A scholar of Anabaptist history and theology will give two lectures at Bethel College, aimed at Bethel seniors but open to anyone.
Jamie Pitts is associate professor of Anabaptist studies and chair of the Department of History, Theology and Ethics at Anabaptist Mennonite Biblical Seminary in Elkhart, Ind.
He will speak at Bethel Feb. 22 and 23, at 7 p.m. in the Administration Building chapel and at 11 a.m. in Krehbiel Auditorium in Luyken Fine Arts Center, respectively.
These lectures are underwritten by the Staley Lectures at Bethel College.
All Bethel seniors take a capstone course called Basic Issues of Faith and Life, in which they read two common texts (among others): a book of the Christian Bible and another book.
This year’s common texts are the book of Matthew in the New Testament and The Cost of Discipleship by Dietrich Bonhoeffer, the inspiration for the two lectures Pitts will give at Bethel, said Peter Goerzen, chair of the Department Bible and Religion.
Pitts’ Feb. 22 lecture is titled “Becoming a ‘Front Light’ for Justice?: Mennonite Positions on Social Transformation.” On Feb. 23, he will speak more specifically on Bonhoeffer, with “Would Jesus Kill Hitler?”
Bonhoeffer was a German Lutheran pastor, theologian and anti-Nazi resister. He was imprisoned after being convicted for taking part in a plot to assassinate Adolf Hitler, and was executed by the Nazis right before the end of the war, in 1945.
Bonhoeffer is the author of several books. The Cost of Discipleship, first published in 1937, is probably his best known and is considered a modern classic.
Pitts has been at AMBS since 2012 where, in addition to teaching, he is the director of the Institute of Mennonite Studies, the research and publishing arm of AMBS, and editor of Anabaptist Witness.
After completing two B.A. degrees, in art history and Hispanic studies, at the University of Texas, Pitts went on to earn a Master of Divinity degree from Fuller Theological Seminary and a Ph.D. in divinity (theology and ethics) from the University of Edinburgh.
Between completing his M.Div. and starting doctoral studies in Scotland, Pitts was a Beatitudes Society fellow and an editorial assistant at Sojourners, and the coordinator of the Interethnic Dialogues on Immigration and a policy assistant at Church World Service/Immigration and Refugee Program, both in Washington, D.C.
He is the author of Organizing Spirit: Pneumatology, Institutions, and Global Imagination (Bloomsbury T&T Clark, 2025); What Happened at Benham West: African-American Stories of Community, Displacement and Hope (IUSB/Wolfson Press, 2025), with Nekeisha Alayna Alexis; and Principalities and Powers: Revising John Howard Yoder’s Sociological Theology (Pickwick, 2013), as well as numerous articles and reviews.
The Staley Distinguished Scholar Lecture Series was established in 1969, named for its benefactors, Dr. and Mrs. Thomas F. Staley of New York, who set it up to honor their parents, Mr. and Mrs. Thomas Staley and Mr. and Mrs. H.H. Haynes. Bethel College has been hosting Staley Lectures periodically since 1972.
Bethel is a four-year liberal arts college founded in 1887 and is the oldest Mennonite college in North America. Bethel is ranked #25 in U.S. News & World Report’s Best Regional College Midwest for 2026. Bethel was the only Kansas college or university to be named a Truth, Community Healing and Transformation (TCHT) Campus Center, in 2021. For more information, see www.bethelks.edu
