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Spring 1991 · Vol. 20 No. 1 · pp. 105–11 

Current Research

Elmer A. Martens

Books

Ewert, David. Commentary on the Thessalonian Epistles. In Evangelical Bible Commentary. Grand Rapids: Baker Book House, 1989/90. [MBBS]

Johnson, Arlee. Matthew Part 2: Mennonite Brethren Bible Study Guide. Winnipeg: Mennonite Brethren General Conference Board of Christian Education, 1990. [MBBS]

Kasdorf, Hans. Gustav Warnecks missiologisches Erbe: Eine biographisch-historische Untersuchung. Giessen und Basel: Brunnen Verlag, 1990, xviii + 488 pp. [MBBS]

Matties, Gordon H. Ezekiel 18 and the Rhetoric of Moral Discourse. SBL Dissertation Series 126. Atlanta: Scholars Press, 1990. [MBBC]

Reimer, Luetta and Reimer, Wilbert. Mathematicians Are People, Too: Stories from the Lives of Great Mathematicians. Palo Alto: Dale Seymour Publications, 1990. [FPC]

**Zenger, Sharon K. and Zenger, Weldon F. Strategies and Techniques for Teaching. Saratoga CA: R and E Publishers, 1990. [TC]

Articles

Ewert, David. “American Bible Society,” “American Bible Union,” “Bible Societies in America,” “Bible Translations,” “Gideons International,” “International Bible Society,” “New York Bible Society,” “Pocket Testament League,” in Dictionary of Christianity in America. Daniel G. Reid et al (Eds.). Downers Grove: InterVarsity Press, 1990.[MBBS]

———. “Preachers Are Theologians,” Direction 19, No. 2 (Fall 1990): 94-99. [MBBS]

Freeman, D. and Freeman, Y. “Case Studies: Viewing New Students in New Ways,” California English 26, No. 3 (1990): 8-9, 26-27. [FPC]

Freeman, Y. and Freeman, D. “New Attitudes for New Students,” Holistic Education Review (Summer 1990). [FPC] {106}

Friesen, Delores. “Educating for Global Ministry,” Mission Focus 17/4 (December 1989): 81-84. [MBBS]

———. “Sexuality Issues in Family and Congregation,” Direction 19, No. 1 (Spring 1990): 59-68. [MBBS]

Friesen, Delores and Al Dueck, “The Changing Family in Today’s World,” Direction 19 (Spring 1990): 59-68. [MBBS]

**Friesen Delores and Friesen, J. Stanley. “Wisdom as a Way of Life.” Uniform Series Teaching Guides: June, July, August 1990. Builder (June 1990). Scottdale PA: Mennonite Publishing House. [MBBS]

———. “Stories Jesus Told.” Uniform Series Teaching Guides: December 1990, January, February 1991. Builder (January 1991). Scottdale PA: Mennonite Publishing House. [MBBS]

Kasdorf, Hans. “Clarifying Our Mission,” in Committed to World Mission: A Focus on International Strategy. Victor Adrian and Donald Loewen (Eds.). Winnipeg: Kindred, 1990, 15-27. [MBBS]

**Larsen-Pusey, Mary Ann and Hernandez, Leodoro. “Multicultural Education: The Bilingual Classroom as a Resource,” CSUS School of Education Journal, 7, No. 1 (Fall/Winter 1990). [FPC]

Loewen, Howard J. “Confessions, Doctrinal,” in The Mennonite Encyclopedia. Vol. V. Cornelius J. Dyck and Dennis D. Martin (Eds.). Scottdale PA: Herald Press, 1990, 184-185. [MBBS]

Pruitt, D.G. Peirie, R.S., Zubek, J.M., **Welton, G. L., and T. H. Nochajski, “Goal achievement, procedural justice and the success of mediation,” in International Journal of Conflict Management (1990): 33-45.

Schmidt, Henry J. “Crusade Decisions: Counting and Accounting for Lost Sheep,” Church Growth Journal of the North American Society for Church Growth, 1 (1990): 14-40. [MBBS]

———. “How My Understanding of Mission Has Developed,” Mission Focus 18, No. 3 (Sept. 1990): 39-42. [MBBS] {107}

Toews, Paul. “The Concern Movement: Its Origins and Early History,” The Conrad Grebel Review 8 (Spring 1990): 109-126. [FPC]

———. “Mennonite Fundamentalism,” in Mennonite Encyclopedia V (Scottdale PA: Herald Press, 1990. [FPC]

———. “Shifting Mennonite Theological Orientations: A Response,” in Anabaptist-Mennonite Identities in Ferment. Leo Driedger and Leland Harder (Eds.). Elkhart IN: Institute of Mennonite Studies, 1990, 50-55. [FPC]

———. “ ‘Will a New Day Dawn from This?’ Mennonite Pacifist People and the Good War,” Mennonite Life 45 (December 1990). [FPC]

Warkentin, Larry. “How Wondrous Great” anthem for SATB with piano. Text by Isaac Watts. Lorenz Publishing Co., 1990. [FPC]

The Whole Language Catalogue. K. Goodman, L. Bird, and Y. Goodman (Eds.). Santa Rosa CA: American School Publishers, 1991. [FPC]

Freeman, D. “Teaching Vocabulary: What’s in a Word?” (pp. 110-111).

Freeman, Y. “Literature-based or Literature: Where Do We Stand?” (p. 189).

**Freeman, Y., and C. Cervantes. “Literature Books en Español for Whole Language Classrooms” (p. 184).

Freeman, Y., and D. Freeman. “Ten Tips for Monolingual Teachers of Bilingual Students,” (p. 90).

Freeman, Y., and B. Mason. “Organizing Units Around Powerful Contrasts, Concepts, and Content,” (p. 294).

Zenger, Weldon F., and **Sharon K. Zenger. “Curious About Teacher Intern Programs?” The School Administrator, National Administrators’ Journal (1990): 31-34. [TC]

Zorrilla, Hugo. “The Christian and Political Involvement,” in Committed to World Mission. A Focus on International Strategy. Victor Adrian and Donald Loewen (Eds.). Hillsboro: Kindred Press, 1990, 103-105. [FPC] {108}

———. “The Church-A Pilgrimaging People,” Mennonite World Handbook. Diether G. Rotz Lichdi (Ed.), 1990, 187- 193. [FPC]

———. “Why So Few? How Do We Live the Gospel?” Festival Quarterly (Spring 1990): 21-22. [FPC]


*The listing incorporates publication of books and referenced periodicals. It is limited to the faculty of schools sponsoring Direction; these are identified by school as follows: Tabor College (TC), Fresno Pacific College (FPC), Columbia Bible College (CBC), Mennonite Brethren Bible College (MBBC), Mennonite Brethren Biblical Seminary (MBBS).

**In multiple authorship the author in question is double starred.

Doctoral Dissertations 1990

Lumeya, Nzash U. The Curse on Ham’s Descendants: Its Missiological Impact on Zairian Mbala Mennonite Brethren, Fuller Theological Seminary (Ph.D., Missiology, 1988). Advisor: Dr. Arthur Glasser.

The curse of Ham in Genesis 9:22-27 has been misread in Africa. It has been misinterpreted as applying generally to all black peoples and specifically to the Mbala’ Kipuka of Zaire. As a result, many of them have gone astray and prefer to practice their local beliefs than to accept the Lordship of Christ Jesus. The curse on Ham’s descendants is one of the reasons that make many of them turn their back on a westernized Christianity. They believe that they live under an eternal divine curse. Most feel that because God cursed Ham, one of the sons of Noah (Gen. 9), and because they are allegedly the descendants of Ham, they come within the sphere of this particular curse. What is the Christian response to curse? How can Christians remove the so-called “Ham’s curse” from the Mbala Mennonite Brethren?

The underlying thesis of this study is that God’s attitude is compassionate and compensatory towards every accursed {109} man/woman who opens himself/herself up to find hope, deliverance and a future through Jesus Christ. He is the one who condescended to a curse at the Cross in order not only to identify himself with the accursed of this world but to bear their guilt and shame and also to provide all that they need by way of the blessing that makes people whole mending their broken lives and bringing them into his kingdom.

The first three chapters deal with a comprehensive review of the significance of the curse in history, followed by five chapters which bring an exegetical study of the Genesis 9 account of Noah and the curse on Canaan. The last four chapters suggests a cultural meaning of curse and its scope. They show possible biblical ways to remove a curse. The general conclusion focuses upon Christ the only Hope for all the accursed of the world. He is the versus Nganga. His Spirit distributes his blessings to men and women despite their genealogical history.


Zerbe, Gordon Mark. Non-Retaliation in Early Jewish and New Testament Texts: Ethical Themes in Social Contexts, Princeton Theological Seminary (Ph.D., New Testament, 1990). Advisor: Professor James H. Charlesworth.

This study investigates the ethics of non-retaliation in Early Judaism and in the New Testament. In what contexts or to what kinds of abusers are non-retaliatory responses enjoined? What are the social meanings and motivational structures of the various exhortations in the field of non-retaliatory responses to abuse? Are the ethics of non-retaliation in the New Testament distinctive in relation to those of Early Judaism? A fundamental methodological premise of this investigation is that both the analytic and the comparative tasks must give special attention to the social contexts and meanings of the various non-retaliatory exhortations and themes.

This study concludes that a critical factor in determining the shape of non-retaliatory ethics is whether the exhortation is applied to relations within the local and/or elect community or to relations with oppressors and persecutors of the elect community. Non-retaliation and kind actions as directed to local, interpersonal, or intracommunal conflict, whether the offense is litigious or non-litigious, are usually associated with {110} the goal of reconciliation and harmony. Non-retaliation and kind deeds as directed to persecutors of the elect community, however, do not usually have the same goal. In this case, non-retaliation is sometimes motivated by the pragmatic goal of reducing tensions. More pervasively, it is grounded in the hope of God’s vengeance, which means vindication for the righteous and punishment for the ungodly. While the non-retaliatory ethics of the New Testament display some distinctive features, they stand solidly in the tradition of non-retaliatory ethics of Early Judaism.


Neufeld, Dietmar. A “Speech Act” Analysis of the Disputed Literary Phenomena of 1 John (e.g., the “Incipit,” 1:1-4; the “Boasts” of the Opponents, 1:6, 8, 10; 2:4, 6, 9; 4:20; the “Antichrists,” 2:18-24; Confession and Denial, 4:1-4; 5:6), McGill University [Montréal, Québec] (Ph.D., New Testament, 1990). Advisor: Dr. Frederik Wisse.

The anonymous writing known as 1 John continues to generate interest because of its importance for tracking a linear development through the earlier Gospel of John to reveal the history, tradition and theology of Johannine Christianity. Comparisons of 1 John with the Gospel of John tend to focus discussion on the author’s precise referent, on issues of his social and cultural setting and on the nature of the theological character in which he was embroiled. Historical critical studies situate the semantic horizon of 1 John in the conflict between the author and his opponents. Assuming context specific language polemically defined the search for meaning is transferred to the Sitz im Leben of the author. From this perspective the text’s language is therefore viewed as signifying or referring to its enabling conditions whether real or hypothetical. It is beheld as signifying ideas and facts that are peculiar to the world and time of its authorship, and its truth and meaning can only be established through re-establishing the connection between the language of the text and those referents. If, however, the identity of the author and his opponents remain a mystery and the textual mound refuses to yield conclusive historical strata, then the semantic horizon of the texts lies elsewhere. “Meaning” need not necessarily be reduced to the nexus of historical relationships.

This study reconceives “text” and “meaning” as {111} something more than the sum total of its enabling conditions by examining a series of problematic passages in 1 John from the perspective of a modified version of J. L. Austin’s speech act theory. Austin’s fundamental observation is that all linguistic sequences, rather than describing actions, are themselves action which opens the possibility of an approach to language and text less encumbered with metaphysical and essentialist concerns. Moreover, D. Evans’ notion of religious discourse as self-involving encapsulating a series of speech acts which in their implicature play a primary role in making explicit the intention and attitude of the author helps to make clear the constituting character of 1 John’s language. Each of the speech acts implies that the author has committed himself to the implications of “how” he has stated it, that he expresses “belief” in what he perceives to be an accurate reflection of the way things are, and that he has committed himself to convincing the reader to accept “how” it has been written.

Of greater importance to understanding the message of 1 John, is that the self-involving character of its language constitutes the self of both author and his readers/hearers. This type of language is essential to the exercise and development of the capacities for feeling, thought and action, for it is these components which give the self definition and substance. The author’s purpose is to produce in the hearers/readers a related life stance and attitude which will lead to belief, imagination and effective involvement in the states of affairs to which the author has committed himself engendering fellowship with him and his Christological and ethical orientation.

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