This seminar will explore the current flowering of Mennonite fiction, poetry, memoir, and other artistic expression. One focus will be on texts and authors that critique, affirm, and, Mennonite Writers1as John Ruth once put it, wrestle with Anabaptist/Mennonite traditions and contemporary realities. Authors and texts from outside the Mennonite sphere also will serve, instruct, and inspire us. Might this outpouring of fresh, vital work point us toward a new Anabaptism that is both faithful and transformative?
Jeff Gundy, longtime professor of English at Bluffton University, Ohio, USA, has published six books of poetry and four of prose, most recently “Somewhere Near Defiance” (2014). His work has appeared in “The Georgia Review,” “The Sun,” “Christian Century,” “Mennonite Quarterly Review,” “Conrad Grebel Review,” and other journals. Juanita Yoder is a professional artist who has painted large scale installations on silk for liturgical, healthcare, and hospitality environments for two decades. She received the “Outstanding Achievement Award” from Christopher Dock Mennonite High School in Lansdale, Pennsylvania, USA. She has been affiliated with the Mennonite Church all of her life and is a Goshen College alum.