Advance Comment
The Pax Story

 
     

"What a blessing that Redekop, founding father of Pax, has written this anniversary history! He was present at the creation, a primary mover who has not lost his enthusiasm for the endeavor. Thanks to Cal's energy and scholarship, the Pax memory will endure."
—James C. Juhnke, Professor of History, Bethel College

During the quarter century spanning the Korean and Vietnam wars, more than 1,100 Pax volunteers left the U.S. for service assignments in Europe, the Middle East, Africa, Asia, and South America. Many of these Pax workers were young Mennonites seeking alternatives to military service, whose two years abroad in church-sponsored development and peace work transformed them. In The Pax Story, Calvin Redekop gives an insider’s perspective and raises intriguing questions about this Mennonite program of global dimensions."
—Rachel Waltner Goossen, Author of Women Against the Good War

"Applying the skills of a veteran social scientist, Calvin W. Redekop here provides objective analysis and concise description of a world-wide movement for which he was a co-originator and early executive—the Pax program. Inspired by international work camps and the activities of Mennonite volunteers in Western Europe after World War II, the Pax program gave opportunities for nearly 1200 conscientious objectors to labor sacrificially for peace. Projects ranged from early erection of homes for refugees in Germany to major road construction in South America, from rural rehabilitation in Northern Africa to community building in Southeast Asia. While not a full-fledged history of this far-flung program, The Pax Story is a cogently organized and absorbingly written account of a notable achievement of altruism on a religious basis. Reflection on this remarkable story should encourage comparable efforts in the twenty-first century.
—Donald F. Durnbaugh, director, Brethren Service Commission in Austria (1953-1956); professor emeritus of church history, Bethany Theological Seminary; archivist, Juniata College.

"A half century ago a new group of energetic young Mennonites plunged into rubble of wartorn Europe, determined to offer simple acts of compassionate service "in the name of Christ." The organization quickly took on the characteristics of a movement that, within a decade, had spread to the corners of the globe. Part historical analysis and part memoir, in The Pax Story Cal Redekop looks back with a fond but also critical eye on the relief organization that he once led. The result is an concise account by a seasoned scholar that is both critical and engaging."
—Perry Bush, professor of History, Bluffton College and author of Two Kingdoms, Two Loyalties: Mennonite Pacifism in Modern America

"A recent book on the Mennonite contribution to international peacebuilding suggests that it is the quiet, gentle, respectful and noncompetitive manner of being with others . . . that allows people to discover a constructive and courageous way forward. Surely the participants of the PAX program helped to shape that understanding of service."
—Ronald J.R. Mathies, in the
Foreword


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10/10/01