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CMU theology professor to celebrate publication of new book at launch event

‘Take and Read’ includes essays reflecting theologically on books

Canadian Mennonite University invites the public to a launch event celebrating the release of Take and Read: Reflecting Theologically on Books, a new book written by Dr. Paul Doerksen, Associate Professor of Theology and Anabaptist Studies.

The event takes place Sunday, December 4 at 2:00 PM in the Atrium at McNally Robinson Booksellers (1120 Grant Ave.). Admission to the book launch is free, and all are welcome to attend.

Take and ReadPublished by Wipf and Stock, Take and Read is a collection of essays first presented as oral theological reflections on books, written to stimulate conversations among diverse groups of readers.

These reflections introduce and offer samples of theological readings of a variety of books. The result is a collection of essays addressing a wide range of topics from food security to violence, from dementia to indigenous issues.

“I hope that anyone interested in joining conversations about any number of issues will read this book, because it really is a series of conversations with other books which address various topics,” Doerksen says.

Take and Read takes its name from a theological book discussion group that Doerksen has led since 2004 as part of CMU’s continuing education initiatives.

The group has included farmers, physicians, teachers, poets, novelists, scientists, people involved in business, finance, relief work, and many other walks of life, ranging in age from 20-something to 80.

PaulDoerksenOct2016
Dr. Paul Doerksen, author and Associate Professor of Theology and Anabaptist Studies at CMU

Doerksen’s prepared reflections for these gatherings are never meant to draw conclusions about the books themselves, or about the topics addressed by the authors. Rather, the reflections serve as a starting point for the group’s conversation.

Reading the literary works that Doerksen discusses in his new book is not a prerequisite for enjoying the volume.

“My hope is that if you haven’t read the book and you read the essay about the book, it will drive you to it,” Doerksen says. “If you have, I hope the essay brings up connections and questions, and some evaluative dimensions in response to the book.”

Ultimately, Take and Read is a theological enterprise. The book is perhaps best described as an invitation to joining a conversation about books, and more importantly, about God.

“I hope that in reading the book, people join a conversation about something that is meaningful to them, and that they find something theologically meaningful in joining that conversation,” Doerksen says.

A professor at CMU since 2011, Doerksen has a PhD in Western Religious Thought from McMaster University. He also holds degrees from Conrad Grebel University College, the University of Winnipeg, and Briercrest Bible College.

He is the author of Beyond Suspicion: Post-Christendom Protestant Political Theology in John Howard Yoder and Oliver O`Donovan (Wipf and Stock, 2009).

About CMU

A Christian university in the Anabaptist tradition, CMU’s Shaftesbury campus offers undergraduate degrees in arts, business, humanities, music, sciences, and social sciences, as well as graduate degrees in theology, ministry, peacebuilding and collaborative development, and an MBA. CMU has over 800 full-time equivalent students, including those enrolled in degree programs at the Shaftesbury and Menno Simons College campuses and in its Outtatown certificate program.

For information about CMU visit www.cmu.ca.

For additional information, please contact:
Kevin Kilbrei, Director of Communications & Marketing
kkilbrei@cmu.ca; 204.487.3300 Ext. 621
Canadian Mennonite University
500 Shaftesbury Blvd., Winnipeg, MB  R3P 2N2

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CMU Press to launch new book about Mennonite woman’s refugee experience

Author hopes book ‘will help readers enter into the lives of people who become refugees’

CMU Press is proud to announce the publication of its latest title, To and From Nowhere, written by Winnipeg author Hedy Leonora Martens.

In this gripping and moving novel, protagonist Greta Enns and her family struggle to exist in the Soviet Union from 1941 to 1976 after being displaced by Stalin along with thousands of Russian Germans, Mennonites, and other ethnic groups.

To and From Nowhere is the second of two books by Winnipeg writer Hedy Leonora Martens that tell the life story of Greta Enns.
To and From Nowhere is the second of two books by Winnipeg writer Hedy Leonora Martens that tell the life story of Greta Enns.

CMU Press and Martens will celebrate the publication of To and From Nowhere with a book launch on Monday, December 7 at 7:00 PM in the atrium at McNally Robinson (1120 Grant Ave.). Everyone is invited to attend this free event.

“I hope this book will help readers enter into the lives of people who become refugees,” Martens says, adding that it wasn’t just Mennonites that Stalin displaced.

“Many nationalities were exiled, torn from their homes, some of them never to return. They were wiped off the map as if they never existed, which is why the book is called To and From Nowhere.”

Greta was a real person who belonged to Martens’ extended family.

Based on painstaking historical research and interviews with Greta and her family, To and From Nowhere tells a harrowing and beautiful story in the unusual style that Martens has fused, combining narrative, biography, poetry, history, and personal reflection.

To and From Nowhere is the conclusion of a two-part project that began with the publication of Martens’ 2010 novel, Favoured Among Women, which the Winnipeg Free Press called a “detailed and touching portrait of a Mennonite woman during the harsh early years of Soviet Russia.”

Dr. Sue Sorensen, Associate Professor of English at CMU, served as editor for both Favoured Among Women and To and From Nowhere.

Sorensen calls the new book unique and adds that readers will gain insight into history—especially war—and at the same time be moved by the details of a real family’s day-to-day existence.

Martens, a retired family therapist, spent three decades working on Greta Enns’ story.
Martens, a retired family therapist, spent three decades working on Greta Enns’ story.

“In addition to that, you are drawn into the author’s process as she herself comments on her interactions with the material she is writing about,” Sorensen says. “There’s a beautiful resonance to all these different voices and writing styles living side-by-side in the book.”

Sorensen adds that Martens has a gift for bringing characters to life. “Because of Hedy’s skill I felt like I also had met Greta,” she says.

CMU Press is pleased to publish To and From Nowhere, says General Editor Dr. Paul Doerksen.

“Hedy has provided an invaluable contribution by bringing to view the experience of particular characters, allowing us to both witness and imagine some of the experiences which enable us to deepen our own understanding of historical circumstances, personal encounters, struggles of faith, and so on,” Doerksen says.

“While the book focuses on particularities, nonetheless it has the capacity to speak to a reading audience that is much broader than any single ethnic or religious group.”

Martens, a retired family therapist, recently celebrated her 80th birthday. She is looking forward to the December 7 book launch after working on Greta’s story for three decades.

“It feels really good to have completed this,” she says.

About CMU
A Christian university in the Anabaptist tradition, CMU’s Shaftesbury campus offers undergraduate degrees in arts, business, humanities, music, sciences, and social sciences, as well as graduate degrees in theology, ministry, peacebuilding and collaborative development, and an MBA. CMU has over 800 full-time equivalent students, including those enrolled in degree programs at the Shaftesbury and Menno Simons College campuses and in its Outtatown certificate program.

For information about CMU visit www.cmu.ca.

For additional information, please contact:
Kevin Kilbrei, Director of Communications & Marketing
kkilbrei@cmu.ca; 204.487.3300 Ext. 621
Canadian Mennonite University
500 Shaftesbury Blvd., Winnipeg, MB  R3P 2N2

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Event planned to celebrate books published by CMU faculty

‘The CMU faculty is doing very significant work,’ says vice president

CMU faculty who will be a part of the book celebration. From top-left; Froese; Doerksen; Gerbrandt; Sorenson
Among the published CMU faculty to be featured in the December 9 book celebration are (clockwise from top-left) Froese, Doerksen, Sorensen, and Gerbrandt.

Peacebuilding in Laos, the history of Mennonites in California, Deuteronomy, and the portrayal of clergy in pop culture—recent books by faculty from Canadian Mennonite University cover a wide range of topics.

The university will recognize faculty who have published work in the last year-and-a-half at a special celebration happening on Wednesday, December 9, 2015 at 3:00 PM.

The celebration will take place at folio café in Marpeck Commons (2299 Grant Ave.). Admission is free, and all are welcome to attend.

In addition to selling and signing their books, CMU faculty will give brief presentations about their work.

“The CMU faculty is doing very significant work,” says Dr. Dietrich Bartel, Interim Vice President Academic. “We want to highlight that.”

The event will celebrate the following books:

  • Deuteronomy (Herald Press, 2015) by Dr. Gerald E. Gerbrandt, President Emeritus and Professor Emeritus of Bible. The 29th volume in the Believers Church Bible Commentary series, Deuteronomy examines divine grace and the practices of justice and right living.
  • Conflict Resolution and Peacebuilding in Laos: Perspective for Today’s World (Routledge, 2015) by Dr. Stephanie Stobbe, Associate Professor of Conflict Resolution Studies. Using the case study of Laos, a small country that has seen brutal poverty and violence, this book examines the power of traditional and indigenous conflict resolution systems as a tool for social justice.
  • The Outsiders’ Gaze: Life and Labour on the Mennonite West Reserve 1874-1922 (Manitoba Mennonite Historical Society, 2015), co-edited by Dr. Adolf Ens, Professor Emeritus of History and Theology. This book is a perspective of Mennonites through the eyes of outsiders from 1874-1922 when 7,000 Mennonites emigrated from southern Russia and settled in Manitoba.
  • Inner Peace Through Conflict Transformation (2015) by Dr. Paul Redekop, Professor Emeritus of Conflict Resolution Studies. This is a groundbreaking guide that aids readers in achieving a more peaceful relationship with themselves by applying basic strategies of conflict resolution to inner conflict.
  • James and Paul: The Politics of Identity at the Turn of the Ages (Fortress Press, 2015) by Dr. V. George Shillington, Professor Emeritus of Biblical and Theological Studies. This book seeks to understand the different but complementary missions of the apostle Paul and James of Jerusalem.
  • Voices of Harmony & Dissent: How Peacebuilders are Changing Their Worlds (CMU Press, 2015), co-edited by Dr. Jarem Sawatsky, Professor Emeritus of Peace and Conflict Transformation Studies and Valerie Smith, Co-Director of CMU’s Canadian School of Peacebuilding. This book explores the stories, theory, and tools of 16 peace leaders, trainers, and activists from around the world.
  • California Mennonites (John Hopkins University Press, 2015) by Dr. Brian Froese, Associate Professor of History. This book examines the Mennonite experience in the Golden State, from the 19th century migrants who came in search of sunshine and fertile soil to the evangelically oriented, partially assimilated Mennonites of today.
  • Toward an Anabaptist Political Theology: Law, Order, and Civil Society (Wipf and Stock, 2014), edited by Dr. Paul Doerksen, Associate Professor of Theology and Anabaptist Studies. This collection of essays by the late theologian Dr. A. James Reimer pursues the investigation of theological realities that are to serve as the engine of a political theology that seeks to articulate both a critical and a positive-constructive approach to public/political life and institutions.
  • The Collar: Reading Christian Ministry in Fiction, Television, and Film (Cascade, 2014) by Dr. Sue Sorensen, Associate Professor of English. This is a wide-ranging study of the many ways Christian ministers have been represented on page and screen. Ranging across several nations, denominations, and eras, The Collar is an inquiry into pastoral passion, frustration, and fallibility. 

Because each author has a background in teaching and is also involved in a church community, their work will appeal to a variety of readers, including lay readers, pastors, teachers, and more.

 “These writers are not just speaking to other scholars,” says Dr. Vic Froese, Library Director at CMU, who is organizing the December 9 event. “They are aware that there is an audience that has a more practical interest in what they have written.”

Froese is looking forward to the celebration.

“I hope that people who attend learn more about the excellence we have here on our faculty,” he says, adding that the event is also meant to recognize the hard work of CMU’s professors. “We want to express our appreciation to them and congratulate them on a job well done.”

About CMU
A Christian university in the Anabaptist tradition, CMU’s Shaftesbury campus offers undergraduate degrees in arts, business, humanities, music, sciences, and social sciences, as well as graduate degrees in theology, ministry, peacebuilding and collaborative development, and an MBA. CMU has over 800 full-time equivalent students, including those enrolled in degree programs at the Shaftesbury and Menno Simons College campuses and in its Outtatown certificate program. 

For information about CMU visit www.cmu.ca.

For additional information, please contact:
Kevin Kilbrei, Director of Communications & Marketing
kkilbrei@cmu.ca; 204.487.3300 Ext. 621
Canadian Mennonite University
500 Shaftesbury Blvd., Winnipeg, MB  R3P 2N2