To welcome to another academic year the TMTC community gathered virtually for celebration of research. TMTC community members from Toronto and beyond shared about the following completed projects or works in progress:
Alicia Batten co-edited Dress in Mediterranean Antiquity: Greeks, Romans, Jews, Christians (London: T&T Clark, 2021) and is working on a commentary on James.
Anthony Siegrist published Speaking of God: An Essential Guide to Christian Thought (Scottdale: Herald Press, 2019) and an article entitled “‘Part of the Authority Structure’: An Organizational History of Mennonite Indian Residential Schools in Ontario” in the Mennonite Quarterly Review. He is beginning a long-term project on faith communities and the environment.
Carol Penner published “Jesus and the Stories of our Lives” in Liberating the Politics of Jesus: Renewing Peace Theology Through the Wisdom of Women (New York: T&T Clark, 2020) and “Mennonite Women Doing Theology: A Methodological Reflection on Twenty-Five Years of Conferences,” in Recovering from the Anabaptist Vision: New Essays in Anabaptist Identity and Theological Method (New York: T&T Clark, 2020).
Chris Friesen has a chapter called “Reading 2 Kings with Jacques Ellul” forthcoming in Jacques Ellul and the Bible: The Hermeneutics of Freedom (Eugene: Wipf & Stock, 2021). He is beginning doctoral studies and working on a book of historical fiction.
Emma CW Ceruti presented at a host of conferences including a paper at a session on feminist disability studies at the Modern Language Association. She is working on her dissertation on atonement and disability studies and will be presenting a TMTC scholars forum in October.
Gerald Ens published “Towards a Receptive Music: Cavellian Reflections on André Forget’s ‘The Composer of Space’” at The Earth World Collective. He also has a forthcoming article on death in Wendel Berry’s short stories in Literature and Theology as well as a forthcoming review essay in The Conrad Grebel Review. His dissertation brings together theological, ethnographic, and sociological research to examine and constructively engage trends in Mennonite churches from lay to professional leadership models.
Hyejung Jessie Yum edits the Korean Anabaptist Journal, which was recently highlighted in the Canadian Mennonite. She also has a forthcoming article on “Unsettling the Radical Witness of Peace: A Postcolonial Investigation of Mennonite Pacifism in a Settler Colonial Context” in Anabaptist Witness and a forthcoming co-authored article in Leader magazine. She is working on her dissertation on postcolonial Mennonite peace theology.
Hyung Jin (Pablo) Kim Sun published “Forging an Intercultural Mennonite Identity: Personal Reflections on Ethnoreligion in a Global Context” in the Mennonite Quarterly Review. He continues work on his dissertation and has a forthcoming book entitled Who Are Our Enemies and How do We Love Them? (Herald Press, 2020) and a forthcoming review in The Conrad Grebel Review.
Jeremy Bergen published “Doctrine, Stability, and Human Speech within God” in The Conrad Grebel Review and “The Ecumenical Vocation of Anabaptist Theology,” in Recovering from the Anabaptist Vision: New Essays in Anabaptist Identity and Theological Method (New York: T&T Clark, 2020). He continues work on a book-length project on martyrdom.
Jeremy McClung is working on a dissertation in homiletics with a particular focus on how a response rooted in gratitude has the capacity to catalyze the kind of active discipleship Anabaptists have emphasized while avoiding the dangers of moralism.
Kim Penner has a few forthcoming articles including “Parenting a Child with Health Challenges: A Story of Vulnerability and Hope” in Vision: A Journal for Church and Theology; “Power, Violence, and Peace Church Ethics,” in Abuse: Power in the Church (Elkhart: Institute of Mennonite Studies); and "Toward Ecclesial Practices and Notions of Authority that Embody Radical Hope," in Concern: A Pamphlet Series for Questions of Christian Renewal to be republished by Wipf and Stock.
Kyle Gingerich Hiebert co-authored a paper entitled “Misremembering God” that was published in Anabaptism Today and presented a version of this paper at the Christian Left conference that TMTC co-sponsored this summer. He is working on an article on “Eucharist as Sacrament” for a forthcoming festschrift as well as a manuscript on the Mennonite theological tradition for Brill’s new “Research Perspectives in Theological Traditions” series.
Lydia Neufeld Harder has a forthcoming article entitled “Remembering Rightly: Our Experience of the Sixties Scoop” with her daughter Ingrid Bettina Wolfear in Abuse: Power in the Church (Elkhart: Institute of Mennonite Studies).
Max Kennel published “The Philosophical Legacy of Robert Friedmann” on the Anabaptist Historians website and an entry on “Philosophy” in the Global Anabaptist Mennonite Encyclopedia Online. He continues work on his dissertation alongside a number of other projects including guest editing an upcoming special edition of Political Theology on “Mennonite Political Theology.”
Michael Buttrey has a few forthcoming publications including a co-authored article on “Peter Parker’s Progeny: Power, Genetics, and Virtuous Parenting in Spider-Girl” in Theology and Spider-Man (Lexington Books, 2021); a co-authored paper on “Beyond Following Rules: Teaching Research Ethics in the Age of the Hoffman Report” in History of the Human Sciences; and a paper entitled “Capable or Incapable?: Disability and Justification in Martha Nussbaum’s Capabilities Approach” in Religious Studies and Theology. He continues work on his dissertation on moral enhancement and Christian ethics.
Nathan Hershberger continues work on his dissertation on scripture, suffering, and moral formation with particular interest in what he calls “the wound of failure.”
Sarah Johnson published “Online Communion, Christian Community, and Receptive Ecumenism: A Holy Week Ethnography during COVID-19” in Studia Liturgica and is completing her work on the Voices Together hymnal project. She collaborated on a resource for how to respond when worship materials are implicated in abuse called “Show Strength”, is completing her dissertation, and editing a forthcoming collection on liturgical authority in Free Church traditions.
Sherri Guenther Trautwein has a forthcoming review in The Conrad Grebel Review and continues work on her dissertation on Mary and the Divine Warrior. She will be presenting a TMTC scholars forum in December.
