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Menno Simons Lectures

In 1950, the John P. and Carolina Schrag Kaufman family established the Menno Simons Lectureship Endowment. This fund promotes research and public lectures by recognized scholars relating to Anabaptist-Mennonite history, thought, life and culture, both past and present. In 1997, the family of William E. and Meta Goering Juhnke contributed substantially to the endowment. The Kaufman and Juhnke families had their roots in the Eden Mennonite Church of Moundridge.

Past Lectures

• 2010-2019

  • 2010: John Roth

    (Professor of history, director of Mennonite Historical Library and editor of Mennonite Quarterly Review, Goshen College, Indiana)
    The Future of Anabaptism as a Global Movement

    • What Hath Zurich to do with Addis Ababa?: Anabaptism as a Global Movement
    • The Christian Faith in Global Perspective
    • Tap Root or Rhizome?: Retelling the Anabaptist Story as if the Global Church Mattered
    • The Coming Shape of Anabaptism: Envisioning the Global Mennonite Church of the Future

• 2000-2009

  • 2009: Scott Holland

    (Professor of Theology & Culture at Bethany Theological Seminary, Richmond, Indiana)
    Prophets, Poets & Pragmatists: The Historic Peace Churches and Public Theology

    • Public Theology as Seeking Cultures of Peace
    • Entering Whitman’s America: A Theopoetics of Public Life
    • The Poetics of Peace
    • Prophetic Vision, Poetic Voice and Pragmatic Solidarity

  • 2008: James Stayer

    (Emeritus Professor of History from Queen’s University, Kingston, Ontario)
    Anabaptist/Mennonite Pluralism

    • Anabaptist Beginnings—July 1523-February 1527: Grebel and Hubmaier; Mantz and Sattler
    • The Prophetic Political Dissent of the Anabaptists: Then and Now
    • Pilgram Marpeck and the Austerlitz Brethren: A "Disappeared" Anabaptist Denomination
    • Menno and Münster

  • 2007: Rudy Wiebe

    (novelist and retired professor from Edmonton, Alberta)
    Tracking the Story as History

    • Between the Stones and the Ocean
    • Flour and Yeast
    • Where the Truth Lies
    • Tracking Omniscience: the Story as Gift

  • 2006: Helmut Harder

    (retired General Secretary of Mennonite Church Canada and former Professor of Theology at Canadian Mennonite Bible College, Winnipeg, Manitoba)
    Mennonites and Catholics Conversing on the Way

    • Sharing Our Stories (mp3 audio)
    • Integrating Our Peace Witness (mp3 audio)
    • Comparing Our Theologies (mp3 audio)
    • Healing Our Divisions (mp3 audio)

  • 2005: Jaime Prieto

    (Latin American Biblical University, San Jose, Costa Rica)
    Latin American Mennonite History

    • El carácter poligenético de los Menonitas en América Latina—The Polygenetic Character of Mennonites in Latin America
    • La fecundidad de las tradiciones orales en la construcción de la Historia Anabautista—The Abundance of Oral Tradition in the Construction of Anabaptist History
    • Protagonismo de la mujer en la Historia Menonita de América Latina—The Participation of Women in the History of Mennonites in Latin America
    • Misionología y la eclesiologia anabautista: Desafíos a la construcción de la paz—Missiology and Anabaptist Ecclesiology: Challenges to Building Peace

  • 2004: Lee Palmer Wandel

    (University of Wisconsin-Madison)
    Faith and Humanity: How Do We Tell the Story of the Reformation?

    • Of Founding Fathers and Origins: Writing History from the Present
    • Textual Communities: Theologians and Evangelicals
    • The 1960s and Social Movements: Magistrates, Anabaptists, and Women
    • Incarnation: "True Christians" and the Diversity of Faith

  • 2003: Jean Janzen

    (Fresno, California)
    Elements of Faithful Writing

    • Mud: The Mound That Saves Us
    • Water: Wailing in the Shower
    • Fire and Air: Breathing the Light
    • Text: Marking the Stone

  • 2002: C. Arnold Snyder

    (Conrad Grebel College)
    The Rich Legacy of Anabaptist Spirituality

    • Anabaptism: A Protestant, Lay Monastic Renewal Movement (mp3 audio)
    • Praying the Anabaptist Bible: Lectio divina in an Anabaptist Mode (mp3 audio)
    • Not a Baptism of Adults, But a Baptism of the Reborn (mp3 audio)
    • From Spirit to Letter: Anabaptist Spirituality and Mennonite Piety (mp3 audio)

  • 2001: Alan Kreider

    (Mennonite Board of Missions/London Mennonite Center)
    Listening to the Early Church: A Way Forward for Contemporary Anabaptists?

    • Can Anabaptists Learn from the Early Church? part 1(mp3 audio) part 2(mp3 audio)
    • Initiation: Becoming a Resident Alien (mp3 audio)
    • Worship: Shaping an Intriguing People (mp3 audio)
    • The Way of Peace in a Militarized Empire part 1(mp3 audio) part 2(mp3 audio)

  • 2000: Mark A. Noll

    (Wheaton College)
    Eighteenth Century Origins of Evangelicalism

    • The Emergence of Evangelical Christianity part 1(mp3 audio) part 2(mp3 audio)
    • Who Are Today's Evangelicals and What Are They Up To? part 1(mp3 audio) part 2(mp3 audio)
    • Evangelicalism as "Revolutionary" Faith part 1(mp3 audio) part 2(mp3 audio)
    • Early Evangelicals and the Wars of the 18th Century part 1(mp3 audio) part 2(mp3 audio)

• 1990-1999

  • 1999: Royden K. Loewen

    (University of Winnipeg)
    Hidden Worlds: Revisiting the 1870s Mennonite Immigrants

  • 1998: Gayle Gerber Koontz

    (Associated Mennonite Biblical Seminary)
    Place with God: A Mennonite Geography of the Spirit

  • 1997: Donald Kraybill

    (Messiah College)
    The Riddle of Amish Culture

  • 1996: Peter C. Hodgson

    (Vanderbilt University)
    Constructive Theology and Biblical Worlds

  • 1995: Sjouke Voolstra

    (University of Amsterdam)
    Menno Simons: His Image and Message

  • 1994: Martin E. Marty

    (University of Chicago)
    One Culture, Many Cultures: The American Religious Prospect

  • 1993: Albert J. Meyer

    (Mennonite Board of Education)
    The Church and Higher Education

  • 1992: Abraham Friesen

    (University of California, Santa Barbara)
    History and Renewal in the Anabaptist/Mennonite Tradition

  • 1991: Al Reimer

    (University of Winnipeg)
    Mennonite Literary Voices Past and Present

  • 1990: Albert N. Keim

    (Eastern Mennonite College)
    Civilian Public Service and World War II

• 1980-1989

  • 1989: Heiko A. Oberman

    (University of Arizona, Tucson)
    The Multiple Voices of the Reformation

  • 1988: Walter Klaassen

    (Conrad Grebel College)
    Living at the End of the Ages

  • 1987: William R. Estep

    (Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, Fort Worth, Texas)
    Religious Freedom: Heritage and Responsibility

  • 1986: James C. Juhnke

    (Bethel College)
    Dialogue with a Heritage: The Beginnings of Bethel College

    • The Ethnic Dialogue: Bethel as German part 1(mp3 audio) part 2(mp3 audio)
    • The Community Dialogue: Bethel as Church (mp3 audio)
    • The Spirituality Dialogue: Bethel as Pietist part 1(mp3 audio) part 2(mp3 audio)
    • The History Dialogue: Bethel as Anabaptist (mp3 audio)
    • The Culture Dialogue: Bethel as Christendom part 1(mp3 audio) part 2(mp3 audio)

  • 1985: Rodney J. Sawatsky

    (Conrad Grebel College)
    Authority and Identity: The Dynamics of the General Conference Mennonite Church

  • 1984: Vincent Harding

    (Iliff School of Theology, Denver)
    Black History and the Search for a New America

  • 1983: Cynthia C. Wedel

    (World Council of Churches)
    Tradition and Traditions

  • 1982: John H. Yoder

    (Notre Dame University and Mennonite Biblical Seminary)
    The Jewish-Christian Division: A Reassessment from a Radical Reformation Perspective

    • It Did Not Have to Be: Jewish/Christian Division (mp3 audio)
    • Jesus — Jewish Pacifist (mp3 audio)
    • Judaism as an Historical Peace Church (mp3 audio)
    • Paul — Jewish Missionary (mp3 audio)
    • Jewishness of Anabaptism (mp3 audio)

  • 1981: Cornelius J. Dyck

    (Associated Mennonite Biblical Seminaries)
    Strength from the Past: 450 Years of Anabaptism-Mennonitism and Its Meaning for Today

  • 1980: Samuel Escobar

    (International Fellowship of Evangelical Students, Lima, Peru)
    Missions from a Third World Point of View

• 1970-1979

  • 1979: John B. Toews

    (University of Calgary)
    The Mennonite Experience in Russia - The 20th Century

  • 1978: Marlin E. Miller

    (Goshen Biblical Seminary)
    Mennonites and Contemporary Theology

  • 1977: John W. de Gruchy

    (University of Cape Town)
    The Church Struggle in South Africa

  • 1976: John L. Ruth

    (author, film-maker, minister)
    Mennonite Identity and the Arts

  • 1975: Axel-Ivar Berglund

    (South African Council of Churches)
    Justice and Reconciliation in an African Environment

  • 1974: Donald F. Durnbaugh

    (Bethany Theological Seminary)
    The Promise and the Peril of Civil Religion

  • 1973: William Stringfellow

    (attorney, author, social critic)
    Issues of State and Church, Obedience and Conscience in Ethics and in Eschatology

    • The Problem of Political Legitimacy (mp3 audio)
    • Anarchy and Eschatology (mp3 audio)
    • Conscience as Obedience (mp3 audio)
    • Obedience as Conscience (mp3 audio)
    • The Issue of Sovereignty in the Age of Persecution (mp3 audio)

  • 1972: Heinold Fast

    (Mennonite Church, Emden, Germany)
    Utopia and Reality

  • 1971: Alan Geyer

    (Editor of Christian Century)
    Political Ethics for a Convivial World

  • 1970: Markus Barth

    (Pittsburgh University)
    Baptism in the New Testament and Today

    • Baptism as a Pledge of Humility (mp3 audio)
    • Baptism as a Burial (mp3 audio)
    • Baptism for Revelation (mp3 audio)
    • Baptism as a Prayer (mp3 audio)

• 1960-1969

  • 1969: Alvin Beachy, James Juhnke, William Keeney, and Cornelius Krahn

    (Bethel College)
    Reformation and Revolution

  • 1968: Paul Peachey

    (Catholic University of America)
    Power, Impotence, and Nonviolence

  • 1967: Ed G. Kaufman

    (Bethel College)
    Great Christian Doctrines

    • God Our Father
    • The Universe, God's Handiwork (mp3 audio)
    • Man, the Crown and Shame of Creation (mp3 audio)
    • Jesus Christ, Savior and Lord (mp3 audio)
    • The Holy Spirit, Our Comforter (mp3 audio)
    • The Church, the Body of Christ
    • The Bible, the Redemption Story
    • The Christian Life Today

  • 1966: J. P. Jacobszoon and Robert Friedman

    (Haarlem, Netherlands, and Kalamazoo, Michigan)
    Anabaptism as Existential Christianity

  • 1965: Roland H. Bainton

    (Yale Divinity School)
    Erasmus and the Reformation

  • 1964: William Klassen, Henry Poettcker, and Walter Klaassen

    (Elkhart, Indiana; Winnipeg, Manitoba; and Waterloo, Ontario)
    Anabaptist Interpretation of the Scriptures

  • 1963: Theodore O. Wedel

    (Union Theological Seminary, New York)
    An Ecumenical View of the Mennonite Tradition

  • 1962-1963: James H. Nichols

    (Princeton Theological Seminary)
    An Outline History of Christian Discipline

  • 1961: H. W. Meihuizen

    (Mennonite Church, The Hauge, Netherlands)
    Menno Simons and the Truth

  • 1960: Elton Trueblood

    (Earlham College)
    The Fellowship of the Concerned

• 1953-1959

  • 1959: Gordon D. Kaufman

    (Harvard Divinity School)
    The Theological Context of the Christian Ethic

  • 1958: George H. Williams

    (Harvard Divinity School)
    Wilderness and Paradise in the History of God's People

  • 1957: Jacob J. Enz

    (Mennonite Biblical Seminary)
    The Only Warfare the Christian Knows

    • The Recovery of the Ultimate Weapon (The Proclamation of the Biblical Word-deed of Love) (mp3 audio)
    • Fighting in the Right War (Decision and Recovery of the Biblical Time-table) (mp3 audio)
    • The Outfit that Moves Forward as a Man (Participation in the Covenanted Life in Christ)
    • Caught in the Deadly Cross-fire (The Kingdom among the Kingdoms) (mp3 audio)
    • The Kingdom's Tactical Supremacy (Incarnation and Substitution vs. Idolatry and Irresponsibility) (mp3 audio)
    • Turning Battle Songs into Hymns of Peace (The Celebration of the Lordship of Christ) (mp3 audio)

  • 1956: Martin Niemoeller

    (Evangelical Church, Hesse-Nassau, Germany)
    Relevance of Christian Nonresistance in Our Present World Situation

    • The Way of Peace
    • Reformation Address
    • Christian Pacifism (mp3 audio)
    • The Church and Politics (mp3 audio)
    • The Present Crisis and Christian Responsibility (mp3 audio)
    • The Peace of God and Peace among Men (mp3 audio)
    • Underdeveloped Countries (mp3 audio)
    • The Church's Part in the Quest for Peace (mp3 audio)

  • 1955: Robert Kreider

    (Bluffton College)
    Anabaptism Speaks to Our Day

  • 1954: Franklin H. Littell

    (Chicago Theological Seminary)
    The Free Church

  • 1954: Wilhelm Pauck

    (Union Theological Seminary, New York)
    The Reformers and the Anabaptists

  • 1953: Roland H. Bainton

    (Yale Divinity School)
    Sixteenth Century Anabaptism

    • Beginnings of the Reformation (Luther)
    • Radicalism at Wittenberg
    • The Church of the Restoration (Anabaptism in Switzerland) part 1 (mp3 audio) part 2 (mp3 audio)
    • The Great Commission (The Spread to the Upper Rhine and Hesse) (mp3 audio)
    • The Frontier Fellowship (The Hutterites) (mp3 audio)
    • The Enduring Witness (The Mennonites) (mp3 audio)