Vol. 58 No. 2 (Fall 2013)
This issue includes articles on a wide variety of topics. “‘Battle Ground’ Peaches: Dunkers on the Gettysburg Battlefield,” written by Steve Longenecker, is the third in a series of papers presented over the five-year Civil War sesquicentennial. “Jews as a Religious Minority in America: The Challenges and Risks of Integration,” the address to the BJA Annual Meeting at Annual Conference 2012 by Professor Hillel J. Kieval, brings food for thought about living out distinctive beliefs. Other articles cover topics including ministerial leadership and education in the Church of the Brethren, the practice of wearing the prayer covering, peacebuilding, and transformation in the church in India. This issue was guest edited by Walt Wiltschek.
Vol. 58 No. 1 (Spring 2013)
In June 2012 scholars convened at the Young Center in Elizabethtown, Pennsylvania, for a conference entitled The Life and Influence of Alexander Mack Jr. This issue is a special expanded edition devoted to the publication of those papers. Mack Jr. (1712-1803)—son of Alexander Mack Sr., considered the founder of the Brethren—was a leader of the Brethren in their early days in America. The fifteen articles in this issue cover such topics as biographical information about Mack Jr., his time at Ephrata, his poetry and the hymn singing practices of his time, Mack Jr.’s theological understandings of love feast and baptism, Pietism of colonial Brethren, and life in the broader church of the eighteenth century. This stand-alone issue is more a book of essays than a journal. Vol. 58.1 is available to purchase as a single issue at Brethren Press, Elgin, Illinois; The Young Center, Elizabethtown, Pennsylvania; the Brethren Heritage Center, Brookville, Ohio; or the Brethren Life & Thought office, Richmond, Indiana. This issue was guest edited by James E. Miller.
Vol. 57 No. 2 (Fall 2012)
This issue presents the first full-color photographs to be printed in Brethren Life & Thought. In the past we have posted photos on our website to accompany an article. “Antietam’s Dunker Church: Beacon of Peace” by park ranger Allan Schmidt prompted this venture. His article, a photo essay, is the second in a five-article series of papers presented for the Civil War sesquicentennial. Some of the photos of Antietam are familiar; others had rarely or had never been published. The remaining content of this issue is eclectic, including the Brethren Annual Meeting in 1861, marriage and gender equality, a history of Christology, reflections on Jeremiah 5:20-29, and reflections on the theopoetics of death. This is the final issue with Julie Garber as editor.
Vol. 57 No. 1 (Spring 2012)
The cover of this issue has the title Pentecostals and Brethren: Unlikely Partners for Peace. The issue includes three articles devoted to this topic, with a fourth article looking at peace through the eyes of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Other topics include Martyrs Mirror as an American Publishing event, humor in the Hebrew scriptures, and a reprint of an article on Martin Grove Brumbaugh by Donald F. Durnbaugh.
Vol. 56 No. 2 (Fall 2011)
Volume 56 no. 2 (fall 2011) premieres our decision to include peer-reviewed articles in each issue. A stylized pr will appear in the table of contents and on the opening page of each peer-reviewed article. This volume will include a variety of articles: the 2012 Bethany commencement address by Fletcher Farrar; articles on holiness, sacred music, and Anabaptist spirituality; and the first article in our Distinguished John Kline Brethren Scholars Series, Jeff Bach on the topic of Brethren and slavery.
Vol. 56 No. 1 (Spring 2011): The Scholarship of Warren F. Groff
With this issue, we celebrate the contributions of Warren F. Groff to Bethany Theological Seminary and the Church of the Brethren as theologian, scholar, and churchman. This collection of Groff’s speeches, reflections, book excerpts, and letters of tribute from former students and fellow faculty members reveals a mind so deep intellectually that his thoughts come round finally to an exquisite simplicity. A bibliography of Groff’s numerous writings is included in this volume. From that list we have reprinted five representative articles from books and journals that are as timely today as they were when they were first published.
- Downloadable Study Questions
Vol. 55 Nos. 3 and 4
This issue features a cluster of articles on the topic of technology. Arthur Boers of Tyndale Seminary in Toronto, Canada; Dan Ulrich from Bethany Theological Seminary in Richmond, Indiana; and Shane Hipps, now at Mars Hill Bible Church in Grandville, Michigan, share perspectives on ways technology impacts our lives. Their articles should deepen our discussions about how we use technology.
Other articles cover a variety of topics. You will read an article about the testimonies of women martyrs as recorded in Martyrs Mirror. The printing of Martyrs Mirror was a technological feat in its day, but this article will focus instead on the power the women martyrs wielded in a society in which women had no power. Recent Bethany graduate Anna Lisa Gross writes about the dualisms that mire us in either/or thinking and offers both/and possibilities. Gross uses the love feast to demonstrate the richness of duality in theology. Robert McFadden writes about Deuteronomistic history. Graydon Snyder traces the Christian practice of eating a meal to commemorate the dead. Ken Gibble reminds all of us who minister, whether professional or lay, of the importance of listening. Some of Gibble’s poems are included in this issue. The Texts in Transit series continues with Frank Ramirez taking up the task of writing the historical portion following the death of Ken Shaffer. There is something for everyone in this issue.
Vol. 55 Nos. 1 and 2
Vol. 55 nos. 1 and 2, with the cover date winter and spring 2010, was mailed to subscribers April 20, 2011. This volume number is a themed issue, which is part of the reason it was delayed. Because this issue considers the topic of human sexuality, we wanted to include as many voices as possible. A wide variety of people were invited to submit material, and we waited to go to print as long as possible. The included articles represent those who responded. It is unfortunate that some voices are missing, but be assured that more voices were invited. We hope the articles in this issue stimulate thought and discussion as we attempt to reason together on the issue of human sexuality. This issue also includes two more installments of Texts in Transit by Graydon Snyder and Ken Shaffer.
Vol. 54 No. 4 (Fall 2009)
Vol. 54 no. 4 presents four articles that stimulate thought around the Christian responses of forgiveness and forbearance. In this issue:
- Don Kraybill locates Amish attitudes about forgiveness in the literal interpretation of scripture, referencing some of John Howard Yoder’s teachings.
- Flora Williams recounts an event in her life in which she suffered a terrible physical loss that might have left her bitter and resentful. Some of Flora’s poems are also published in this issue.
- Chris Bowman, pastor of the Oakton Church of the Brethren in Virginia, reminds us that even the greatest moments in our faith history do not simply erase our sorrows of the past.
- A paper by Earle Fike, Jim Lehman, Bill Eberly, and Elaine Sollenberger, first circulated at Annual Conference in 2009, explores the use of forbearance as a uniquely Brethren process for working together and for discerning the will of God on difficult issues. This article, “The Recovery of Brethren Forbearance” (pdf), is of such interest that we have made it available here in its entirety, and we suggest you also read the accompanying study questions in the link following.
Summary of articles and downloadable study questions
Erratum: Contributing author Jim Lehman’s name was misspelled on the cover of 54.4 and in the article “The Recovery of Brethren Forbearance.” Jim is an author and publisher from Elgin, Illinois, and author of The Old Brethren, published by Brethren Press.
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