Sampling of Scholarship 2026
Grebel faculty are experts in Music, Church Music and Worship, Peace and Conflict Studies, History, Theological Studies, Mennonite Studies, and Religion, Culture, and Spirituality. Not only are they dedicated professors, but they are esteemed scholars in their respective fields, working on a wide variety of research projects. These are their recent and current projects.
ALICIA BATTEN delivered the Presidential Address at the Canadian Society of Biblical Studies Annual Meeting at Mount Allison University, NB, in May 2026. The title was “Textile Topography: Dress, Bodies and Ancient Christ Followers.”
JEREMY BERGEN published “The Political Practice of Canadian Church Apologies to Indigenous Peoples,” in The Journey Presses On: Pope Francis’s Apology to Residential School Survivors in Canada, ed. Jane Barter and Doris Kieser (McGill-Queen’s University Press, 2026).
NATHAN FUNK co-authored “Peace Professionalism as Praxis: Between Theory, Practice, and Pedagogy,” Journal of Transdisciplinary Peace Praxis (August 2026), and gave several related academic conference presentations on the topic.
LAURA GRAY is writing a review of a new volume on Glenn Gould’s “Idea of North” for The CAML Review (Canadian Association of Music Libraries, Archives, and Documentation Centres), (December 2026).
LAUREEN HARDER-GISSING presented “A Walk Through Mennonite History,” at the Low German Provincial Conference: Challenging Assumptions, Conrad Grebel University College, October 2025.
PAUL HEIDEBRECHT facilitated a “PeaceTech Founders Forum” at Build Peace 2025, Barcelona, Spain, November 2025.
JANE KUEPFER published a series of resources to support spiritual care provision in long-term care (Schlegel-UW Research Institute for Aging) and hosted the third year of international Encore Webinars on Spirituality and Aging.
ERIC LEPP and Jasmin Ramović virtually presented their work “Everyday Resistance, Everyday Peace: Engaging Spaces of Encounter in Conflict Affected Societies,” at The First ‘Intergalactic’ Conference on Resistance Studies, University of Massachusetts Amherst, June 2026.
DAVID Y. NEUFELD published “Death and Dying among Swiss Anabaptists” in Routledge Resources Online — The Renaissance World, edited by Duncan Hardy et al.
REINA NEUFELDT published “Contending Histories of Ethics in Peace and Conflict Studies” in The Sage Handbook of Peace and Conflict Studies (2025) and presented findings from a course that engaged difference and divisions on campus through performance and critical dialogue with colleague Andy Houston.
DEREK SUDERMAN published The Social Audience of Prayer: A Rhetorical and Canonical Study of Individual Lament Psalms Siphrut book series (Eisenbrauns/Penn State University Press, 2026).
KAREN SUNABACKA’s piece nitatisipwētānān: We are Leaving for baroque orchestra and voice soprano, with text by her mother Joyce Clouston, was commissioned and premiered by Tafelmusik in April & May 2026.
MARK VUORINEN conducted performances at Cascade Peaks Chamber Festival and the Elora Festival, giving the Canadian premiere of Nicholas Cline’s The Sea came up and Drowned, and finishing an album with Jeff Reilly, bass clarinet, and The Elora Singers of Peter Togni’s voice of the weaver.
NEW BOOK
Congratulations to Professor Derek Suderman, whose new book was published in the spring: The Social Audience of Prayer: A Rhetorical and Canonical Study of Individual Lament Psalms.
Reviewer Andrew Witt wrote: “Suderman’s monograph is a significant contribution to psalm studies. Expanding on his earlier work, he offers a compelling, book-length argument for considering not just the speaker in a psalm but also the audience being addressed. His analysis of jussive verbs is especially insightful, showing how they engage a broader social context indirectly. Rich in exegetical depth, this study is thought-provoking and well worth your attention.”
Join the Grebel community in celebrating Derek’s accomplishment at a book launch on Tuesday, December 1, 2026 at 4:00pm.
