Today Trump is visiting McAllen, Texas, in an attempt to make a case for a border wall. There are conflicting reports about whether he will visit the Catholic Charities of the Rio Grande Valley Humanitarian Respite Center today during his stop, but the invitation has been offered by its director, Sister Norma Pimentel. In an open letter in the Washington Post, she writes: Mr. President, if you come early in the morning, here is what you will see: The families who... Read more
In case you missed it, last month there was a bit of a blogosphere dust-up when religion writer Jonathan Merritt tweeted that it was “weird” that evangelical historian Thomas Kidd used the word “evangelical” to describe Phillis Wheatley, the first published African-American poet. A number of evangelical historians came to Kidd’s defense (as is well documented by historian John Fea), and the conversation quickly shifted to the questions of how to define “evangelicalism” and who should do it. I followed this... Read more
“Are you sure you belong on the evangelical channel?” the Patheos director of content asked me over the phone. It’s a fair question. A couple months ago over breakfast a pastor friend from my evangelical denomination expressed his concern with what he called my “Mennonitism.” He seemed to think Anabaptist theology is incompatible with evangelicalism and to equate Anabaptism with liberalism. The irony is that the denomination in which we both pastor was started by Mennonites who had been kicked out... Read more
On the church calendar the season after Christmas is called Epiphany. “Epiphany” is not a word we use very often these days. The word has two meanings. First, epiphany can mean “an appearance or manifestation of God.” This kind of epiphany is sometimes called a theophany, which literally means God-appearance. So when we observe the Epiphany season, we celebrate God appearing to us in the person of Jesus. (The actual day of Epiphany, January 6, commemorates Jesus being presented to... Read more
“I’m not sure what ‘revisions’ means in the title. Is it an Anabaptist expression?” So asked the Patheos director of content as we discussed this blog. He was concerned that people wouldn’t get the title. And he has a point. As far as I know, revisions isn’t an Anabaptist expression. But vision is. When Anabaptist-Mennonites hear the word vision, they are likely to think of historian Harold Bender’s 1944 essay, “The Anabaptist Vision.” This essay offers Bender’s vision for Anabaptism, which, according... Read more
My name is David Cramer, and I’m starting a blog. In 2019. I know what you’re thinking: Isn’t blogging a bit more 2009 than 2019? Perhaps. But I’m not the one to ask. I still use an LG Cosmos keyboard phone. It’s so antiquated it’s become a conversation starter every time I use it in company. Which I kind of enjoy. I don’t refuse to upgrade to a smartphone simply because I’m a Luddite—though I may, indeed, be one. Rather,... Read more
Anabaptist Revisions
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