Fall 2025 · Vol. 54 No. 2 · pp. 279–282
Introduction to reviews
Anabaptist Community Bible
Harrisonburg, VA: MennoMedia, 2025. xxxix + 1618 pages.
The Anabaptist Community Bible (ACB), released just slightly ahead of schedule in December 2024, is the impressive product of an enormous undertaking by MennoMedia, the publishing arm of Mennonite Church USA and Mennonite Church Canada. Designed as the main venture of an initiative labeled “Anabaptism at 500” that included two devotionals, three children’s books, and two others in addition to the ACB, the project’s budget of $1.5 million USD was funded by the largest capital campaign ever undertaken by MennoMedia (https://anabaptismat500.com). One of the advantages of a publisher-managed project such as this is that it bypasses the denominational administrative structures that often slow decision-making processes. MennoMedia emphasized project efficiency, a diversity (“chorus”) of input voices, and to a great extent the collective understandings of North American Anabaptists.
The MennoMedia leadership team began to imagine what would become the Anabaptist Community Bible in 2020 as its next big project after the completion of the Voices Together hymnbook. John D. Roth—recently retired professor of history at Goshen College, editor of The Mennonite Quarterly Review, and director of the Mennonite Historical Library—was hired as project director and general editor in early 2022. A seven-member steering committee led by publisher Amy Gingerich was then constituted, which appointed a further eight-member advisory committee (with one representative based in Canada).
A crucial event that both shaped and launched the project was a gathering of about seventy people on August 26-28, 2022, at Casa Iskali retreat center in a Chicago suburb. Attendees were from MC USA (the largest number) with additional representation from MC Canada, Church of the Brethren, LMC (formerly Lancaster Mennonite Conference), Evana (an evangelical Anabaptist network), the Bruderhof Community, and several other Anabaptist-adjacent groups. The hope was to reflect the diversity of p. 280 many Anabaptist-related groups while drawing the bulk of support and input from MC USA and MC Canada (Christian Leader, 26 September 2022).
In line with sixteenth-century hesitation concerning biblical and theological scholars, academics were not prominent at this gathering. Four persons with doctorates in biblical studies or theology were present, as well as a few with doctorates in other areas (including the general editor with a PhD in history), though perhaps half of the remaining participants had seminary training. In the ACB itself, however, the contributions of scholars are very evident: in the Bible book introductions, the Biblical Context notes in the margins, and the supplemental essays. As the project proceeded, the general editor received input from half a dozen or so Bible scholars who suggested persons who would be qualified to make such contributions, and several reviewed the Bible book introduction drafts and made comments. Editorial changes and final decisions concerning the introductions and notes were made by the general editor, the advisory group, and the MennoMedia editorial staff.
Imagined initially as a standard study Bible with an Anabaptist lens and titled the Anabaptist Bible, the project evolved through consultation into its current distinctive shape and character. The term Community was added to the title following the Casa Iskali consultation to express the aspiration of input from congregation-based study and theological-ethical discernment, but also to point to the breadth of Anabaptist expressions over time. The overall intent, according to Roth, was to “encourage lay people in Anabaptist faith communities across North America to actively participate in Bible studies in the hopes that participants will encounter the life-giving message of Jesus in new ways” (Anabaptist World, November 25, 2022, 17). While receiving some input from believers elsewhere—the participant guide was translated into French, Spanish, German, and Bahasa Indonesian—the project was designed for North Americans and was produced in English almost entirely by North Americans.
The ACB employs the Common English Bible (CEB, 2011), a dynamic equivalence translation that seeks to communicate as well as possible the meaning of the original in the target language. The New International Version is another popular example of this approach to translation in contrast to literal translations, such as the KJV, ESV, NRSV, and NASB. The ACB’s introduction lists several merits of the CEB, including “a style that is easy to read aloud” and “user-friendly vocabulary that is accessible to a range of readers, including young readers and those whose first language is not English,” “a ‘people’s Bible,’ written in a form that scholars and laypeople alike can appreciate” (xxii). Every translation of the Bible p. 281 interprets as it transfers a message from one language to another; it serves in effect as a concise commentary on the source text. This is not a failure of those doing the translating but is an unavoidable aspect of the process. In this case as always readers will do well to compare the interpretations of the CEB with those of other translations.
The ACB is attractively though not ostentatiously designed, and several features are worthy of note. Five artists were commissioned to provide original visual art, and forty of their pieces grace the pages of the book. In addition to concise Bible book introductions (typically with a helpful chart or map) and marginal notes by scholars, selections of sixteenth-century and seventeenth-century Anabaptist commentary on the Bible are also found among the notes. The most distinctive feature of these notes are contributions from nearly six hundred Bible study groups (listed in the book’s front matter) who were assigned three biblical texts, met for four sessions, and responded to five prompts (essentially as listed on p. 1570): What does the verse or passage suggest about God? What might/does Jesus have to say about it? What does the verse or passage suggest about humans—our possibilities and mistakes? How do you live differently because of this verse or passage? What questions remain with you?
In addition to the ACB’s introduction by the general editor, seven essays concerning biblical interpretation are found in the back just prior to the 365-day Bible reading plan, indexes, and color maps from Oxford University Press. Many of these address in some form what it means for Anabaptists to read the Bible in community and Christocentrically, that is, with a “Jesus lens.” Such concerns were present throughout the process of crafting the ACB and emerged early at the Casa Iskali retreat center in August 2022. These are challenging issues today just as they were in the sixteenth century, and each essay’s presentation in the ACB has its own shape. Though Anabaptists share much in common theologically and in our sense of mission in the world, differences are sometimes significant. Anabaptist community-based Bible interpretation explores and engages these differences as opportunities, through the guidance of the Spirit, to grow and learn from one another. The ACB, with its blend of scholarly, historical, and contemporary lay insights, gives us a glimpse of this dynamism, both from fellow Anabaptists in North America and from elsewhere in the world. Rather than closing the interpretive process, as happens with most other study Bibles, the ACB prods us to engage the Bible with the life of faith in the local community. p. 282
The three reviews that follow supplement some of the above description about the process and elements of the ACB. They also identify some of the areas of disagreement among contemporary Anabaptists. May their assessments enable us to better understand these disagreements and learn from one another, and thus contribute to a gracious sharpening of our faith for the vital tasks before us.
