Cover thumbnail

Main Page for
WRESTLING
WITH THE TEXT

Young Adult Perspectives on Scripture

Keith Graber Miller
and Malinda Elizabeth Berry

Journeys with Scripture Series 2

Foreword by Mary H. Schertz


Summary: Through its reporting of young adults wrestling anew with that ancient text, the Bible, this volume marks an important occasion of and for Mennonite conversation about identity and scriptural authority. When Jacob wrestled with God&rsquos messenger in Genesis, he did not let go until he received a blessing. So Jacob was renamed Israel, or "God Wrestles." A theme uniting this book's 16 stories plus responses is this reality of wrestling in search of blessing.

Telling of being blessed by or even at times seeking blessing beyond the Bible are (in order of appearance) Yvonne Zimmerman, Chad Martin, Jill Landis, Bethany Spicher Schonberg, Jeremy Garber, Alicia Miller, Sarah Kehrberg, Tasha Clemmer, Jessica King, Kevin Maness, Buffy Garber, Krista Dutt, Daniel Shank Cruz, Benjamin Beachy, Malinda E. Berry, Ryan Beiler, Nancy Tatom Ammerman, Pam Dintaman, Valerie Weaver-Zercher.

This volume has roots in Telling Our Stories, volume 1 in the Journeys with Scripture Series. During a first storytelling gathering to engage Scripture, participants found themselves wondering about the stories of their daughters, sons, nieces, nephews, students, and friends generations younger. To explore these wonderings, the gathering reported on in Wrestling with the Text took place. This time women and men spanning the generations from people in their twenties to their sixties came together to share their stories.

These authors invite us to ask such questions as these: As we hold on to the Bible, are we clinging to an irrelevant past? Are we staying staying connected to a source of blessing? We may not know until we see what happens if we let go

Market: Christian education and Bible study groups, committees, minister's meetings, entire congregations, college students, anyone interested in a model for growth in individual as well as collective understandings of Scripture, spiritual life, and self.

Shelving: Biblical studies, Hermeneutics, Theology&mdashAnabaptist-Mennonite. BISAC: Religion. RTM: 690 Religion/Ethics

The Editors: Keith Graber Miller, Goshen, Indiana, is professor of Bible, Religion, and Philosophy at Goshen College, specializing in ethics and theology. He is author of Wise as Serpents, Innocent as Doves: American Mennonites Engage Washington. Malinda Elizabeth Berry, Goshen, Indiana, is a graduate of Goshen College and Associated Mennonite Biblical Seminary. She is currently working at Goshen College as a dissertation fellow as she completes her doctoral degree in systematic theology from Union Seminary in the City of New York. As part of the fellowship, Malinda supplements her own research and writing by teaching courses in religion and women's studies.

Publisher: Cascadia Publishing House
Copublisher: Herald Press, Scottdale, PA
Publication date: February 2007
Approximate Pages: 192
Format: 6 x 9 trade paper
Prices: $19.95 US, $24.95 Can.
ISBN 13:
1-978-1-931038-37-9; ISBN 10: 1-931038-37-6

 

 
 

 

             
             
             
           

Copyright © 2007 by Cascadia Publishing House
11/14/07