Editor's
Preface In certain ways the impetus for this book arose almost forty years ago, when historian E. Morris Sider joined the faculty of Messiah College in Grantham, Pennsylvania. Messiah was a vastly different place in 1963, concerned more with year-to-year survival than with securing a national reputation for academic excellence. Morris Sider not only contributed to the flourishing of this small, sometimes struggling college, he left behind a scholarly legacy—twenty books, scores of journal articles, hundreds of well-educated students, and a couple thousand lectures—that his remaining colleagues at Messiah would do well to emulate. It is only fitting that, upon his retirement from full-time college teaching in spring 2000, the college commissioned a festschrift in his honor. As one of Morris’s former students, I was pleased to be asked to edit the festschrift, which I hoped would somehow reflect his unique talents and contributions. As I discussed possible topics with several other former students, two themes quickly surfaced: Morris was a disciplined and productive scholar, and Morris was a deeply committed Anabaptist. The more we talked, the more we realized that these themes were not unrelated, but in subtle ways interacted with and informed one another. So emerged the topic of this book: scholarship in the Anabaptist tradition. As I explain more fully in the volume’s introduction, the notion of “Christian scholarship” is receiving close attention these days in many church-related colleges and universities. These particular institutions, which have almost always placed a greater emphasis on classroom teaching than on research and publishing, have nonetheless been fertile ground for creative thinking and scholarly activity. Increasingly, teacher-scholars at these institutions have determined that an important part of their task as professional educators is to provide their respective disciplines (philosophy, psychology, biology, etc.) with new findings, more refined arguments, and fresh, artistic expressions. Correspondingly, some of these same scholars have envisioned and gained audiences for their work that extend far beyond their campus classrooms, reaching readers, listeners, and viewers around the world. In concert with this growing emphasis on Christian faculty members producing groundbreaking scholarship, questions have arisen about the very nature of Christian scholarship. These questions have taken many forms, though they might best be summarized as follows: Is there, or should there be, something distinctive about the scholarship produced by Christians? And if so, what is the nature of that distinctiveness? As with many issues in the academy, these questions have evoked a range of answers, some radically opposed to one another, and it’s unlikely a consensus on them will emerge anytime soon. Still, the questions are worth pursuing, especially as church-related institutions decide how to distribute limited resources to faculty members wishing to explore unknown realities or hoping to make fresh connections between things already known. Of course, this volume pushes one step further these questions about Christian scholarship by acknowledging that there are, in fact, many Christian traditions, one of which is the Anabaptist tradition. The book therefore reframes the fundamental questions as follows: Is there, or should there be, something distinctive about the scholarship produced by Anabaptist Christians? And if so, what is the nature of that distinctiveness? Even in this more circumscribed context of Anabaptist scholars, the answers to these questions vary, and readers of this volume will consequently be hard pressed to locate a party line. Still, while the answers given by the various contributors to this volume may vary and even diverge from one another, several common themes (e.g., the importance of community, the centrality of reconciliation, a commitment to lived discipleship, an incarnational epistemology, and concern for society’s most vulnerable members) reveal these scholars to be thinking and writing from the Anabaptist tradition of the Christian faith. In that way and others, these essays underscore the importance of Anabaptist scholars reflecting upon their scholarly pursuits in light of their theological commitments, their ecclesiological connections, and their self-consciousness as Anabaptist Christians. * * * Numerous people helped make this volume possible, none more so than the seventeen persons who contributed autobiographical essays or response chapters. These seventeen scholars were not looking for work when I solicited their involvement in this project, and none needed to publish one more article to pad their vitaes, but they graciously agreed to write. My greatest debt as volume editor is to them. The lead administrators at Messiah College also have my gratitude for their ongoing support for this project. At Messiah we are fortunate to have a president—Rodney Sawatsky—who values the life of the mind in both word and deed, and who encourages scholarly pursuits by example. A vigorous thinker, he will agree with some assertions in this book and disagree with others, but he will mostly value the conversations it generates. Former provost Donald B. Kraybill granted me release time to edit this volume. He contributed the essay on sociology, and he offered all kinds of good advice on how to do (and not do) a festschrift. Finally, current provost Kim Phipps inspires all of us at Messiah College with her energy and enthusiasm, and I am no exception. Her support for my work has been generous, and her interest in this project in particular has been a gift. In addition to their enthusiasm for good teaching and solid scholarship, these administrators have been strong supporters of the college’s Anabaptist tradition and commitments. Messiah College has sometimes been criticized as not very Anabaptist by some of its constituencies, and as too Anabaptist by others. Indeed, the college has consciously chosen a middle way, underscoring in concrete ways its unique Brethren in Christ-rooted theological heritage and, at the same time, choosing to be inclusive of students and faculty from other Christian traditions. The result thereby parallels what we would wish for all Christians: rootedness in a particular tradition, yet (we hope) humble acknowledgment that no one theological tradition has the corner on truth. Additionally, Messiah offers on one campus what many Christian faculty members find only at occasional conferences: an ecumenically zesty mix of Anabaptists, Wesleyans, Catholics, Evangelicals, Episcopalians, Pentecostals, and persons from the Reformed tradition who talk with one another daily about teaching, scholarship, and the purpose of Christian higher education. And in that regard, I would be remiss if I failed to thank Messiah College faculty members Rhonda and Doug (Jake) Jacobsen, who have worked very hard to make these sorts of intracampus conversations happen over the past few years. In particular, I am grateful for the scholarship colloquy they co-led during the 1999-2000 school year, which raised some of the questions this volume seeks to address. From the beginning of this project, I have worked closely with Michael A. King at Pandora Press U.S. Michael’s wise counsel has benefited this project at many turns. More generally, I am grateful for his ability as a publisher to produce books that generate productive, thoughtful conversations. Michael and I are both thankful for the generous financial support of the Brethren in Christ Church, the Brethren in Christ Foundation, and the Brethren in Christ Historical Society, all of which helped to underwrite some of this project’s costs. I would be remiss if I didn’t acknowledge the good mind and heart of my wife, Valerie, who provides for me in countless ways. Her wise counsel and gentle demeanor combine to make her the best partner I could hope for. She and our son, Samuel, are the joy of my life. Finally, let me again thank E. Morris Sider. His work as a teacher and scholar has nourished his students, inspired his colleagues, and served his church. We, the contributors to this volume, dedicate this book to him. —David L.
Weaver-Zercher Minding the Church orders:
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