation for the 2015 Baylor Symposium on Faith and Culture: “Anabaptist Visions of Sport: Separation, Accommodation, and Transformation.”Gehrz sings the...
Quote of the Day
I’m not a Mennonite, but I resonate with this:It’s interesting being a Mennonite and an academic. Sometimes I find my Anabaptist-Mennonite sensibilities grating against the norms of academia: my “priesthood of all believers” mentality against intellectual elitism, my discipleship/faith-without-works-is-dead mentality...
Ernie Boyer for Peace
You cannot spend any length of time at Messiah College without hearing about Ernest L. Boyer. Boyer was a Messiah alumnus, the Commissioner of Education in the Carter Administration (this was before the creation of the cabinet position known today...
Sunday School at Slate Hill Mennonite
I spent the last three Sundays teaching Sunday School at Slate Hill Mennonite Church, a local congregation in the area where I live. I was invited by my friend and colleague David Weaver-Zercher (check out his new book, The Amish...