Karl Koop

Professor of History and Theology

Karl received his PhD from St. Michael's College, University of Toronto, and has degrees from Anabaptist Mennonite Bible Seminary (AMBS), the University of Manitoba and CMU. He teaches in the areas of history and theology. Before coming to CMU as professor, Karl taught at the Mennonite Seminary in Elkhart Indiana (AMBS), and previously also served in Brandenberg and Berlin with Mennonite Central Committee. His research and writing has focussed mainly in the fields of Anabaptist and Mennonite studies. Currently, he is co-editor of Vision: A Journal for Church and Theology and also serves on the Reference Council of the Classics of the Radical Reformation series.

Areas of Teaching

History of Christianity; Anabaptist Studies; Theology

Education

PhD, University of St. Michael's College, University of Toronto,1999; MDiv, Associated Mennonite Biblical Seminaries, 1990; BA, University of Manitoba, 1985; BTh, Canadian Mennonite Bible College, 1983

Work in Detail

Teaching

Examples of Courses Taught at CMU:

• History of Christianity
• Reading Christian Classics
• Augustine and Luther
• Anabaptist Beginnings
• Continuity and Change in Anabaptism
• Age of Radical Reformations
• Anabaptism – From European to Global Reality
• Renaissance and Reformation
• Systematic Theology
• War and Peace in Historical Context
• Topics in Ecclesiology
• Faith and Toleration

Research

Other Associations

Adjunct Professor in Peace and Conflict Studies, University of Manitoba (2023–2024)

Current Research and Scholarship

Anabaptist and Mennonite Studies

Journal Articles and Chapters in Books (Select)

• „Mennonitische Glaubensbekenntnisse: Vielfalt und Kontextualität," in Mennoniten: Die Kirchen der Gegenwart 8, Bensheimer Hefte 119, edited by Fernando Enns (Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 2025), 41-48

• "Mennonite Confessions of Faith: Lessons from History," Preservings 50 (Spring 2025): 11-14, slightly revised from -"Lessons from History: On the Uses of Mennonite Confessions of Faith," Vision: A Journal for Church and Theology 3.2 (Fall 2002), 5-11

• "Tradition, Retrieval, and Reconstituting Memory: Reflecting on Anabaptism's 500-year Story," The Mennonite Quarterly Review (January 2025)
• "Impulse aus dem Täufertum in theologischen Diskursen des 20. Und 21. Jahrhunderts," Friekirchen Forschung – Das Täufertum und die Freikirchen: das täuferische Erbe und seine Bedeutung für die Gegenwart 32 (2023): 64-70
• "Anabaptist Confessions of Faith: Diversity, Development, and Enduring Patterns," in T&T Clark Handbook of Anabaptism, ed.,Brian C. Brewer (London: T&T Clark, 2022), 305-319
• "Intercessory Prayer and the Communion of Saints: a Mennonite Perspective," in Intercessory Prayer and the Communion of Saints: Mennonite and Catholic Perspectives, eds. Darrin W. Snyder Belousek and Margaret R. Pfeil (Kitchener, ON: Pandora Press, 2022), 105-124.
• "Contours and Possibilities for an Anabaptist Theology," in Recovering from the Anabaptist Vision: New essays in Anabaptist Identity and Theological Method, eds., Laura Schmidt Roberts, Paul Martens and Myron Penner, T&T Clark Studies in Anabaptist Theology and Ethics (London: T&T Clark, 2020), 17-32.
• "Putting Doctrine in its Place: Confessions of Faith, Modernism, and the Lex Vivendi," Direction: A Mennonite Brethren Forum 48, no. 2 (Fall 2019): 137-148.
• "An Appeal for Renewal in an Age of Conflict: Pieter Pietersz's `Way to the City of Peace," Mennonitica Helvetica 42 (2019): 51-63.
• Foreword to Faith and Toleration: A Reformation Debate Revisited, by C. Arnold Snyder (Winnipeg: CMU Press, 2018)
• "Word, Spirit, Experience, and the Practice of Patience: learning from the Waterlander-Mennonite two-fold Word Debate," Mennonite Quarterly Review 92, no. 4 (October 2018).
• "Interfaith interaction -- integral to Christian proclamation," Vision: A Journal for Church and Theology 18, no. 2 (Fall 2017): 14-23.
• "Critical Engagement  --  Not Avoidance: A Response to Anabaptism's Upcoming Anniversary Celebration," Mennonite Life, vol. 71 (2017), online
• "At the Margins and at the Center of Modern Expression: Reconsidering Anabaptist and Mennonite Confessions of Faith" in European Mennonites and the Challenge of Modernity over Five Centuries: Contributors, Detractors, and Adapters, ed. by Mark Jantzen, Mary sprunger, John D. Thiesen (North Newton, KS: Bethel College, 2016), 285-300.
• "On Judging the Past," Mennonite Historian 42, no. 3 (September 2016): 2, 4-5, 10.
• "A Complication for the Mennonite Peace Tradition: Wilhelm Mannhardt's Defense of Military Service," Conrad Grebel Review 34, no. 1 (Winter 2016): 28-48.
• "Migrations of Enchantment in the Radical Reformation: The Undoing of a Material and Natural World," in Radicalizing Reformation: North American Perspectives, vol. 6, eds. Karen L. Bloomquist, Craig L. Nessan, Hans G. Ulrich (Berlin: LIT Verlag, 2016), 243-264; previously published in Liberation from Violence for Life in Peace, Radicalizing Reformation vol. 4, ed. Ulrich Duchrow and Craig Nessan (Berlin: LIT Verlag, 2015), 223-43.
• "On the Dangers of Greed and Excess: Mennonites in the Dutch Golden Age," Vision: A Journal for Church and Theology 15, no. 1 (Spring 2014): 54-63
• "Reading Tradition Through Catholic Lenses: Moving Beyond Restorationism," essay in New Perspectives in Believers Church Ecclesiology, Abe Dueck; Helmut Harder; Karl Koop eds (Winnipeg, CMU Publications, 2010)
• "Dangers of Superabundance: Pieter Pietersz, Mennonites, and Greed during the Dutch Golden Age," Journal of Mennonite Studies 27 (2009): 61-73
• "Holiness, Catholicity and Unity of all Christians," in Creed and Conscience: Essays in Honour of A. James Reimer, eds. Jeremy Bergen, Paul Derksen, Karl Koop (Kitchener: Pandora Press, 2007), 65-82
• "The Dordrecht Confession of 1632: An Enduring Legacy," Preservings 26 (2006): 14-17
• "Scripture and Tradition: A Dilemma for Protestants," Vision: A Journal for Church and Theology 6, no. 1 (Spring 2005): 14-21.
• "Worldly Preachers and True Shepherds: Anabaptist Anticlericalism in the Lower Rhine," The Heart of the Matter: Pastoral Ministry in Anabaptist Perspective, ed. Erick Sawatzky (Telford, Pa.: Cascadia Publishing House and Scottdale Pa.: Herald Press, 2004), 24-38
• "Catechisms in the Mennonite Tradition," Vision: A Journal for Church and Theology 4.2 (Fall 2003): 28-35
• "Täuferisch-mennonitische Bekenntnisse: ein umstrittenes Vermächtnis," Mennonitische Geschichtsblätter 60 (2003): 23-42
• "Lessons from History On the Uses of Mennonite Confessions of Faith," Vision: A Journal for Church and Theology 3.2 (Fall 2002), 5-11
• "Worldly Preachers and True Shepherds: Anticlericalism and Pastoral Identity among Anabaptists in the Lower Rhine," Mennonite Quarterly Review 76.4 (October 2002): 399-411
• "Christianity and the other Religions," in Mission Focus 9 (2001), 86-91
• "Das Christentum und die Religionen," in Mennonitisches Jahrbuch (Lahr: Arbeitsgemeinschaft Mennonitischer Gemeinden in Deutschland, 2002), 55-59

Articles in Encyclopedias

• "Mennonites" in The Encyclopedia of the Bible and its Reception (Berlin/Boston: Walter de Gruyter, 2020)
• "Mennonites, Reformation to Modern Christianity," for The Encyclopedia of the Bible and its Reception, to be published by De Gruyter
• "Anabaptist and Mennonite Identity: Permeable Boundaries and Expanding Definitions," Religion Compass 8/6 (2014): 199-207.
• "Bekenntnisse," MennLex Band V – Revision und Ergänzung, Teil 2 -- Geschichte, Kultur, Theologie, Hans-Jürgen Goertz ed (Mennonitisches Geschichtsverein e.V. 2010-2011)
• "Gemeindeordnungen (im Täufertum),"  MennLex Band V – Revision und Ergänzung, Teil 2 -- Geschichte, Kultur, Theologie, Hans-Jürgen Goertz ed (Mennonitisches Geschichtsverein e.V. 2010-2011)
• "Congregational Orders and Church Disciplines (Gemeindeordnungen)." Global Anabaptist Mennonite Encyclopedia Online. May 2011. 
• "Menno Simons," The Encyclopedia of Christianity vol. 3, ed. Geoffrey W. Bromiley (Grand Rapids and Leiden: Eerdmans and Brill, 2003)
• "Schleitheim Confession," Encyclopedia of Protestantism vol. 4, ed. Hans Hillerbrand (New York and London: Routledge, 2003)

Journals edited

• Vision: A Journal for Church and Theology, vol. 26 (Spring 2025) War and Peace
• Vision: A Journal for Church and Theology, vol. 25 (Spring 2024) Commemorating Anabaptism's 500 Years
• Vision: A Journal for Church and Theology, vol. 24 (Spring 2023): Uncertainty
• Vision: A Journal for Church and Theology, vol. 22 (Spring 2021): Health, Healing, and Hope
• Vision: A Journal for Church and Theology, vol. 17 (Spring 2016), issue focus: Discernment
• Vision: A Journal for Church and Theology, vol. 13 (Spring 2012), issue focus: The Holy Spirit and the Christian Life
• Vision: A Journal for Church and Theology, vol. 7 (Spring 2006), issue focus: Salvation

Books

• Paul G. Doerksen and Karl Koop eds, The Church made Strange for the Nations: Essays in Ecclesiology and Political Theology, Princeton Theological Monograph Series (Eugene, OR: Pickwick Publications, 2011)
• Abe Dueck, Helmut Harder, Karl Koop eds., New Perspectives in Believers Church Ecclesiology (Winnipeg: CMU Press, 2010)
• Jeremy Bergen, Paul Derksen, Karl Koop, eds. Creed and Conscience: Essays in Honour of A. James Reimer (Kitchener: Pandora Press, 2007)
• Karl Koop, ed., Confessions of Faith in the Anabaptist-Mennonite Tradition, 1527-1660; Classics of the Radical Reformation series, vol. 11 by the Institute of Mennonite Studies (Kitchener: Pandora Press, 2006)
• Karl Koop, Anabaptist-Mennonite Confessions of Faith: The Development of a Tradition; Anabaptist and Mennonite Studies series vol. 3 by the Institute of Anabaptist Mennonite Studies (Kitchener: Pandora Press, 2004)
• Karl Koop and Mary Schertz, eds., Without Spot or Wrinkle: Reflecting Theologically on the Nature of the Church. Occasional Papers 21 (Elkhart: Institute of Mennonite Studies, 2000)

Recent Presentations (select)

• "Remembering Well as a Pathway Towards Radical Renewal." 20th Believers Church Conference, Amsterdam and Mennorode, June 1-4, 2025
• "When the Dutch Got Worldly: The Origins of an Anabaptist Global Imagination" Centre for Transnational Mennonite Studies Annual Lecture, April 10, 2025
• -"Commemorating Anabaptism's 500 Years: Anabaptist beginnings and the stories we tell." Bechtel Lecture, Conrad Grebel University College, University of Waterloo, January 17, 2025
• "Reflections on Psalm 51." Mennonite-Muslim Dialogue at CMU, October 21, 2024
• "Telling our Stories Well," presented at the Saga conference, CMU, Oct. 27, 2023
• "Looking for the Seeds of Anabaptist Concern for Justice," presented at the Global Mennonite Peacebuilding Conference and Festival III, Harisonburg, Virginia, June 17, 2023
• "Impulse aus dem Täufertum in theologischen Diskursen des 20. und 21. Jahrhunderts," Eine Tagung zum Thema "Das Täuftertum und die Freikirchen," Verein für Freikirchenforschung  und Theologische Hochschule Elsthal, Deutschland, May 7, 2022
• -"An Appeal for Renewal in an Age of Conflict: Pieter Pietersz's `Way to the City of Peace," presented at Renewal Movements and Anabaptist History: An International Colloquium at Bienenberg, Switzerland, March 27-29, 2019.
• "Engaging Scripture Theologically" a presentation at the "Emerging Perspectives on Ministry" gathering at Charleswood United Church; May 9, 2018
• "Reconsidering the Reformation: Complexities and Opportunities," presented at the Formations and ReFormations in Catholic Thought series at The Jesuit Centre for Catholic Studies at St. Paul's College, University of Manitoba, November 1, 2017

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