Assistant Professor of
History - bfroese@cmu.ca
Brian was born and raised in Winnipeg. He has a Ph.D. from Graduate Theological Union, Berkeley, California, 2003; an M.C.S. from Regent College, Vancouver, British Columbia, 1997; and a B.A. from the University of Winnipeg, 1994.
Brian began teaching history at CMU in January, 2006. Prior to that he was an Assistant Professor of History at Providence College, Otterburne, Man. From 2003-2005; and a Newhall Teaching Fellow at Graduate Theological Union, Berkeley, CA.
Brian belongs to a number of professional organizations, including the American Historical Society; the American Society of Church History; the Canadian Historical Society; the Mennonite Historical Society; and the Western Historical Association.
Research areas include religion and culture in the North American West.
In 2008, Brian was awarded a 3-year, $54,000 SSHRC Standard Research Grant for the project, American Evangelical Missions in the Twentieth-Century Canadian West.
Brian’s approach to the study of history:
I aim to have my students think not only of the past, but also of their developing relationship to it. From the first-year course to the upper-level courses, I use primary sources—including documents ranging from political speeches, to sermons, to personal letters, to novels—in addition to secondary sources, to assist students as they develop critical skills in interpreting sources and communicating their thoughts. A challenge in both teaching and taking history courses is balancing infinite details with larger questions and themes in ways that make sense—knowing there always exist more voices to listen to and other questions to ask. Through our time together, we will seek that balance.
PUBLICATIONS
Articles: Peer-Reviewed Journals and Chapters in Books
“Compassion and Culture: Southeast Asian Refugees and California Mennonites.” Journal of Mennonite Studies, Journal of Mennonite Studies 24 (2006), 129-148.
“Comic Endings: Spirit and Flesh in Bono’s Apocalyptic Imagination, 1980-1983.” Call Me the Seeker: Listening to Religion in Popular Music, ed. Michael J. Gilmour (New York: Continuum, 2005), 61-78.
“‘The Anabaptist Vision’: A Half-Century of Historical and Religious Debate in Twentieth-Century America.” Fides et Historia 35:2 (Summer/Fall 2003), 105-117.
“Beyond Declension and Irony: Mennonite History as Community Studies.” Conrad Grebel Review (Spring 2003), 16-23.
Articles: Other
“Quilts, Bandages and Efficiency: Mennonite Women’s Missionary Societies and the Formation of a Modern Social-Religious Identity in California, 1930-1960.” Historical Papers 2004: Canadian Society of Church History, ed. Bruce L. Guenther, 15-32.
“A Pacific Ending: Situating California in Late Twentieth-Century Popular Evangelical Endtime Literature.” Didaskalia 15:2 (Winter 2004), 49-62.
“Sewing Peace: Women’s Missionary Societies, Churches, and the Californian Civilian Public Service Camps, 1940-1947.” California Mennonite Historical Society Bulletin. No. 40 (Spring 2004), 1-5.
“‘Where the People Tell No Lies’: Religious Images of California in Mennonite Memoirs.” California Mennonite Historical Society Bulletin. No. 38 (April 2003), 1-3.
“Approaching a Theology of the Book of Malachi.” Direction 25:1 (Spring 1996), 14-20.
RECENT CONFERENCE PAPERS
“Errand to the Pacific: Mennonite Missions, Activism and Assimilation in British Columbia, 1960-1980. ”Northern Great Plains Conference, September 22-26, 2008, Brandon University.
“Families, Friends and the Journey to Hell: Crossing the American West as Apocalyptic Disaster, 1940-1995.” National Popular Culture Association / American Culture Association Conference, San Francisco, CA, March 19-22, 2008.
“‘Is Anabaptism here a joke?’: California Mennonite Farmers, Labour Tensions, and Visitors from Eastern States, 1974.” Canadian Historical Association, Saskatoon, SK, May 28, 2007.
“‘Our Christians’: Mennonite Missions and Cultural Encounters in British Columbia.” Canadian Society of Church History, Saskatoon, SK, May 28, 2007.
“Body Apocalyptic: Reading Evangelical Raptures, 666, and Resurrections in the Twentieth Century.” American Academy of Religion, Philadelphia, PA, November 18-22, 2005.
“Vietnamese “Boat People” and California’s Mennonite Response.” Mennonites Meet the Refugee: A 25 Year Retrospective, University of Winnipeg, September 30-October 1, 2005.
“Modern Discomforts: Mennonite Adaptive Strategies to Expanding Racial and Gender Identities in British Columbia and California.” American Historical Association, Seattle, WA, January 6-9, 2005.
OTHER
Spring 2007 – Present , Member of the Editorial Board and Co-Book Review Editor of the Journal of Mennonite Studies
