The Contributors
WRESTLING WITH THE TEXT

Nancy Tatom Ammerman is professor of Sociology of Religion at Boston University and an active member of First Baptist Church in Newton, Massachusetts. She grew up in Missouri, Arizona, and California and graduated from Southwest Baptist College in Bolivar, Missouri (where she met her husband, Jack Ammerman). She went from there to the University of Louisville and then to Yale University, where she earned her Ph.D. She has written widely on conservative religious movements and on American congregational life. Her most recent book is Pillars of Faith: American Congregations and Their Partners (University of California Press).

Benjamin Beachy is a graduate student and the Application Development Manager at Eastern Mennonite University (EMU). He completed his B.S. at EMU and spent a year in Mennonite Voluntary Service in La Jara, Colorado. Benjamin is an active member of Lindale Mennonite Church in Linville, Virginia, and is married to Sarah Diener Beachy.

Ryan Beiler lives in Washington, D.C., where he has been the Web Editor for Sojourners magazine since 1999. He grew up at Spruce Lake Retreat and Wilderness Camp in the Pocono Mountains of Pennsylvania and is a graduate of Lancaster Mennonite High School and Ithaca College with a degree in Cinema and Photography (with minors in English, Spanish, and Religious Studies). Ryan is a member of Washington Community Fellowship and serves on its Damascus Road Racial Justice Team and as president of the board of Urban Family Development, the church’s local neighborhood ministry.

Malinda Elizabeth Berry is a graduate of both Goshen College, where she received a double B.A. in History and English, and of Associated Mennonite Biblical Seminary, where she completed a M.A. in Peace Studies. She is currently working and teaching at Goshen College as Visiting Scholar in Religion and Women’s Studies while she completes her doctoral degree in Systematic Theology from Union Seminary in the City of New York. She is a member of Berkey Avenue Mennonite Fellowship.

Tasha Clemmer, originally from Lancaster, Pennsylvania, lives in New York City, where she teaches high school math at a public high school in Manhattan. She received her M.A. in Secondary Math Education in June 2006 from The City College of New York. In her free time she enjoys biking, reading, snowboarding, whitewater kayaking, and gardening.

Pam Dintaman serves as pastor at Community Mennonite Church of Lancaster in Lancaster, Pennsylvania. She previously was a pastor at Southside Fellowship in Elkhart, Indiana, and worked as director of Deaf Ministries for Mennonite Board of Missions. She is married to Larry Gingrich and they have two young adult children, Kelsey and Carly.

Krista Dutt, originally from central Ohio, resides in Chicago, Illinois. She directs DOOR Chicago, an urban education program which partners with Mennonite Mission Network and Presbyterian Church USA. In her free time, she enjoys cooking, karaoke, and exploring Chicago. She is a member of First Church of the Brethren in Chicago.

Buffy Garber received her B.A. in Early Childhood and Elementary Education from Goshen College and has taken classes at Associated Mennonite Biblical Seminary in Elkhart, Indiana. Now residing in Denver, Colorado, with her husband Jeremy and daughter Fiona, she attends First Universalist Church and is an advocate for attachment parenting and extended breast-feeding.

Jeremy Garber graduated from Goshen College with a B.A. in Theatre and from Associated Mennonite Biblical Seminary with an M.Div. in Theology and Ethics. He is currently enrolled in the joint doctoral program in Theology, Philosophy, and Cultural Studies at the Iliff School of Theology and University of Denver. His proposed dissertation topic is a Mennonite theology of popular culture. Jeremy, his wife Buffy, and daughter Fiona currently attend First Universalist Church in Denver, Colorado, where Jeremy leads the Unitarian Universalist Christian Fellowship.

Keith Graber Miller 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 (University of Tennessee Press, 1996), editor of Teaching to Transform: Perspectives on Mennonite Higher Education (Pinchpenny Press, 2001), and writer of a dozen chapters for other edited texts. He completed his Ph.D. at Emory University, his M.Div. at Associated Mennonite Biblical Seminary, and his B.A. at Franklin College. Keith is an ordained minister in Mennonite Church USA and an active member of Assembly Mennonite Church in Goshen, Indiana. He is the husband of Ann Graber Miller and father of three children – Niles, Mia, and Simon.

Sarah Kehrberg graduated from Bethel College, North Newton, Kansas, with degrees in Music and History. She worked for four years at Mennonite Publishing Network as an editor. She currently homemakes in Lexington, Kentucky with her husband and two young daughters. She attends Oasis Community Church.

Jessica King, grew up in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, and now lives in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, where she is the Executive Director of the Union Project—an effort to transform a formerly abandoned church into an arts and enterprise incubator. She was formerly the Executive Director of Mennonite Urban Corps and has served on several boards and committees of local community development corporations. She attends East Liberty Presbyterian Church and Stone Soup, a Mennonite small group.

Jill Landis, a native of Indiana, is a freelance writer and on staff at Eastern Mennonite Seminary in Harrisonburg, Virginia. She graduated from Eastern Mennonite University with a degree in Philosophy and Religion and has served in volunteer assignments stateside and overseas. She is a member of Park View Mennonite Church and loves learning new and profound things from the children she teaches.

Kevin Maness lived in New York City for three years while studying for a Ph.D. at New York University. While in New York City, he lived in Menno House and became a member of Manhattan Mennonite Fellowship. Kevin now lives in Pennsylvania, where he teaches at Eastern University, and he is a member of Radnor Monthly Meeting (Society of Friends).

Chad Martin lives in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, with his wife Jessica King, daughter Esmé, and Labrador retriever Sadie. In 2006—having crafted a thesis on theology, creativity and art-making—he received an M.A. in theology from Pittsburgh Theological Seminary. He is also a stay-at-home dad, potter, and art teacher. His B.A. in Studio Arts is from Goshen College. He also helped found Stone Soup, a Mennonite-related house church where he still participates, and he attends East Liberty Presbyterian Church.

Daniel Shank Cruz, originally from New York City and Lancaster, Pennsylvania, currently lives in DeKalb, Illinois, where he is pursuing a Ph.D. in British and American Literature at Northern Illinois University. He is a graduate of Goshen College, and has published articles in various Mennonite publications and edited How Julia Kasdorf Changed My Life: Reflections on Mennonite Identity (Pinchpenny Press, 2001). His current research interests include LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender) literature and the relationships between literature and movements for social change.

Alicia Miller, now living in New York City, is originally from Indianapolis, Indiana. After finishing her degree at City University of New York School of Law in the summer of 2007, Alicia looks forward to beginning her career in international human rights law. She currently does not attend church but finds great renewal, accountability, and inspiration in the world of human rights work, in all of its various incarnations.

Bethany Spicher Schonberg lived most recently in Washington, D.C., where she worked as a legislative assistant at the Mennonite Central Committee Washington Office and attended Community House Church. She studied International Agriculture at Eastern Mennonite University, and in 2006 she and her spouse Micah made a six-month, cross-country tour of sustainable farms.

Valerie Weaver-Zercher is a freelance writer and editor and fulltime mother. She has taught writing and literacy in various capacities, most recently in southeastern Kentucky under the auspices of Mennonite Central Committee. Having graduated from Eastern Mennonite University with a B.A. in English in 1994, she served as assistant editor of Gospel Herald, the former magazine of the Mennonite Church. In 2000 she completed an M.A. in Reading/Writing/Literacy from the University of Pennsylvania. Valerie and her husband David and three young sons live in Grantham, Pennsylvania.

Yvonne C. Zimmerman is a Ph.D. candidate in the Religion and Social Change concentration of the joint Ph.D. program in Religious and Theological Studies at Iliff School of Theology and University of Denver, in Denver, Colorado. During the 2005-06 year she was a pre-doctoral fellow at the Fisher Center for the Study of Women and Men, Hobart and William Smith Colleges in Geneva, New York. She completed her Master of Theological Studies degree at Emory University’s Candler School of Theology and her B.A. at Goshen College.