Discipleship – the book – in a World Full of Nazis

Professor Emeritus Mark Thiessen Nation
Author of Bonhoeffer the Assassin?

In Chapel Gathering at Eastern Mennonite Seminary, Dr. Mark Thiessen Nation, retiring Professor of Theology at , shares reflections on an Unexpected Vocation.

, Professor of Theology, offers a Seminary Chapel Gathering address entitled, “Pray for Our Kings—Our Rulers (and Remember to Ask Why)” and .

Pluralism, Particularity & the Way to Peace, II: Why Do We — a Muslim & a Mennonite— Care About This?

A year ago the Center for Interfaith Engagement’s Visiting Muslim Scholar and theologian about Akrami’s pluralist approach to inter-faith relations and Nation’s particularist approach.

In this forum they will continue the conversation, beginning with a very brief summary of what was shared in their previous meeting. This time they will reflect directly on why they these issues matter to them. What does each of them believe is at stake in his pluralist/particularist approach to inter-faith relationships and peacemaking? What does each one see as (at least potentially) problematic or deficient in the approach of the other? And how would each express what it is that his approach has to offer to a pluralistic world as we negotiate how to live together in peace?

, Professor of Theology, explores the question of whether it is “possible that this penultimate passage of Romans, in the context of the whole letter, could help us to know how our identity in Christ forms us to be a particular, discerning community” (referring to )

Seminary Dean has begun to articulate a vision for EMS as a “Discernment Training Center” (see and ).  This fall semester, Seminary Faculty are sharing about their own awareness of the topic of discernment through the lens of their own particular discipline or area of study.

Amir Akrami and Mark Thiessen Nation – Pluralism, Particularity & the Way to Peace: A Muslim and a Mennonite in Dialogue. Thiessen Nation is Professor of Theology at Eastern Mennonite Seminary and Akrami is Visiting Muslim Scholar at EMU’s Center for Interfaith Engagement. They each speak from their respective approaches followed by opportunity to engage the audience in discussion.

For more info contact: Center for Interfaith Engagement, 540-432-4674 or email interfaith@emu.edu

This special Chapel Gathering around tables in the Seminary includes a  Lenten Meal, Foot Washing and the Eucharist, as well as “A Meditation on Footwashing” by

The entire campus community is invited to every chapel worship service on campus. Eastern Mennonite Seminary hosts chapel gatherings in Martin Chapel every Tuesday and Thursday; EMU Campus Ministries hosts chapel gatherings every Wednesday and Friday in Lehman Auditorium. Specifics and occasional changes are noted in individual chapel listings.

, professor of Theology, presents the Chapel Gathering address using the title, “I have uttered what I did not understand.” ,

The entire campus community is invited to every chapel worship service on campus. Eastern Mennonite Seminary hosts chapel gatherings in Martin Chapel every Tuesday and Thursday; EMU Campus Ministries hosts chapel gatherings every Wednesday and Friday in Lehman Auditorium.

offers a lecture, “Embodied Discourse as Truth Claims and Behavior Change: A Constructive Alternative to Human Rights,”  followed by a response by Mark Thiessen Nation.  Janna Hunter-Bowman is pursuing a Ph.D. in peace studies and theology from the University of Notre Dame.  She earned an M.A. degree in peace studies from Associated Mennonite Biblical Seminary while teaching as an adjunct peace studies professor at .  As a senior program officer for Justapaz, a Mennonite NGO in Bogota, Colombia, Janna developed and directed a national program monitoring political violence and peacebuilding.  She also led and translated for fact-finding missions, authored in-depth investigative reports on the effects fo U.S. plicy and published numerous book chapters and popular journal articles.  She served overseas through Mennonite Central Committee.  Janna also led policy advocacy efforts for Witness for Peace.  Her research interests–including rights talk, embodied ethics, and peacebuilding–are informed by her experience.

is professor of  theology at Eastern Mennonite Seminary.  Prior to coming to EMS, Mark was the director of the London Mennonite Centre and previously led an ecumenical peace and justice organization in Champaign-Urbana, Illinois.  One of the world-s leading scholars and interpreters of John Howard Yoder, Mark is also completing work on a forthcoming book about Dietrich Bonhoeffer, contesting the common assertion that Bonhoeffer was involved in the plot to assassinate Adolf Hitler.  Mark holds a Ph.D. from Fuller Theological Seminary.

Conference planners and describe the conference in this way:

“Anabaptism at its best has been a series of attempts both to live into God’s in-breaking occupation and to faithfully occupy the empires of this fallen age, signaling the shalom to come. Anabaptists have gone about this work by imaginatively patterning their worship and witness after the New Testament communities of Jesus. Come explore ways in which the Anabaptist tradition can help inspire faithful occupation in today’s world. Interdisciplinary academic presentations will be infused with worship and testimonies to open our minds and spirits to where God is calling us into mission in the midst of empire.”

, professor of Theology presents the monthly Colloquium lecture, focusing on Dietrich Bonhoeffer.

The thesis of this lecture is two-fold. First, contrary to the prevailing assumptions, Dietrich Bonhoeffer was not arrested, imprisoned or executed because of involvement in plots to kill Hitler. Second, it is more accurate to say that he was arrested, imprisoned and executed because of the grace-filled, costly discipleship about which he wrote and which he consistently lived from 1932 to his death on April 9, 1945.

This lecture is a summary of a book in which Mark and two of his former students, Anthony Siegrist and Dan Umbel, are writing, to be published next year by Baker Academic Press. Of the many books published on Bonhoeffer, this is the first one to make the argument stated above. If its argument is convincing, this book will call for a re-examination of the received wisdom regarding the ongoing legacy of Dietrich Bonhoeffer.

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