Fall 2024 · Vol. 53 No. 2 · pp. 125–126
Tribute to Vic Froese
Dr. Vic Froese has just completed his service as the general editor of Direction journal, from fall 2007 through spring 2024. He did this intensive work as part of his position as library director at Canadian Mennonite University. The journal has benefited greatly from his leadership and editorial skills during this time.
As anyone will know who has published in Direction during Vic’s tenure, he is an extremely skilled and careful scholarly editor. While Direction is not a peer-reviewed journal, Vic’s editorial work on submissions consistently provided guidance, support, and critique that functioned similarly to peer reviewing. His work was rigorous and always given for the purpose of strengthening clarity of argument and expression. This level of attention to the editorial task was not a sign of fussiness but was offered because of Vic’s determined commitment to the reader; better {126} to ask for revisions from a writer than to publish something that needed improvement, even while he was careful to respect the integrity of each writer’s voice. Because of his unflagging devotion to the editorial role, Vic worked quietly but tirelessly to request appropriate changes from writers and carefully proofread essays and book reviews again before he approved printing. This reflected his hope that these exacting standards would provide readers with material to “equip the church for maturity and for well-considered, relevant witness to Christ and his kingdom,” as stated in one of the journal’s declarations of purpose.
In addition to the editorial work on submissions by a great variety of writers, Vic also contributed some of his own writing. These pieces regularly appeared in the form of editorial introductions to a given issue of the journal, but from time to time he also wrote longer pieces. For example, in the two issues that commemorate fifty years of Direction’s history (Fall 2021 and Spring 2022), Vic contributed essays that provide invaluable accounts not only of the current iteration of the journal, but also of its predecessors, The Voice and The Journal of Church and Society. These essays go well beyond a potted history of events; rather, Vic provides a nuanced contextualization of these journals, reminding the reader of the importance of reviewing history, the urgency of understanding and acting in the present, and the challenge to move forward in faithfulness to God and the mission of the church. These essays, along with his invaluable “Recommended Reading” lists and occasional book reviews, constitute important scholarly contributions that strengthened the journal along with his other editorial work.
The Direction editorial council and I wish to express our deep gratitude and respect for work well-done over an extended period of seventeen years—the journal was in good hands all along. Thank you, Vic, and may God bless you.
