Advance Comment
Minding the Church

"Minding the Church is a valuable resource for understanding how Anabaptist scholars today view their vocations."
—George Marsden, Francis A. McAnaney Professor of History, University of Notre Dame; and author, The Outrageous Idea of Christian Scholarship

"The writers of these essays give convincing—and inspiring!—testimony to the power of the Anabaptist vision for the scholarly life. Firmly rooted in a community that has long urged the rest of us to take the radical claims of the Gospel with utter seriousness, they extend the argument here to cover the intellectual life. When we choose to follow Jesus, they insist, we must bring our minds along with us. This book is an important gift to the larger Christian academy!"
—Richard J. Mouw, President and Professor of Christian Philosophy, Fuller Theological Seminary

"Think scholars are stuffy, off in their own worlds, seeing ‘truths’ no one cares about or understands? Minding the Church may surprise you. This collection provides a rare glimpse into the lives of contemporary Anabaptist scholars who are candid in their confessions and earnest in their commitments. We see the human and the divine in these marvelous essays describing an uneasy calling."
—Lee Snyder, President, Bluffton College

"I recently attended a presentation where a speaker posed a provocative question, ‘Is this vocation worth my life?’ The scholars whose essays comprise Minding the Church answer this question affirmatively. Their compelling personal narratives challenge readers to embrace the public dimension of Christian scholarship by seeking to promote human understanding, social justice, and reconciliation in the academy, the church, and the world."
—Kim S. Phipps, Provost, Messiah College

"These essays are written transparently and passionately by people of both deep faith and deep intellect. If these scholars are representative of their colleagues in our Anabaptist schools —and I believe they are—then I have tremendous hope for the future of Anabaptist higher education. And for the churches our colleges and seminaries serve.

"Those teaching in Anabaptist colleges and seminaries should read this text to observe models of faithful scholarship, and those in Anabaptist congregations should read it to restore their faith in church schools. This is an extraordinarily moving, honest, scholarly text narrating lives of faithfulness.
—Keith Graber Miller, Professor of Bible, Religion, and Philosophy, Goshen College

"Between these pages readers will be able to listen to a variety of Anabaptist scholars, representing a variety of academic disciplines, reflect on what it might look like to do one’s teaching and scholarship while minding the church, what it might mean to engage in counter-cultural teaching and thinking, and what, after all, is truly distinctive about scholarship done from the heart of the Anabaptist tradition. For all these reasons, this book stands as a sterling contribution to the growing body of literature that explores the meaning of higher education in the Christian genre."
—Richard Hughes, Director, Center for Faith and Learning, Pepperdine University, in the Foreword

Minding the Church orders:

• Pandora Press U.S. Online Order Form
• Pandora Press U.S., Herald Press, and other order options
• Credit card orders through Minding the Church page, MennoLink Online Bookstore