Spring 2002 · Vol. 31 No. 1 · pp. 125–133
Current Research
Faculty Publications, 2001
Books
Ediger, Gerry. Crossing the Divide: Language Transition Among Canadian Mennonite Brethren, 1930-1970. Winnipeg, MB: Centre for Mennonite Brethren Studies, 2001. [CMU]
Geddert, Tim. Mark. Believers Church Bible Commentary Series. Scottdale, PA: Herald, 2001. [MBBS]
Janzen, Waldemar. Werden was wir sind: Biblische Menschenbilder und ihre Bedeutung. Weisenheim am Berg: Agape, 2001. [CMU]
Chapters in Books
Epp-Tiessen, Daniel. “The LORD Has Truly Sent the Prophet.” In Reclaiming the Old Testament: Essays in Honour of Waldemar Janzen, ed. Gordon Zerbe, 175-85. Winnipeg, MB: CMBC Publications, 2001. [CMU]
Janzen, Waldemar. “A Canonical Rethinking of the Anabaptist-Mennonite New Testament Orientation.” In Reclaiming the Old Testament: Essays in Honour of Waldemar Janzen, ed. Gordon Zerbe, 3-21. Winnipeg, MB: CMBC Publications, 2001. [CMU]
———. “Die Zusammengehoerigkeit des Alten und des Neuen Testaments,” Mennonitisches Jahrbuch 2001. Herausg. von der Arbeitsgemeinschaft Mennonitischer Gemeinden in Deutschland. Lahr: ST.-Johannis-Druckerei, 2001, pp. 53-60. [CMU]
Matties, Gordon. “Can Girard Help Us to Read Joshua?” In Violence Renounced: René Girard, Biblical Studies and Peacemaking, ed. Willard M. Swartley, 85-102. Telford, PA: Pandora Press U.S., 2000. [CMU]
Zerbe, Gordon. “Forgiveness and the Transformation of Conflict: The Continuity of a Biblical Paradigm.” In Reclaiming the Old Testament: Essays in Honour of Waldemar Janzen, ed. Gordon Zerbe, 235-58. Winnipeg, MB: CMBC Publications, 2001. [CMU]
Articles
Bystrom, Raymond O. “Baptism and Church Membership.” MB Faith & Life Pamphlet series. September, 2000. [MBBS]
———. “Books I Recommend: On Church and Culture.” Direction 30 (spring 2001): 105-8. [MBBS] {126}
———. “Church: A Body of People Sent on a Mission.” Witness, May-June 2001, 6-9. [MBBS]
Claassen, *Ron and Roxanne. “Joseph Goes to School.” Christian Leader, January 2001, 4-6. [FPU]
Derksen, John. “Research Note: Religious Nonconformists in the Village of Wasselnheim, 1533-1551.” Mennonite Quarterly Review 75 (2001): 517-23. [CMU]
———. “Wrangling with the Authorities: Anabaptist Survival in the Village of Börsch, 1525-1555.” Journal of Mennonite Studies 19 (2001): 195-216. [CMU]
Ediger, Gerry. “Are Charismatics Flaky or on Target?” Christian Week, 20 March 2001, 6-7. [CMU]
Faber, David S. “Modernism, Postmodernism, and the Problem of the Criterion.” Direction 30 (fall 2001): 162-76. [TC]
Fenton, *Robert, *Judith Harris, *Peter Miller and *Doreen Smith. “Final Report of the Ecosystem Based Management Values Team, Manitoba Conservation and Partners in Manitoba Ecosystem Based Management Pilot Project.” Winnipeg, MB, 2001. [CMU]
Funk-Unrau, Neil. “The Path to Advocacy: Mennonite Interaction with the Lubicon Cree.” Journal of Mennonite Studies 19 (2001): 65-77. [CMU]
Geddert, *Tim (with D. E. Aune and C. A. Evans). “Apocalypticism.” In Dictionary of New Testament Background, ed. Craig A. Evans and Stanley E. Porter, 45-58. Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity, 2000. [MBBS]
———. “Working Together for Good.” Mennonite Brethren Herald, 23 June 2000, 4-5. [MBBS]
———. “Working Together for Good.” The Mennonite, 5 Dec. 2000, 10-11. [MBBS]
Giesbrecht, *David, and *Anne Andres. “Recognizing the Contributions of Dr. Walter Unger.” Direction 30 (spring 2001): 88-100. [CBC]
Gilbert, Pierre. “Human Free Will and Divine Determinism: Pharaoh, A Case Study.” Direction 30 (spring 2001): 76-87. [MBBS]
———. “Libre arbitre et déterminisme. Une réflexion sur la figure de Pharaon.” Theoforum 32 (2001): 5-21. [MBBS]
Guenther, Bruce L. ‘Monuments to God’s Faithfulness’: Mennonite Brethren Bible Schools in Western Canada, 1913-1960.” Direction 30 (spring 2001): 21-32. [MBBS]
Holm, Jim. “What Did Jesus Do?” Christian Leader, August 2000, 7-11. [MBBS]
———. “What Did Jesus Do?” Mennonite Brethren Herald, 2 February {127} 2001, 4-5. [MBBS]
Jost, Lynn. “Just What Kind of War Are We Fighting Anyway?” Christian Leader, March 2001, 4-8. [TC]
Kunz, Michael. “Calm in the Storm.” Christian Leader, August 2001, 7-10. [FPU]
Kyle, Richard. “Evangelical Mennonite Brethren.” In Encyclopedia USA, ed. Donald W. Whisenhunt, vol. 28, 160-62. Gulf Breeze, FL: Academic International, 2001. [TC]
———. “John Knox Confronts the Anabaptists: The Intellectual Aspects of His Encounter.” Mennonite Quarterly Review 75 (2001): 493-515. [TC]
Pankratz, James N. “Searching for a Safe Landing.” Direction 30 (spring 2001): 33-44. [MBBS]
Penner, Myron. “Jonathan Edwards and Emotional Knowledge of God.” Direction 30 (spring 2001): 63-75. [CBC]
Penner, Ron. “Mentoring in Higher Education.” Direction 30 (spring 2001): 45-52. [CBC]
Reimer, *Kevin, and J. Furrow. “A Qualitative Exploration of Relational Consciousness in Christian Children.” International Journal of Children’s Spirituality 6, no. 1 (2001): 7-23. [MBBS]
Robles, Wilder. “Peasants Speak: The Landless Rural Workers Movement (MST) in Brazil.” Journal of Peasant Studies 28, no. 2 (2001): 146-51. [CMU]
Schmidt, George. “The Measure of Five Decades: An Insider’s Tribute to Walter Unger.” Direction 30 (spring 2001): 5-12. [CBC]
Shillington, George. “Salt of the Earth?” Expository Times 112 (January 2001): 120-21. [CMU]
Unger, Walter. “Evangelical Versions of Jesus.” Direction 30 (spring 2001): 53-62. [CBC]
Zerbe, Gordon. “Children and the Jesus Supper: Some Anecdotal and Theological Reflections.” Vision: A Journal for Church and Theology 2 (2001): 84-94. [CMU]
Musical Recordings and Publications
Funk, *Tony, dir., and *Betty Suderman, pianist, Colin Balzer, tenor soloist. My Heart My Home: Songs of Life’s Journey. West Coast Mennonite Chamber Choir. Abbotsford, BC: Mennonite Central Committee Supportive Care Services, 2001. Compact disc. {128}
Masters Theses, Students at Mennonite Brethren Biblical Seminary, 2001
Fast, Kristin Noelle. “God’s Sovereignty and Human Free Will: Potentials for Benefit and Harm in Their Treatment During Church Services.”
Kantymir, Lori Joy. “Is God in Control? Divine Omnipotence and Human Freedom in the Thought of Charles Hartshorne.”
Doctoral Dissertations
Funk-Unrau, Neil. “ ‘If the Lubicon Lose We All Lose’: A Case Study of Interchurch Advocacy and Intervention in an Aboriginal Land Rights Conflict.” Doctor of Philosophy, Social Sciences. Syracuse, NY: Syracuse University, 2001. Advisor: Robert Rubinstein. Current Position: Assistant Professor of Conflict Transformation Studies, Canadian Mennonite University, Winnipeg, Manitoba.
This dissertation is a qualitative study of an attempt to develop and maintain a particular type of Aboriginal rights advocacy relationship, namely the effort of a regional interchurch coalition, based in Edmonton, Alberta, to develop a solidarity relationship with the Lubicon Cree of northern Alberta and to advocate for the resolution of the Lubicon land rights struggle. Ethnographic research methods included participant-observation of the Edmonton Interfaith Coalition on Aboriginal Rights (EICAR) from 1997 to 1999, analysis of media and interchurch documentation on the Lubicon struggle, and semi-structured interviews with thirty-one interviewees.
After a brief history of the Lubicon conflict, the study examines the convergence of several political discourses which provided the political space for the creation of a new advocacy network and a new type of relationship with specific Aboriginal societies such as the Lubicon. This particular solidarity relationship conveyed a commitment to act on behalf of the Lubicon and the moral justification for doing so, but also confronted non-Aboriginal supporters with the tensions between standing with Lubicon while simultaneously acknowledging the many factors that separated them from each other.
The study analyzes two specific collective actions—a blockade of Lubicon territory in 1988 and the establishment of a nongovernmental commission of inquiry in 1992—as attempts to enact this {129} solidarity relationship. The blockade is a collective action which was developed and implemented by the Lubicon who then invited interchurch and other supporters to stand with them in solidarity. The commission exemplifies an attempt to set up an intermediary structure with overlapping advocacy and mediating roles. The study then examines the impact of both actions on the power and cultural differentials separating the Lubicon from their non-Aboriginal supporters. It concludes that the maintenance of a strong advocacy and solidarity relationship requires not only the willingness to empower the Lubicon in various collective actions but also a sensitivity to the cultural boundaries between the two parties and the willingness and opportunity to sustain ongoing supportive relationships across cultures.
Klassen-Wiebe, Sheila. “Called to Mission: A Narrative-Critical Study of the Character and Mission of the Disciples in the Gospel of Luke.” Doctor of Philosophy, Biblical Studies: New Testament. Richmond, VA: Union Theological Seminary, 2001. Advisor: Jack Dean Kingsbury. Current Position: Assistant Professor of New Testament, Canadian Mennonite University, Winnipeg, Manitoba.
This dissertation traces how the implied reader is led to construct a portrait of the character and mission of Jesus’ disciples through a sequential narrative reading of the Gospel of Luke. The approach used is narrative criticism, which treats the Gospel as a coherent and unified narrative in which individual events (such as the sendings of the twelve and the seventy-two) are considered in terms of the flow of the whole story rather than in terms of a situation outside the narrative world. The narrator employs a variety of techniques to guide the reader’s understanding of what it means to be a disciple engaged in mission and to help the reader evaluate the disciples.
From the first appearance of the disciples, it is evident that involvement in Jesus’ mission is an integral part of being a disciple of Jesus (5:1-11). The centrality of mission for discipleship is also apparent in the fact that the disciples are commissioned by Jesus for mission work not only in the beginning but also in the middle (9:1-6, 10; 10:1-24) and at the end (24:44-49) of the gospel story. Although their participation in Jesus’ mission of preaching and healing begins already during his earthly ministry, Jesus’ warnings about rejection and persecution remain unfulfilled and lead the reader to anticipate that these will characterize the disciples’ mission at a {130} future time.
Luke’s gospel story recounts how the disciples are trained by Jesus to carry out their mission and to live as his faithful followers. The tension in the story is created by their conflict with Jesus as he leads them from being uncomprehending, fearful followers to bold witnesses. In the course of the story they move from being disciples who squabble about status and who do not accept the way of the cross either for Jesus or for themselves, to being bold witnesses who understand that the purposes of God are accomplished through cross and resurrection and who proclaim salvation to all nations in the name of Jesus, even in the face of rejection and persecution.
Ratzlaff, Aleen. “Black Press Pioneers in Kansas: Connecting and Extending Communities in Three Geographic Sections, 1878-1900.” Doctor of Philosophy, Mass Communication. Gainesville, FL: University of Florida, 2001. Advisor: Bernell E. Tripp. Current Position: Assistant Professor of Communication, Tabor College, Hillsboro, Kansas.
Black newspapers in Kansas were at the forefront of a westward-expanding press in the late nineteenth century. More than fifty newspapers were produced over a twenty-year period, primarily in a triangular area that extended from Atchison County in the northeast, near the Missouri and Nebraska borders, to Sedgwick County in the southwest, and to Labette and Cherokee counties in the southeast. A newspaper network evolved that helped forge ties among communities of African Americans in the Sunflower State.
To better understand the “connecting” role of the Kansas press, this historical study focused on six newspapers that published in three geographic sections: the Leavenworth Advocate, Leavenworth Herald, Topeka State Ledger, the Kansas City American Citizen, the Parsons Weekly Blade, and the National Reflector of Wichita.
An analysis of the papers revealed a press network that served as a pipeline for information, a platform to denounce injustices, and a promoter for racial uplift through education and entrepreneurship. The Kansas newspapers multiplied opportunities for involvement of African Americans in the public sphere and served as a forum for expression, as well as an outlet for employment and job training. Combined efforts of editors, reporters, correspondents, and agents contributed to building interconnections among communities of African Americans. Initially, the circulation of the newspapers {131} centered on nearby towns and cities. To increase revenues and influence, the outreach of the press eventually extended beyond the state’s borders. In all probability, the Kansas press network contributed to the concept of a national black press, which developed in the early twentieth century.
Reimer, Kevin. “Semantic Space Analysis of Adolescent Moral Identity.” Doctor of Philosophy, Human Development/Family Studies. Pasadena, CA: Graduate School of Psychology, Fuller Theological Seminary, 2001. Advisor: Jack Balswick. Current Position: Assistant Professor of Marriage & Family Studies, Mennonite Brethren Biblical Seminary, Fresno, California.
The present study explores ecological structures and patterns of adolescent moral identity in the interest of evaluating the feasibility of self-report assessment. Moral identity was conceptualized as commitment consistent with an adolescent’s sense of self to lines of action that promote or protect the welfare of others. A semi-structured clinical interview taken from Hart & Fegley (1995) was given to matched samples of fifteen moral exemplar and fifteen control youth, respectively. Responses were analyzed in a high-dimensional semantic space using the latent semantic analysis (LSA) computational language model. Cosine matrix values representing meaning inference in semantic space were subjected to secondary multivariate analysis that included multi-dimensional scaling (MDS), factor analysis, and hierarchical cluster analysis (HCA).
Findings indicated significant loadings of positive, moral, and caring self-descriptors on the actual self-domain for exemplars when compared to controls. The exemplar actual selves were embedded within an array of significant “other” relationships in a comparison of exemplar and control MDS perceptual maps of semantic space. Principal axis factoring results indicated statistical support for the two-dimensions noted in each MDS perceptual map. Some HCA set relationships between self-domains were found to replicate previous study on moral identity, where others did not.
Validated naturalistic conceptions of morality from Walker & Pitts (1998) did not differentiate between exemplar and control actual selves in a LSA semantic space. A critical review of the efficacy for LSA in real-world psychological research concluded that the program is capable of making significant, meaning-related inferences on semi-structured interview narrative where large test {132} corpora are compared to phrases. Aspects of differentiation for the self were discussed in terms of spiritual referents, self/other cathexis, and ecological niche. While the study identified ecological profiles of moral identity structures and patterns in a diverse, urban sample of youth, development of self-report scales for moral identity was not recommended.
Vogel, Brad. “Osterhymne, Opus 134: The Choral Music Style of Josef Gabriel Rheinberger.” Doctor of Musical Arts, Choral Conducting. Kansas City, MO: University of Missouri-Kansas City, 2001. Advisor: Eph Ehly. Current Position: Assistant Professor of Choral Music, Tabor College, Hillsboro, Kansas.
“Nowadays one is soon dead; some have already been dead a long time and do not realize it.” This statement by Josef Gabriel Rheinberger (1839-1901)—both cryptic and prophetic—reveals the resignation with which he faced the twilight of his career. In the fin de siécle that in music favored whatever was tonally new, was filled with self-expression, or was brilliantly picturesque and possibly revolutionary, the music of Rheinberger was largely ignored or seemingly forgotten.
The purpose of this study is to highlight the life and work of Josef Rheinberger, an endeavor that will examine Rheinberger’s compositional style outside the prejudice of musical goings-on in the late nineteenth century, instead focusing upon generally-accepted standards of form, technique, harmony, inspiration, and beauty. His compositional style is illustrated by seventeen musical examples drawn from various works for mixed chorus, and an in-depth study of the Opus 134 Osterhymne, including seventeen examples drawn from the work. Additionally, a newly edited performance edition of the Osterhymne is included as a part of the study—the first edition produced since the original publication of 1883, which was edited by Rheinberger himself.
Modern editorial research has suggested that Rheinberger “was not a very careful proof-reader”; the new edition corrects errors in rhythmic values and text setting, provides a more pianistic rehearsal accompaniment, and presents the work in a cleaner, more succinct printing, utilizing modern notation software. It is argued here that, based upon the quality of his work, Rheinberger deserves a larger place in the modern choral repertory for both performance and study. In short, here is an attempt to raise to consciousness the {133} works of one whom Hans von Bülow described as “unrivaled in the whole of Germany and beyond in skill, refinement, and devotion to his subject . . . one of the worthiest musicians and human beings in the world.”
The above listing presents publications of faculty and students of schools which sponsor Direction, identified as follows:
Bethany Bible Institute (BBI), Canadian Mennonite University (CMU), Columbia Bible College (CBC), Fresno Pacific University (FPU), Mennonite Brethren Biblical Seminary (MBBS), and Tabor College (TC). In cases of multiple authorship, the author of interest is marked with *.
