Jeremy M. Bergen

Contact:
(519) 885-0220 ext. 24234
jbergen@uwaterloo.ca
Office:  CGR 2122

Canadian Theological Society, President, 2016-17

Education
BTh, Canadian Mennonite Bible College, 1996
BA, University of Winnipeg, 1997
MA, University of St. Michael’s College, 2002
PhD, University of St. Michael’s College, 2008

Research Areas:

Contemporary Christian theology, Anabaptist theology, ecclesiology, ecumenism, Holy Spirit, church apologies, martyrdom

Courses Taught:

Undergraduate
ARTS 130 - Inquiry and Communication (Topic: Public Apologies)
RS 152 – Introduction to Christian Theology
RS 253 - Christianity's Big Questions
RS 258 - God
RS 350 - Dying for God
RS 351 – Contemporary Christian Thought
RS 353/PACS 330 – War and Peace in Christian Theology

Graduate
TS 600 – Thinking Theologically
TS 635 - Christian Ethics
TS 690 – Seminar in Theological Studies (Topic: Atonement)
TS 690 – Seminar in Theological Studies (Topic: Holy Spirit)
TS 718 – Systematic Theology
TS 735 - Peace Church Theology
 

About:

Jeremy Bergen teaches and writes in the area of contemporary Christian theology. His research interests include church apologies for historical wrongs, martyrdom, ecclesiology, ecumenism, the doctrine of the Holy Spirit, and contemporary Mennonite theology.  In his book Ecclesial Repentance: The Churches Confront Their Sinful Pasts (T&T Clark, 2011) he analyzed over 100 instances of churches apologizing for historical wrongs and proposed a theological framework for understanding this relatively new practice.  His current research project is a critical examination of the claim that Christian martyrdom advances the unity of otherwise divided churches.  Jeremy has been on faculty at Grebel since 2008, and was the Director of Theological Studies from 2014-2021.  He has served as Director of the Toronto Mennonite Theological Centre, Editor of The Conrad Grebel Review and was President of the Canadian Theological Society, 2016-2017.

Selected Publications:

• “What does the 500th anniversary of the start of the Anabaptist movement mean for the unity of the church?” One Body blog, Salt + Light Media, 25 March 2025.

• “Mennonite Dispossession of Indigenous Lands as a Challenge to Mennonite Identity,” Journal of Mennonite Studies 41, no. 1 (2023): 129-144.

• “Papal Apologies for Residential Schools and the Stories They Tell,” Journal of Moral Theology 12, no. 2 (2023): 48-62.

• “Pope’s long-awaited apology for Indian Residential Schools in Canada is a ‘first step,’” The Conversation, 25 July 2022.

• “Stephen’s Dying Prayer (Acts 7:60) and the Challenge of Forgiveness,” Pro Ecclesia 31, no. 1 (2022): 9-19.

• “Pope Francis’s apology for Residential Schools doesn’t acknowledge institutional responsibility,” The Conversation, 1 April 2022.

• “Tending the Cairn: The Role of Church Apologies for Historical Wrongs,” Canadian Mennonite, 20 October 2021.

• “The theological reason why the Catholic Church is reticent to apologize for residential schools,” The Globe and Mail, June 8, 2021.

• “The Ecumenical Vocation of Anabaptist Theology,” in Recovering from the Anabaptist Vision: New Essays in Anabaptist Identity and Theological Method, ed. Laura Schmidt Roberts, Paul Martens, and Myron Penner, 103-126 (New York: Bloomsbury T&T Clark, 2020).
• “Doctrine, Stability, and Human Speech within God,” The Conrad Grebel Review 37, no. 2 (Spring 2019): 190-199.

• “Theology as Interpretive, Critical, and Constructive: Presidential Addresses to the Canadian Theological Society, 1990-2016,” Studies in Religion/Sciences Religieuses 48 (2019): 77-96.

• “Teaching Christian Theology at a Canadian Public University,” in A University of the Church for the World: Essays in Honour of Gerald Gerbrandt, ed. Paul Dyck and Harry J. Huebner, 247-259. Winnipeg: CMU Press, 2016.

• “Whether, and How, a Church Ought to Repent for a Historical Wrong,” Theology Today 73 (2016): 129–148.

• “Die reuige Kirche in der Geschichte. Theologische Reflexionen [The Penitential Church in History: Theological Reflections],”  Ökumenische Rundschau 63, no. 2 (2014): 166-181.

• “The Holy Spirit and Lived Communion from the Perspective of International Bilateral Dialogues,” Journal of Ecumenical Studies 49 (2014): 193-217.

• “Conscience, Dissent, and Church: Theological Anthropology in Mennonite Perspective,” in On Being Human: Essays from the Fifth Shi’i Muslim Mennonite Christian Dialogue, ed. Harry J. Huebner and Hajj Muhammad Legenhausen, 244-263. Winnipeg: CMU Press, 2013.

• “Atonement, Violence, Martyrdom:  Engaging Tom Yoder Neufeld’s Killing Enmity,” The Ecumenist: A Journal of Theology, Culture, and Society 50, no. 1 (Winter 2013): 14-18.

• “The Holy Spirit in the World,” Vision: A Journal for Church and Theology 13, no. 1 (Spring 2012): 84-92.

• “Lutheran Repentance at Stuttgart and Mennonite Ecclesial Identity,” Mennonite Quarterly Review 86 (2012): 315-338.
• Ecclesial Repentance: The Churches Confront Their Sinful Pasts. London:T&T Clark, 2011.
• “Baptism of Blood: Peace, Justice, and Christian Martyrdom,” in Peace and Justice: Essays from the Fourth Shi’i Muslim Mennonite Christian Dialogue, ed. Harry J. Huebner and Hajj Muhammad Legenhausen, 176-194. Winnipeg: CMU Press, 2011.
• Edited, with Anthony G. Siegrist, Power and Practices: Engaging the Work of John Howard Yoder. Scottdale, PA: Herald Press, 2009.
•  “The Publicity of the Holy Spirit,” in Creed and Conscience: Essays in Honour of A. James Reimer, ed. Jeremy M. Bergen, Paul G. Doerksen, and Karl Koop, 219-236. Kitchener, ON: Pandora Press, 2007.

Selected Activities:

Conference Presentations

• “Anabaptist Martyrs and the Ambivalence of Mennonite (Non-)Violence,” American Academy of Religion annual meetings, Ecclesiological Investigations Unit, San Diego, 23 November 2024.
• “Christian Martyrdom, Violence, and the Catholicity of Interpretation,” Canadian Theological Society, Montreal, 18 June 2024.

• “Christian Martyrdom, Cultural Trauma, and Conspiracies of Silence,” Canadian Theological Society annual meetings (virtual), 24 May 2022.

• “Mennonite Dispossession of Indigenous Lands as a Crisis for Mennonite Identity,” Indigenous-Mennonite Encounters conference, Conrad Grebel University College, 14 May 2022.

• “Silencing the Martyr: Pain, Agency, and Communities of Memory,” Leuven Encounters in Systematic Theology XII. Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, Belgium, 24 October 2019.

• “The Ecumenism of Martyrdom and the Mission of the Church,” American Academy of Religion annual meetings, Ecclesiological Investigations Unit, Denver, November 17, 2018.

• “The Ecumenical Vocation of Anabaptist Theology,” Anabaptist Theology conference, Humanitas Centre, Trinity Western University, Langley, BC, 8 June 2017.
• “How are we Canadian? Theological? A Society? Reflections on CTS Presidential Addresses, 1990-2016,” Presidential address, Canadian Theological Society, Ryerson University, Toronto, 29 May 2017.

• “Christians Killing Christians: Martyrdom and the Disunity of the Church,” Benjamin Eby Lecture, Conrad Grebel University College, 3 November 2016.

• “Christian Martyrdom and the Unity of the Church,” paper presented at Canadian Theological Society annual meetings, University of Calgary, May 31, 2016.

• “Settlement and Apology,” panel on Canada’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission, Canadian Theological Society annual meetings, Brock University, St. Catharines, ON, 27 May 2014.

• “The Anabaptist Martyrs Mirror in the Past and For Today,” invited speaker, 47^th International Ecumenical Seminar, Institute for Ecumenical Research, Strasbourg, France, 8 July 2013.

• “Apologizing for Canada’s Indian Residential Schools: A Theological Account of a Political Apology for an Historical Wrong,” Ecclesiological Investigations Network conference on “Religion, Authority, and the State,” Belgrade, Serbia, 20 June 2013.

• “The Holy Spirit in the Anabaptist Story,” Mennonite Church Manitoba Leadership Seminar, keynote presentation, three sessions, Winnipeg, 26 October, 2012.

• “Reframing Anabaptism,” Mennonite Church Canada Ministers Conference. Waterloo, 4 July 2011. 

Awards:

• A.C. Forrest Memorial Award, for excellence in socially conscious feature article writing, Canadian Christian Communicators Association, May 2022.

Web Page:  http://uwaterloo.academia.edu/JeremyBergen