Articles : On My Desk
Jan. 2 issue
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Faith in tension with culture
On my desk is Third Way Allegiance: Christian Witness in the Shadow of Religious Empire by Tripp York, published by Cascadia Publishing House, Telford, Pa., 2011, 123 pages, $12.95.
Dec. 12, 2011 issue
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What if Jesus were Amish?
On my desk is The Christmas Story by Carol J. Haile and Freiman Stoltzfus, published by Firenze Press, Wyomising, Pa., 2001, 62 pages, $27.95. This is a delightful book that places the birth of Jesus in an Amish setting.
Oct. 24, 2011 issue
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Root of the economic crisis
On my desk is Rediscovering Values: A Guide for Economic and Moral Recovery by Jim Wallis, published by Howard Books, 2011, 263 pages, $14.99.
Sept. 5, 2011 issue
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Educator’s cautionary tale
In Bid Me Discourse (Masthof Press, Morgantown, Pa., 2011, 115 pages, $12.95), David J. Rempel Smucker documents the life and work of his grandfather, Boyd David Smucker, a gifted professor of oratory and drama at Goshen and Bluffton colleges. Having spent the better part of my life teaching speech and theater at a Mennonite college, I found Rempel Smucker’s book resonant with my own experience.
June 13, 2011 issue
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Amish history reinterpreted
On my desk is Unser Leit: The Story of the Amish by Leroy Beachy, published by Goodly Heritage Books, Millersburg, Ohio, 2011; Volume 1, 493 pages; Volume 2, 501 pages; $85.
April 18, 2011 issue
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Newsman’s fictional Mennos
Best known as anchor of the PBS News Hour, Jim Lehrer has also written 20 readable if light-weight novels. Quite a few of them take his readers on buses or trains in Kansas, for he spent his early years at Wichita, and his father was a bus operator. At some point he picked up some knowledge of Mennonites, who now and then drop in and out of his stories.
March 7, 2011 issue
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What’s more-with-less now?
On my desk is Living More With Less: 30th Anniversary Edition, published by Herald Press, 2010, 253 pages, $14.99. Originally written by Doris Janzen Longacre in 1980, this anniversary book has been revised and edited by Valerie Weaver-Zercher.
Jan. 24, 2011 issue
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Poet defies the god of war
On my desk is War Is a God That Demands Human Sacrifice by Muriel Stackley, published by Wordsworth, Newton, Kan., 2009, $12.
Dec. 6, 2010 issue
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Seasoning for peacemaking
On my desk is Seasoned with Peace (Winter), compiled by Susan Mark Landis, Lisa J. Amstutz and Cindy Snider, designed by Cynthia Friesen Coyle, printed by Mennonite Press, Newton, Kan., 2010, 214 pages, $15.95. Order here, and the proceeds will support Mennonite peace and justice ministries.
June 21, 2010 issue
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Amish are not standing still
On my desk is An Amish Paradox: Diversity and Change in the World’s Largest Amish Community, by Charles E. Hurst and David L. McConnell, published by Johns Hopkins University Press, Baltimore, 2010, 356 pages, $30.

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