Linford Stutzman Archives - �� News

Longtime cross-cultural leaders plan final voyage

Ryan Cornell — Mon, 29 Jul 2024 17:00:00 +0000

The earth was without form, and void; and darkness was on the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the water.
Genesis 1:2 (New King James Version)

Dr. Linford Stutzman with students during an intercultural trip to the Middle East. He and his wife Janet are leading an “Alumni and Friends” sailing trip to the Mediterranean in October 2025.

After leading groups of students and alumni to the Mediterranean for more than two decades, Dr. Linford Stutzman ’84, SEM ’90, and his wife Janet Stutzman SEM ’91 are putting together a “grand finale” of a trip. And they’re pulling out all the stops for this one.

The trip, named “On the Face of the Deep” after a verse from Genesis, will take travelers on a voyage that follows parts of Paul’s mission journeys in the book of Acts, October 4-13, 2025. Passengers aboard two gulets (a traditional Turkish wooden sailing vessel) will explore the archeological sites of Ephesus and Perge, take in the Aegean islands of Samos, Patmos, Kos and Rhodes, and immerse themselves in the rich culture and history of the Mediterranean.

“When you see the Mediterranean Sea in person, it blows your mind,” Janet Stutzman said. “People can’t believe how blue the water is. They’ve never seen anything like it.”

Take of the gulets!

Guests on the 10-day tour will spend each night on the gulet in private suites. They’ll savor Mediterranean cuisine each day, learn stories of the sea from history and from Scripture, enjoy performances of original sea shanties by alumni a cappella group Cantore, and engage in spirited discussions.

“People will be sharing their own life stories and observations,” Linford Stutzman said. “Those conversations can go on for hours after a meal is done because they’re so fascinating. That’s what makes this more than a tour.”

The gulets sail from the port of Kusadasi, Turkey, on Oct. 6, ending in Fethiye, Turkey, on Oct. 11.

“It’s my favorite time of the year to visit,” said Linford Stutzman. “The water is warm and the days aren’t hot.”

The trip is part of ��ѱ�’s “Alumni and Friends” series of cross-cultural tours and is open to alumni, current and former parents, and friends of alumni. There is space aboard the gulets for 60 guests who will travel together. The total cost of the trip is $5,500 per traveler plus airfare. The first payment of $2,500 is due Sept. 1, 2024.

All proceeds from the trip go directly to current �� students in need of financial support on their intercultural semester.

Learn more about the trip and register here!

�� the leaders

Linford Stutzman spent more than 25 years as a professor at �� teaching culture, religion and mission courses. Janet Stutzman served as director of alumni and parent relations for 13 years.

The globe-trotting couple is well-known in the �� community for their decades of experience leading intercultural programs and Alumni and Friends tours. This tour is one that Linford and Janet Stutzman say they’ve dreamt of sharing with others since a sabbatical trip 20 years ago.

From 2004 to 2005, the Stutzmans sailed 4,000 miles over 16 months to visit every port linked to Paul’s travels in Acts. Their journey is detailed in Linford Stutzman’s book, published by Good Books.

Students from a 2011 intercultural trip to the Mediterranean Sea sail out of a small port in Greece.

The couple has led similar sailing trips in the Mediterranean since then, but not to this scale. It will also mark the first to feature the sea shanties sung by Cantore, Linford Stutzman said.

“We’ve never done anything of this magnitude before,” he said.

Lyrics to the shanties were written by the �� professor emeritus and are based on biblical stories involving the sea.

Listen to clips of the album of sea shanties .

Through their years of leading tours in the region, Linford and Janet Stutzman have built up a network of connections. They’ve tapped into that network to reserve the top gulets and travel guides.

Those who have taken trips with the Stutzmans form lifelong friendships with one another and meet for reunions years after their trips end. They say their experience forever changed the way they read the Bible and the stories of Paul in Acts, Linford Stutzman said.

“It’s a story you can’t fully appreciate unless you experience it yourself and immerse yourself in it,” he said.

For more information, contact the alumni office at 540-432-4206.

�� hosts Tent of Nations’ Daoud Nassar, reciprocating hospitality after years of visits to his Palestine farm

Lauren Jefferson — Fri, 16 Nov 2018 18:05:40 +0000

Since 1998, undergraduate, graduate and alumni groups from �� and Eastern Mennonite Seminary have made the farm outside of Bethlehem a regular stop on their Middle East trips. Several hundred have visited the Nassar family’s 100 acres in Palestine to plant trees, harvest olives and fruit, and learn about the family’s witness to peace through non-violent action. Workshops, seminars and camps are also offered to between 5-7,000 visitors annually from around the world.

Daoud Nassar gets a tour of ��’s sustainability efforts. (Photo by Macson McGuigan)

In those 20 years, one family member, Bshara Nassar, attended and graduated from the . (Bshara, married to Kiersten Rossetto Nassar ‘13, ��is a founder of ��in Washington D.C.)

But his uncle, Daoud Nassar, who directs farm operations and is the lead spokesperson for Tent of Nations, had never visited ��.

That changed the first week of November when Nassar spent two days on campus, participating in several interactions: a seminary chapel sermon, a lunch discussion with present and future Middle East cross-cultural participants, a classroom discussion with students at the Center for Justice and Peacebuilding, and an evening forum and discussion open to the community. Nassar’s time on campus concluded with a student-led tour of ��ѱ�’s sustainability efforts, a request he specifically made to gain more ideas for his own family farm in Palestine.

Among many familiar faces on campus to greet Nassar was Timothy Seidel, director of ��ѱ�’s Center for Interfaith Engagement (CIE) and assistant professor of international development. While living in Bethlehem and working for Mennonite Central Committee from 2004-07, Seidel visited the farm on a number of occasions and saw the family regularly at Christmas Lutheran Church. More recently, he into nonviolence and civil resistance in Palestine. ��

Nassar’s visit was sponsored by CIE, Eastern Mennonite Seminary, and the Center for Justice and Peacebuilding. ��

‘Who Is My Neighbor?’

Emeritus Professor Dorothy Jean Weaver introduced Nassar to the seminary audience, delighted to finally be able to reciprocate the hospitality and love the family had shown to her and her students over more than 10 visits to Palestine since the 1990s.

“Their ongoing friendship has blessed my life,” Weaver said. “And like me, I would venture that many of our seminary students who have visited Tent of Nations would say their experience was uplifting and inspiring, seeing how the Nassar family has endured their situation with a deeply hopeful approach to life and so guided by Christian principles.’”

Daoud Nassar speaks to graduate students in ��’s Center for Justice and Peacebuilding. (Photo by Jon Styer)

The Nassar family lives on land that they have owned for generations, yet nevertheless has been in continuous litigation with the Israeli government since 1991. Their choice of family motto��— “We refuse to be enemies” — was deeply intentional and has strong links to the scripture text about the Good Samaritan, he explained during the seminary chapel service. ��

“The good Samaritan did not raise the question what would happen to me if I stop? He asked what would happen to that man if I don’t stop?,” Nassar said. “This is the true meaning of love which is action, to see and act in a different way … Acting differently, that is what Jesus meant by loving your neighbor. When you act in a different way, you open a new perspective for someone else to see the other differently.”

Acting with violence toward their oppressors would not change their situation, Nassar said, recounting the family discussions that led to the eventual establishment of Tent of Nations. “We decided there must be another way of resistance, to resist with love, because we believe that hatred creates more hatred, darkness more darkness.”

Spiritual experiences and more

Bill Goldberg, director of CJP’s Summer Peacebuilding Institute, spent a memorable week at Tent of Nations while co-leading the fall 2017 cross-cultural with his wife Lisa Schirch, son Levi and daughter Miranda.

Students from the fall 2017 cross-cultural share at a reunion with Daoud Nassar in Common Grounds. Professor Tim Seidel (right) made many trips to Tent of Nations while with Mennonite Central Committee and for his doctoral research. (Photo by Macson McGuigan)

The days were simple, rich and full, he remembered, with hours of labor helping with the olive harvest followed by meals and fellowship around a fire at night. While the nights were dark, peaceful and still, the hum of construction and the sight of electricity in nearby Israeli settlements, as well as the main road blockade set by Israeli soldiers, was a constant threatening reminder of the situation in Palestine. ��

Reconnecting with Nassar on campus brought back strong recollections for Goldberg of the site of his “most profound spiritual experience.” Palestinian guide Alaa Hamdan MA ‘08 (the group also had an Israeli guide) had said that the Muslim call to prayer is “constant, circling the globe continuously, starting a few seconds to a few minutes later in each village as the earth rotates.

On a hilltop at Tent of Nations one evening, Goldberg says he thought the call was merely echoing off the hills. “But then, in succession, it stopped in each village. ��I was actually hearing the call to prayer travel around the world. It was beautiful and uplifts my heart now just to think about it.”

At the reunion, students shared reflections of their own experiences at the farm. “Daoud talked about the land and updated us on the complex legal situation,” Goldberg said. “While we were there, the family was rushing to refile paperwork to keep their land ownership case in the Israeli court system, a cycle that has sadly become as much a part of their calendar as the olive and fruit harvests. So that was something we wanted to know about.”

“He also talked about volunteers helping at the farm,” Goldberg added, “and of course, tried to recruit a few to come back.”

Future Middle East travel

��ѱ�’s connection to the Middle East expanded last year with the first Alumni and Friends Cross-Cultural to the Middle East with longtime and much beloved leaders Linford and Janet Stutzman.��Read more here.
Check out the Alumni and Friends Cross Cultural webpage for more information on other travels, including the next Middle East trip with the Stutzmans in fall 2019.
Seminary professors Dorothy Jean Weaver and Kevin Clark co-lead a Middle East cross-cultural for seminary students in summer 2019.
The next Middle East cross cultural for �� undergraduate students travels with the Stutzmans in spring 2019.

Grad School Q & A: Jordan Luther ’15 at Vanderbilt Divinity School

admin — Wed, 20 Jun 2018 20:56:04 +0000

Jordan Luther, a 2015 graduate of �� with a degree in Bible and religion, is earning a Master of Divinity degree at Vanderbilt Divinity School. He contributed to an��ongoing series about �� alumni in graduate school�� while back in Harrisonburg during the summer of 2018, completing a field education placement at Community Mennonite Church. He specifically chose this church “to gain more experience working in a congregational setting that uses a pastoral team model of leadership,” he said. “My responsibilities mirror those of the staff. I am expected to help plan and lead for Sunday morning worship, attend to various administrative tasks, and also practice pastoral care.”

Why did you decide to go to graduate school?

Jordan Luther outside his field education placement site, Community Mennonite Church in Harrisonburg, Va. He is a graduate student at Vanderbilt Divinity School.

��Graduate school quickly emerged as the most appropriate step for me both personally and professionally after ��. I was intrinsically motivated to apply to graduate programs because of my love of school. Throughout my studies at �� and during my gap year, I was hungry to learn. I could not keep my hands off of theology, religion and history texts from the library. I knew that I wanted to go to a graduate program where I could continue to investigate the subtle contours of Christian thought.

Graduate school also was a smart decision for me professionally because I wanted a degree program that integrates both academic rigor and ministerial training, which is how I landed in the Master of Divinity program at Vanderbilt Divinity School (VDS).

VDS made an impression on me due to its ecumenical status and commitments to social justice. I wanted to be in an environment where I would interact with others who did not bring my same Anabaptist assumptions to the room. I wanted to be in a place where I could stretch myself and engage in conversation with a wider sample of future leaders of faith from across the Christian spectrum on some of today’s most pressing social demands.

Describe your field of study and research.

Jordan Luther meets with Pastor Jennifer Davis Sensenig and Associate Pastor Jason Gerlach ’01, MDiv. ’06.

��The Master of Divinity degree is the more professional clergy-track route compared to the more research-oriented Masters of Theological Studies degree. My coursework is well-rounded with classes in homiletics, Christian theology, church history, biblical studies and pastoral care providing the foundation of my program.

My research concentration, however, is in “Religion and the Arts in Contemporary Culture.” One of my primary research interests is to critically examine how popular culture and media interface with religion. Music, film, and Internet memes have a way of raising everyday theological questions, such as the value of money or suffering, that invite a spirit of playfulness and imagination. I often look to blur the lines in what is conventionally dismissed as “secular” culture in order to see what contributions, critiques and commentaries these artistic expressions are making about religious life.

How did your academic studies and professors at �� prepare you for graduate studies?

��ѱ�’s Bible and Religion Department is a real gem. Working closely with professors Peter Dula, Nancy Heisey, Ted Grimsrud, Linford Stutzman, Christian Early and Carmen Shrock-Hurst each helped prepare me for graduate studies in unique ways. Peter taught me that the beginning of a nuanced position means knowing how to read with charitable criticism. Nancy’s skills as a researcher and editor helped to strengthen my writing style. Ted always encouraged showing up to class ready to ask at

Jordan Luther in a meeting at Community Mennonite Church in summer 2018.

least one question from our weekly reading assignments. Linford modeled for me how to think more like an anthropologist and not to overlook or undervalue the interdependence of religion and culture. Christian introduced me to some of the most groundbreaking literature in philosophy and science. And Carmen stressed the importance of attending to my spiritual life in addition to my intellectual life. So much of my current program relies on knowing how to read, write and speak with efficiency. The strengths of the Bible and religion faculty became critical ingredients that laid a solid foundation for my communication skills.

What do you think made your application to graduate school stand out among others?

My letters of recommendation were the strongest part of my application, hands down. I felt confident asking my professors to write letters of recommendation for me because of our relationships both inside and outside of the classroom. I knew that they would help to paint a more complete picture of me beyond just my academic potential.

What are some of your favorite memories from your time at ��?

Some of my favorite moments from �� were all of the times that I stood around talking to my peers and professors after class. I love how our class discussions rarely ended with the period, but rather carried over into coffee conversations, long walks or lunch at the cafeteria. The real power of these more casual conversations is that they always seemed to invite at least one or two people from outside of the classroom to weigh in on the topic at hand. I believe �� embraced a culture that encouraged both a natural curiosity and a spirit of collaboration, which makes all of these little moments and side conversations stand out in my memory.

What is your advice to undergraduates?

Don’t sell yourself short on the college experience. Everything that you do is an ingredient to help you grow and mature and be a more thoughtful person in the world. Building strong relationships with your classmates, going to special lectures, and getting involved in the broader Harrisonburg/Rockingham area are all invaluable parts of sharpening your perspective. Most of all, take time to review your perspective regularly and document how it is changing in light of these new experiences. I believe it is important to be upfront with ourselves about how we have changed and appreciating the processes that have contributed to our growth.

Grad School Q & A: Karla Martin ’13, pursuing a doctorate in physical therapy at Duke University

�� communications — Tue, 27 Feb 2018 19:51:51 +0000

Karla Martin graduated from �� in 2013 with a bachelor’s degree in biology and pre-physical therapy and a minor in psychology. She is currently pursuing a Doctor of Physical Therapy at Duke University.

Describe your field of study and research at Duke and work during clinical rotations.

My clinical interests remain widespread, encompassing orthopedic, neurologic and vestibular patient management.

My clinical affiliations have allowed me to gain experience in a variety of settings including inpatient rehabilitation, outpatient pediatric, outpatient neurologic, and outpatient orthopedic. I currently see myself practicing in an outpatient clinic as this setting affords much variety in patient population and the needed clinical skill sets.

My research at Duke has encompassed the wider topic of health policy. Because patients with chronic conditions have needs that go beyond the usual scope of primary care, coordination and collaboration among multiple providers is necessary for the provision of high quality, comprehensive care. In order to reduce costs and improve care coordination to best meet the needs of these complex patients, research on the implementation and effectiveness of various comprehensive primary care models has emerged. These models target the primary care setting by organizing and coordinating care between the general practitioner and other interdisciplinary team members specific to patient needs.

I, with two fellow students, wanted to explore the effectiveness of four identified comprehensive primary care models by reviewing the existing research on their associated costs and utilization of healthcare services, patient-specific outcomes, and satisfaction. Additionally, we wanted to better understand the role of the physical therapist as an interdisciplinary team member within these models. Our research has been compiled into a scoping review entitled “Comprehensive Primary Care Models for the Management of Multiple Chronic Conditions in Older Adults” and is in the process of journal submission.

How did your academic studies and professors at �� prepare you for your graduate studies?

My professors at �� prepared me for my graduate studies by providing opportunities for problem-solving, guided research, scientific reading and writing, and small-group work. They challenged me to think critically and inspired me to always be curious. They encouraged me to wrestle with and organize the academic material into ways that made the most sense. They offered office hours or would stay late after class to answer individual questions. Their passion for teaching and helping students achieve their academic and career goals was so evident.

My academic studies at �� provided the prerequisite coursework for applying to a number of physical therapy schools. �� also offered courses outside of those basic science prerequisites that further expanded my learning and helped prepare me for a job working with people in healthcare, such as sociology of health, social psychology, senior seminar, and ethics courses.

What do you think made your application to graduate school stand out among others?

I think my array of undergraduate experiences and what I’ve learned from those opportunities helped me stand out among others. Playing collegiate volleyball, serving as a community adviser and biology student mentor, gaining cross-cultural experience in the Middle East, and participating in organic chemistry research in Hawaii and Guam marked these formative years. These experiences shaped my passions for serving others, embracing challenge, and pursuing health and wellness, ultimately leading me to pursue a career in physical therapy.

What attracted you to attend �� as an undergraduate?

In all honesty, �� was not high on my personal list of schools to attend. I simply applied because my parents, who both attended ��, wanted me to apply. After doing so, however, I could not pass up the academic scholarship, the opportunity to play collegiate volleyball, or the university’s reputation for having a stellar biology department with high acceptance rates into graduate and medical schools.

What are some favorite memories of your time at ��?

I will never forget the time when biology professor Jeff Copeland released an entire vial of fruit flies into another student’s book bag as a comical prank, or the feeling of both thrill and fear while performing surgery on lab rats in Dr. Roman Miller’s physiology class. There’s also the memory of going to the “caf” for breakfast one morning and seeing my mother’s baked oatmeal recipe being featured – nothing beats that taste of home! Then, there’s a plethora of memories from cross-cultural in the Middle East, including hiking the Jesus trail, riding a camel through the desert, watching the sunset on Mount Sinai, and gaining new insights into the Bible by studying the geographical landscape with��Linford and Janet Stutzman.

What do you think makes �� graduates distinctive?

The lens through which we view the world makes us distinctive. ��ѱ�’s core beliefs surrounding peace and justice, diversity in community, love, and service in both a local and global context are very much instilled into the campus culture through the work of the professors and student organizations. To do justice, love mercy, and walk humbly with God (Micah 6:8) — those words become a part of you and are carried into life after ��.

‘Oh Jerusalem, Jerusalem’: Longtime cross-cultural leader Linford Stutzman on Trump’s U.S. embassy move

Linford Stutzman — Mon, 11 Dec 2017 20:00:08 +0000

My wife and I have led 13 groups of college students to the Middle East since 1991 as part of ��’s required cross-cultural program. During the semester-long immersive travel, we stop each year at a special chapel.

(Photo by Jon Styer)

The Dominus Flevit overlooks the city walls of ancient Jerusalem and the stunning golden dome of the Al Aqsa Mosque. According to tradition, Jesus paused here on the Mount of Olives on his way to cleanse the temple. “Oh Jerusalem, Jerusalem,” Jesus cries as he laments the corruption of religious/political power and the violence against the prophets who dared to denounce it.

When we come to this chapel, the students have spent three weeks in nearby Bethlehem in Palestinian Christians homes. We’ve also spent several days on a sprawling Jewish settlement close by.

So when we look out over Jerusalem from the Dominus Flevit, we remember our wonderful Palestinian and Jewish hosts who fear and misunderstand each other.

We look out over the city. Oh Jerusalem the Holy! Oh Jerusalem, City of Peace! We can pick out the Muslim, Jewish and Christian Quarters of the Old City, the mosques, churches, and synagogues. How lovely, fragile, holy and tense!

Jerusalem, I tell the students, is the heart and soul of both the Middle East conflict and any prospect for peace in the region. I try to prepare them for the experience of living there: They will experience how the hopes and fears of all the years meet in the Old City daily.

Then we continue as always down the Mount of Olives, through the Garden of Gethsemane, into the Old City of Jerusalem, into reality.

Reality. On September 28, 2000, the political leader, Ariel Sharon, in a show of force and in the name of reality, entered the Temple Mount with thousands of soldiers. While the visit lasted 34 minutes, it helped ignite the Intifada, which has continued in various forms to this day. Violence. Suffering. Pain. Reality.

On Wednesday, in the name of reality, surrounded by Christmas decorations in the White House, President Donald Trump announced that the United States declares Jerusalem to be the capital of Israel. This is a “recognition of reality,” he said. President Trump and pundits somehow make the argument that this will contribute to peace.

In Bethlehem, four miles away, the Palestinians turned off the lights of the Christmas tree in Manger Square when they hear this announcement. No joy to this part of the world. No peace on earth.

In one Christmas-season announcement, President Trump contributed fuel to the simmering fire of the Middle East. Trump’s announcement managed to sabotage any vestiges of goodwill and trust and unite the world against this reckless, politically-motivated change of policy. I predict the following:

The announcement will contribute to violence, fear and suffering. Hamas has already called for a new Intifada.

The announcement will derail any attempts to go ahead with a genuine peace process. Peace negotiations were always connected to the final agreement on Jerusalem. If that is not negotiable, there is little motivation on either side to engage in genuine peace settlement.

The announcement will put American travelers in the Middle East at a higher level of risk. Look for additional warnings for travel in the Middle East from the U.S. State Department.

The announcement will diminish the reputation of American values such as justice, peace, fairness and democratic ideals.

The announcement will confirm to many in the Middle East that American Christians are powerful, but naïve and biased. This puts the Christians of the Middle East in an even more vulnerable position.

Jesus not only wept over Jerusalem, he confronted it.

As followers of Jesus, we need to confront this latest American failure by living out the Good News like Jesus. Go ahead and weep with Jesus over Jerusalem, but also follow Jesus by taking the risk of loving all enemies, relating to all people, living out hope, using our American Christian identity to challenge misuse of power wherever it can be found, beginning in America.

Dr. Linford Stutzman has spent two decades teaching culture, religion and mission courses at �� and leading ��ѱ�’s semester-long and summer cross-cultural study programs in the Middle East. He now directs Eastern Mennonite Seminary’s Biblical Lands Educational Seminars and Service (BLESS) program.

�� Alumni and Friends Tour to Israel and Palestine will have ‘lifelong impact’

Christopher Clymer Kurtz — Mon, 20 Nov 2017 14:44:14 +0000

Before her recent �� Alumni and Friends Tour to Israel and Palestine, Betty Holsinger Shenk ’75 “knew it would be great.” It turned out, though, to be more than that.

“This was a trip of a lifetime,” she said. “Its impact will be lifelong.”

During two weeks from Oct. 20 – Nov. 3, 24 participants learned about and discussed the region’s Biblical history, explored archaeological sites, engaged in current social issues of Palestinians and Israeli Jews, and enjoyed local food and the unique geography of the region.

Professor ’84, SEM ’90 and his wife Janet SEM ’91, who have led many semester and summer international cross-cultural trips for ��, guided the group. Participants included alumni, parents of �� alumni “and friends of �� students who had always heard about how wonderful our cross-cultural experiences are and wanted one of their own,” said Jeff Shank ’94, director of alumni and parent engagement.

Learn more about �� Alumni and Friends Cross-Cultural Trips.

The Alumni and Friends group met the current �� cross-cultural student group, led by Bill Goldberg and Lisa Schirch, at the Tent of Nations.

A hallmark of �� cross-cultural trips is making personal connections with local residents, and this trip was no exception. The group visited the “Tent of Nations,” a family farm under threat of settlement expansion; heard the firsthand account of how an Arab Israeli became a business partner with an Israeli Jew; and met two guides — a Palestinian Muslim and an Israeli Jew — who are both friends and co-workers and who gave the travelers two contrasting perspectives on some lesser known features of Jerusalem.

The tour was the first for alumni and friends offered by ��, but more travels in ��ѱ�’s unique immersive and educational format are in the works. A trip to Cuba, led by ’75, MA ’03 (conflict transformation) and her husband Nathan Barge ’84, leaves March 2018. (While the trip is full, a wait list has been started.)

The Stutzmans will lead a fall 2018 Mediterranean Voyage. In summer 2019, Professor ’80 will lead an exploration of Lithuania’s music, art and culture.

Firsthand experiences come ‘full circle’

The first day included learning about life in Bethlehem inside the Wall, and its similarities to Bethlehem at the time of Jesus’s birth.

For some members of the Middle East tour group, the inspiration to attend came from hearing about other people’s travels to the Middle East as part of ��ѱ�’s undergraduate .

When Kendra Martin ’05 was a student, many of her close friends went on that trip, and returned having been “impacted, deeply,” she said. Going on this trip brought her “full circle” and allowed her to experience first hand what her college friends had told her about.

Maddie Clemens ’16 had a “life-changing” semester on the Middle East cross-cultural trip led by the Stutzmans in 2014, and was eager for the rest of her family, including sister Abby Clemens ’16��and parents Becky and Doug “to experience the people and places that had so greatly impacted her,” said her mother. This fall, the four participated in the Alumni and Friends Tour, together.

“We couldn’t have asked for a more enriching experience,” said Becky Clemens.

Connecting the dots

The trip traced 2,000 years of the biblical story and 4,000 years of human history, and offered Martin something she’d been wanting: motivation to read the Bible.

“The Bible was feeling like a big collection of stories about people in places I had no context for,” Martin said. “Now when I read about the Jordan River, for example, in Joshua 1:2 or Matthew 3:6, there is a connection point: ‘Hey! I’ve been there! I can picture what that may have been like.’ The Bible, its characters and the hope we have in Christ are coming alive with dust, sights and tastes.”

Overlooking the poignant symbols of Jerusalem’s holiness and history: The Western Wall, and the Dome of the Rock.

Leon Miller ’68��lived for “three wonderful years” in Jerusalem and the West Bank in the early 1970s, and went on this trip with his wife Sandy. He said that seeing Jesus’s teachings in his historical, political, cultural and geographic context was “enlightening.” But he was also sobered by the Israel and Palestine’s ongoing conflict, and said that before the trip, the prospect of returning to the region had given him “great inner tension.”

“I wasn’t sure I would be prepared to see the negative changes which I was anticipating: settlements, the wall, checkpoints and the stories of Palestinian repression by the Israeli military,” he said. “There were few surprises.”

Clemens said that she is still processing her experiences and the “new perspectives” she gained from the trip. The Stutzmans, she said, “helped us connect the dots from what we thought we knew about the ongoing conflict in the region to the reality of what it’s like for Palestinian families living under occupation.”

One especially meaningful experience, Clemens said, was a dinner hosted by a Palestinian Christian family in Beit Sahour who “shared their story with warm hospitality.”

“We were encouraged by those on both sides of the conflict who expressed their unwavering commitment to continually seek ways to live as neighbors and bring peace to their land,” she said.

In the magnificent ruins of Herod the Great’s Roman-style port city, Caesarea, famous for the story of Peter and Cornelius, and Paul’s final journey to Rome.

Linford Stutzman said that he and Janet love the impact they observe on cross-cultural participants.

“This potential for life-changing moments occurs in random encounters walking the streets of Jerusalem, around a meal in a Palestinian home, standing on the cliffs of Arbel overlooking the Sea of Galilee,” he said. “The enthusiasm and joy of travelers is our most rewarding part of the journey.”

Jeff Shank, who went on the trip, agreed. “The alumni and friends who attended this trip to the Middle East not only learned and experienced interesting things but became friends in the process. Everyone seemed to thoroughly appreciate the trip, the leaders, and the experience.”

Grad School Q & A: Matt Gnagey ’05, professor at Weber State

admin — Mon, 12 Jun 2017 14:18:55 +0000

Matt Gnagey, now an assistant professor at Weber State (Ogden, Utah), graduated from �� in 2005, majoring in economics and justice, peace and conflict studies. He received his doctorate in agricultural, environmental and development economics in 2014 from The Ohio State University.

Describe your research and professorship at Weber State.

I am in my third year as an assistant professor of economics at Weber State University. My research is focused on understanding the environmental and economic impacts of land use, and the valuation of non-market environmental amenities. One study analyzes the value of recreational trail access for the local community, focusing particularly on the heterogeneity of valuations in different neighborhoods in the city.

The “heterogeneity of valuations in different neighborhoods” is essentially saying that different communities in Ogden place different premiums of access to trails. We are interested in examining which communities/neighborhoods place the highest value on the trails, and which communities/neighborhoods in the city do not value the trails as much.

We also find improvements in trail accessibility have been significantly capitalized into home values. For another project, we conducted experiments with nearby urban households to understand intra-household monetary trade-offs across time with the goal of informing policies that could promote greater investment in the future at the household level.

I am also currently conducting research with a former Mennonite Central Committee (MCC) colleague analyzing property markets in Indonesia, particularly focusing on differences between rural and urban property markets, and the role land tenure plays in determining property prices.

Weber State is an open enrollment institution, serving the community of Northern Utah. A large number of students have families and work 20 to 40 hours a week. I mostly teach courses in microeconomics, statistics and quantitative methods, and last summer I taught at our partner university in Shanghai. I also serve on the University’s Environmental Issues Committee, and am the faculty adviser to the Chinese Student Association.

How did your academic studies and professors at �� prepare you for your graduate studies and current work?

The most important lesson I learned at �� was to make connections between disciplines. A PhD requires a deep dive into one particular field, but my liberal arts background gave me the ability to maintain balance in my life and keep perspective. ��

What do you think made your application to graduate school stand out among others?

I believe three things made my application stand out for graduate school. First, I spent three years working with MCC in Indonesia, where I gained valuable experience in the field of economic development. Second, the economics major at �� has a great track record of placing students successfully into graduate programs. When I applied to graduate school, the reputation of previous students opened door which may not have been available otherwise. And third, I believe my letters of recommendation from �� faculty, and particularly the letter from my advisor Professor made my application stand out. Chris knew me well through classes, but also friendly tennis matches and frequent cups of coffee. And even though I graduated four years prior, Chris took time to provide support and guidance through the application process. These strong student-teacher relationships are a clear advantage of ��’s model of education, which larger institutions cannot easily replicate.

I believe �� facilitates those relationships in ways that larger institutions cannot easily replicate. And now, as I am in the position of writing letters of recommendations for my students, I recognize how much stronger of a recommendation I can make for students with whom I have worked closely on research or with whom interact with outside the classroom.

What do you think makes �� graduates distinctive?

I believe a liberal arts education prepares students to be more versatile on the job market and more thoughtful citizens. There are big problems that need to be tackled in this world, and I think �� graduates are distinctive in their ability and willingness to take on those problems.

What attracted you to attend �� as an undergraduate?

I often make life choices based on the choices of successful role models who went ahead of me. While I was interested in attending a liberal arts university that placed a strong emphasis on small class sizes, high quality teaching, and cross-cultural experiences, the main reason I attended �� was because of �� alumni. Growing up, many of the adults I knew and respected were �� alumni (including my dad), so I determined that the commonality of attending �� was not a coincidence. I concluded �� would prepare me well if I wanted my future self to be a citizen with similar values and experiences as my role models.

What are some favorite memories of your time at ��?

My cross cultural to the Middle East with Linford and Janet Stutzman gave me new perspective on the complexities of conflict.

As a part of a “Sustaining the Peacebuilder” course, we took a trip to Pennsylvania to participate in an Alternatives to Violence training with inmates at Graterford maximum security prison. The professor was Earl Zimmerman. That experience completely shattered my preconceived notions about our criminal justice system, and even today I frequently reflect back on that experience.

I enjoyed attending the American Economic Association annual conference with economics professors Chris Gingrich and Rick Yoder. At the conference, we went to presentations from top academics and leaders of the Federal Reserve. That experience motivated me to consider studying economics at graduate school.

Stay tuned to spring semester cross-culturals traveling in Guatemala/Colombia, the Middle East and Washington D.C.

Robert Propst — Thu, 23 Feb 2017 13:29:14 +0000

Student Robert Propst invites readers into the world of Guatemala, where he and other members of the spring Guatemala and Colombia trip led by Professor Ann Hershberger and her husband, Jim. Other groups living and learning off campus this semester are at the Washington Community Scholars’ Center in Washington D.C., with Professor Kimberly Schmidt and in the Middle East with Professor Linford Stutzman and wife, Janet.

Follow the activities and learning of our cross-cultural programs this semester on the and on��.

The Symbolic Universe of Guatemala, by Robert Propst

A painting of Guatemala’s symbols taken by Robert Propst.

Some of the most important things are invisible and impalpable. Love has no color. Freedom has no taste. Hope has no smell. Peace has no texture. Respect has no sound. For this reason, we have developed symbols. Hearts represent love, for example. But the symbols we use are by no means the objectively correct symbols, so they are therefore free to vary by culture. In the United States, our flag represents freedom, and the eagle carrying an olive branch represents peace.

When we visited the cemetery in our first week of study, our guide, Joel van Dike, explained that to truly engage with a culture, one must enter the “symbolic universe” of a place. To understand Guatemala, one must understand Guatemala’s symbols. In the United States, the number 1776 signifies independence. Here, that number is 1812.

The image attached to this post is of a painting I saw in the Cloud Forest Conservation Center. I will use this to provide an introduction to Guatemala’s symbolic Universe.

The entire image looks roughly like a quetzal in flight. Indeed, the feathers are those of a quetzal. The quetzal is the national bird and also the name of the currency. (Why don’t we do that? As in, gasoline costs 2.50 eagles per gallon; I have ten eagles in my wallet; minimum wage is 7.25 eagles.) The quetzal is mostly green, but it bears many colors. It has elegant tail feathers and is extremely rare. It cannot live in captivity. It follows, then, that the quetzal symbolizes freedom and beauty.

There is also another kind of quetzal in this image, specifically the 1 quetzal coin. It’s worth a little less than one seventh of an eagle, I mean US dollar. On one side is the signature on the peace treaty that officially ended the armed conflict. Some violence is ongoing, but the signature nevertheless signifies peace.

Speaking of currency, the large yellow objects are the cocoa nuts. These were used by the Mayans as currency. Moreover, they were used to calculate transactions in the base 20 system used by the Mayan people. Plus, they make chocolate. Close to 50% of the population is indigenous, and most of the rest still have a little Mayan blood. The cocoa nut symbolizes, at least in this painting, Mayan heritage.

The leaves are of Monstera Deliciosa, commonly known as “swiss cheese plant” or “rib of Adam.” It is a plant native to Central America and probably has some cultural value that I am unaware of.

The flower in the painting is an orchid. I don’t know which species this is but there are a lot of species here. Orchids are highly complex flowers and often are adapted to attract a specific type of pollinator. Here, I think it symbolizes beauty and diversity.

This brings us to the head, a silhouette of a rooster. It is the logo of Gallo brand beer. It is a company based in Guatemala and owned by the very wealthy Castillo family. On one hand, the logo is a popular icon. On the other hand, it is a mark of inequality.

Let’s make a full circle back to the cemetery. Poor people are put into a common wall-like structure above ground and are removed when the family can’t pay. Wealthy families bury their dead in grand mausoleums. One mausoleum was huge, the color of sandstone, and decorated with Egyptian symbols like the sphinx. It reminds one of a pyramid, the tombs of great pharaohs constructed by slaves. It is the Castillo family tomb. To me this says: “We are the ruling class and you are the peasants.” So the Gallo logo represents the challenges that Guatemala faces. It also says that very few families are the head of the nation.

These are the masks the invisible qualities wear in Guatemala. Thank you for dipping your toes into my host-culture’s symbolic universe.

�� to offer alumni and friends cross-cultural trips during Centennial year

Randi B. Hagi — Thu, 08 Dec 2016 19:25:28 +0000

Was your a transformative experience? Would you like to travel again in the same way, learning from locals and visiting off-the-beaten-path places?

Or have you heard so many stories of cross cultural that you want a taste of this unique kind of learning?

�� will offer to Israel/Palestine in 2017, and possibly Central America/Cuba in 2018.

“The alumni engagement office is excited to offer these trips to alumni and friends of the university,” says , director of alumni and parent engagement. “We want to continue to offer opportunities that allow for our alumni to interact and be lifelong learners.”

Earlier this fall, Shank, in cooperation with the Cross Cultural Office and Linford Stutzman, began planning the 2017 tour. The two-week Israel/Palestine tour, led by longtime Middle East cross-cultural leaders Linford and Janet Stutzman, is Oct. 20 – Nov. 3. There are 24 spots available.

Veteran trip leaders Linford and Janet Stutzman will guide the alumni and friends cross-cultural trip to Israel/Palestine, scheduled for Oct.20-Nov. 4. (�� file photo)

led a similar parents-and-alumni trip to the Middle East in 2011, which was met with “immense enthusiasm,” he says.

Participants will travel individually to Tel Aviv. From there, they will begin a fortnight of learning and travel, to include lectures and discussion on biblical history, exploring archaeological sites, engaging in current social issues of Palestinians and Israeli Jews, and enjoying local food and the unique geography of the region.

“We will be staying in some of the same places as we use for the students – the very best locations, the favorite people, the most unusual,” says Stutzman. “Because this is a much shorter experience, we will spend the entire time in Israel/Palestine, connecting with the highlights of the biblical story, history, religions, and current political situation in much the same way as we do with the students, but with less time.”

Destinations include Beit Sahour, Bethlehem, the Sea of Galilee and Jerusalem.

“The schools, churches, mosques . . . fill the town with an air of that everyday festivity that is characteristic of small, picturesque towns,” wrote student Diego Barahona while in Beit Sahour. “It is this ‘everydayness’ that especially brings to life the miraculous events of old that occured in this area.”

Another excursion will be hiking part of the J “to Cana, an Arab town that remembers Jesus’ first miracle,” says Stutzman. The trail was founded by alumnus David Landis ‘04 with an Israeli friend in 2007. Anna Dintaman ‘05 Landis joined the project the following year.

Stutzman says that he and Janet love the impact they observe on cross-cultural participants.

“This potential for life-changing moments occurs in random encounters walking the streets of Jerusalem, around a meal in a Palestinian home, standing on the cliffs of Arbel overlooking the Sea of Galilee,” says Stutzman. “The enthusiasm and joy of travelers is our most rewarding part of the journey.”

Learn More

Read more about ��ѱ�’s distinctive , one of the first of its kind in North America [history buffs will want to read t by Andrew Jenner ’04].

Visit the where students post photos and entries while on recent trips.

Read about the of the 2012 Middle East group.

‘This generation’s cigarette’: media and religion professors team up to analyze selfie culture

Kara Painter — Mon, 26 Oct 2015 17:16:50 +0000

Cell-phones are this generation’s cigarette. That was one analysis provided by and to students participating in an October Living and Learning Forum at ��. Holsopple, a visual and communication arts professor, and Stutzman, professor in the Bible and religion department, teamed up to talk about “selfie culture” and the potential side-effects of this social phenomenon.

Stutzman opened by re-telling the Greek myth of Narcissus, a man so entranced by his own reflection in a pond that he drowned trying to reach his reflection. Narcissus’s story is a metaphor for the current trap our own society is falling into, Stutzman said. Individuals in our society are so preoccupied with themselves that they are not aware of the fragmentation of genuine human relationships.

Holsopple talked about how self-centered the action of taking the photo is: “Who is the subject of the photo? You are.” Even if you take a photo with other people, Holsopple argued, they are just an “afterthought,” and “background things.”

He described the selfie as a way to document where you are and how you look, to show everyone how amazing and exciting your life is. Then the act of “liking” is equated with self-worth.

Professor Jerry Holsopple used his own photos of New York City residents and visitors taking selfies to illustrate our enraptured sense of self. (Courtesy of Jerry Holsopple)

“If 43 people like [a selfie], they like me,” Holsopple added.

Holsopple explained another reason why our culture values selfies is because we are enamored with the idea of our persona, which can be created and controlled to look a certain way on social media. We tend to shy away from showing the more bland moments on social media. Even in a selfie taken to show how bored you are, people will smile and compose themselves to meet the persona that has been created.

“We cannot live with the discomfort of people not liking us,” Holsopple said.

It’s possible, he continued, that we do not want to know our true selves, which is a “frightening” prospect. It is much easier is to create and hide behind the persona.

Stutzman ended the presentation with a comparison between Narcissus, Jesus and “you and I.” All of these entities find and affirm identity in different ways: Narcissus only from himself (“I am my image, who cares who others say I am?”), Jesus from the others around him and God (“I am who I say I am; who do you say that I am?”), and humans from self, others and God. This last relationship is important, Stutzman said. “We are tempted to create our own image through what others say we are, but we must always remember who we really are.”

We only get selective feedback from people online, feedback which is limited by the ability to “like” and the fact that we don’t put “our whole selves out there,” he added.

Visitors take selfies on a giant screen. (Courtesy of Jerry Holsopple)

Being affirmed as our “whole selves” is important, Holsopple said. “I would rather be loved by the people who know me than liked by the people who do not know me.”

The forum also included Holsopple’s photos of people taking selfies in New York City, a sight which sophomore Rachel Sturm called ” baffling.”

“So many people took selfies instead of the beautiful scenery and the different environments of New York City,” she said. “I believe our society is … living behind a phone.”

This article is reprinted from the Oct. 15, 2015 issue of the .

Emeritus professor Calvin Shenk, who led Bible department and championed cross-cultural program, lived a life of Christian witness

�� communications staff — Fri, 18 Sep 2015 22:35:49 +0000

Calvin E. Shenk, professor emeritus of religion who taught at �� from 1976-2001, has died. He resided in Harrisonburg, Virginia. His wife Marie passed away in 2010.

The couple, both 1959 graduates of Eastern Mennonite College, returned after 14 years of missionary work in Africa to make an indelible mark on the vision and goals of the institution.

Shaping the cross-cultural curriculum

Before coming to ��, Shenk taught theology courses at Meserete Kristos College in Ethiopia for 14 years. The couple served with in Ethiopia from 1961 to 1971.

Shenk earned a PhD in religious education from New York University in 1972 and then joined the Bible and religion faculty of �� four years later.

Both he and his wife were avid scholars. Marie, who earned a master’s of religion from Eastern Mennonite Seminary in 1998, was an administrative assistant to the academic dean from 1976 to 1990.

Undergraduates Peter Gabriel ’83 and Dale Ressler ’84 chat with Calvin Shenk, then professor of church studies. (Courtesy of �� archives).

The Shenks led their first of four �� trips in the fall of 1978, taking students to the Middle East. He was among those proponents for making the cross-cultural program integral to ��ѱ�’s required curriculum. As a member of ��ѱ�’s task force in 1981, Shenk brought a passion for the transformative possibilities of immersion in another culture.

In September 1983, Shenk penned . “This kind of education will be both painful and enjoyable,” he wrote. “The results will not always be predictable. We will experience anger and exhilaration, depression and vision. But growth will occur, and that is what college is for. Such education will make us better citizens of the global village and better members of God’s international kingdom, the church.”

Led by his faith, enthusiasm and curiosity

Shenk was named Teacher of the Year in 1982, earning praise for helping change the lives of his students.

Provost Fred Kniss, who benefited from Shenk’s mentorship during his junior year spent on independent study in India (before the cross-cultural program was formalized), says Shenk had “remarkable qualities,” including a “generous soul.”

“He was enthusiastically curious about the world around him — especially about the religious lives and practices of people around the world,” said Kniss. “He was a committed Christian who loved engaging with people from other traditions. And he was an effective teacher because he knew how to communicate his enthusiasm and curiosity in ways that were contagious.”

Another on campus who shares these sentiments is Bible and religion professor Linford Stutzman. He was a student of Shenk’s in the early 80s, and since then has led many cross-cultural trips to the Middle East with his wife Janet — much as the Shenks did together.

Stutzman writes: “It is impossible to list the unique lessons about strong faith and bold humility, courageous mission and cultural sensitivity, unwavering Anabaptist identity and respect for people of all religions, gentle flexibility and stubborn resistance to evil, that Calvin communicated to his students. Whether teaching in the classroom, leading students in the Middle East, speaking in congregations, or writing to people seeking to be faithful and relevant in their witness in the world, Calvin’s life and theology were the same everywhere. Calvin will be remembered with deep appreciation by his students. I will always be grateful for the privilege of being one of them.”

A life of service

Among other roles, Shenk was principal of Nazareth Bible Academy and chair of the Mennonite Board of Education in Ethiopia. He was a member of the overseas committee of the former Mennonite Board of Missions,��1977-1990.

An expert on Jewish-Christian relations, for eight years during his teaching career at ��, he spent each spring semester in Jerusalem as a research scholar at Tantur Ecumenical Institute.

Shenk wrote several books, including Who Do You Say That I Am? Christians Encounter Other Religions (Herald Press, 1997), and dozens of��articles.

In 1994 the Shenks began an assignment in Israel and Palestine under Mennonite Board of Missions (a precursor to Mennonite Mission Network), and Mennonite Central Committee. For the next seven years, until 2001, the couple lived six months of every year in Jerusalem, returning to Harrisonburg the remainder of the year where Shenk continued to teach at ��. In 2002, Shenk retired from ��. Marie died in 2010. The Shenks raised three children, all graduates of ��: Doug ’86, Duane ’90 and Donna (Sensenig) ’91.

Visitations will be at 6-8 p.m. on��Sunday, Sept. 20��and��at 12-1 p.m. on��Monday, Sept. 21 at��Park View Mennonite Church. A memorial service will be held, also at the church, at 1 p.m. on Monday, following visitation.

Portions of this article are reprinted from a March 2, 2014 article about Calvin Shenk written by Rachael Keshishian & Bonnie Price Lofton.

Sun, 02 Mar 2014 18:35:09 +0000

Tension between Israelis and Palestinians was quickly escalating when Linford Stutzman ’84 (Seminary ’90) traveled to the Middle East in the summer of 2000 to prepare for his first turn leading ��ѱ�’s to the region. By the time he and his wife, Janet Stutzman (Seminary ’91), arrived with the group in early 2001, the second Palestinian Intifada, marked by frequent violence between the two sides, had begun; the group heard nightly gunfire during its stay that winter in the West Bank.

Looking back more than a decade later, the Stutzmans say it’s amazing �� let the Middle East cross-cultural continue through that time of upheaval. It was a decision that paid off, however, as it led to deeper relationships with the program’s partners in the region, who remember and admire ��ѱ�’s commitment to cross-cultural education through thick and thin. �� was the only American university that didn’t cancel programs with several of these partner institutions.

“Jesus doesn’t invite us to a life of not taking risks,” says Linford, a professorin the Bible and religion department. “Faith is made for risk-taking. The whole Biblical story is one of leaving behind the ‘safe.’ This [trip] is a metaphor for life and faith.”

The Stutzmans, who lived through the 1973 Yom Kippur War while working as independent volunteers in Israel, emphasize that risk-taking doesn’t equate to recklessness, and that careful planning for contingencies is a part of each of the trips to the Middle East that they’ve led.

“We’ve gone into it with our eyes wide open … our agreement with �� was that we would work with our local [contacts] and make safety decisions based on that,” says Janet, director of alumni and parent relations at �� from 1991 until 2004.

And so, through the first Palestinian Intifada in the late ’80s and early ’90s, the tense months before the Gulf War in 1991, the second Intifada early in the new millennium, and the Arab Spring and new talk of war between Israel and Iran over the past two years, the trip has continued uninterrupted since Willard and Mary Swartley led the first Middle East cross-cultural in the spring of 1975.In doing so, Janet and Linford say, students experience the volatile nature of day-to-day life in the Middle East, while learning valuable lessons about interdependence, self-reliance and the value of taking wise risks throughout their lives. Since 2001, the Stutzmans have led eight cross-culturals to the Middle East (on two occasions, when Janet’s work in Harrisonburg prevented her from being along for the whole trip, their son, David Stutzman ’00, filled in as a co-leader).

“We are risk-takers,” agrees Beth Aracena, director of cross-cultural programs at �� from 2006 to the end of the 2011-12 school year. “I think students learn the most when there are risks, and they’re challenged to stretch themselves.”

Throughout the planning process as well as the trips, Aracena has worked closely with the Stutzmans and the university administration to monitor developments in the region and, if necessary, change plans when certain risks no longer seem wise. One recent example of this is ��ѱ�’s decision to scratch a previously planned visit to Syria from the itinerary for its 2013 Middle East trip (the Stutzmans led a smaller-than-usual group there for the first time in the spring of 2011).

Aracena describes Linford and Janet as “an absolutely phenomenal pair,” constantly tweaking and improving the itinerary to keep the trip new and on the cutting edge.

The wisdom and obvious enthusiasm the Stutzmans bring to their roles as leaders has endeared them to each new group of students they take to the Middle East.

“They taught us throughout the trip how to be resourceful and successful travelers,” says Ellen Roth ’13, a member of the 2012 Middle East cross-cultural. “[And] they were there to talk with us to help us through all the tough questions we were confronted with even if there wasn’t a direct answer.”

Roth also admires the way the Stutzmans, who call themselves best friends in addition to husband and wife, interacted. They finish each other’s sentences, and they interrupt one another as they tell stories because they both tell certain parts better,

“They are such complementary leaders,” she said.

Anna Dintaman ’05 Landis, who went on cross-cultural to the Middle East in 2004, says “they amazingly don’t lose their sense of humor even after three months on the road.”

According to the International Institute for Education, just 1.8 percent of American students studying abroad in 2009-2010 went to the Middle East. With ��ѱ�’s long academic ties to this region infrequently visited by American university students, the Middle East cross-cultural has developed into a special niche program for the university and its students, Aracena says. Because of high student interest in the trip, the Stutzmans have been leading it each spring in recent years.

“It is just an exceptional learning opportunity for our students,” Aracena says.

Outreach to students’ families is another important aspect of making the trip successful; the Stutzmans and Aracena have regularly responded to questions and concerns from worried parents. Talking with them about the careful planning and collaboration with Palestinian and Israeli partners throughout the trip usually allays parents’ fears. Unfamiliar risks (say, studying abroad in a place typically associated with ominous headlines) often are scarier than familiar risks (e.g. driving to the airport) the Stutzmans say, even when, in fact, statistics show that the drive to the airport is the far riskier undertaking.

As parents learn more about the trip, they often say they wish they could have a similar opportunity to visit the Middle East. The Stutzmans – who have also spent nearly every summer since 2004 retracing Paul’s Mediterranean travels together by sailboat – need little encouragement to plan new adventures, and so, in the summer of 2011, they led 14�� parents and alumni on a unique “parents cross-cultural.” On that trip, they compressed the usual itinerary into a 16-day tour of Israel and Palestine, affording Linford and Janet yet another opportunity to teach others about the people and places they’ve come to love over the years.

Leading the cross-cultural “is a privilege,” says Linford, adding that leading the trip is the most rewarding aspect of his work with undergraduates at ��. “It never gets old.”

Each new group has its own personality, the Stutzmans say, and each student returns home with a changed view of God, of the world, and of themselves. By having agreed to lead the Middle East cross-cultural each spring through at least 2015, Janet and Linford will continue influencing dozens more �� undergrads over the next several years by exposing them to the conflicts and contradictions, as well as determined hopes for a better future, that exist throughout the region.

Perhaps most formative, they say, is the fact that �� students on the trip interact with and learn from people who hold wildly divergent views on religion, politics, security, justice and other issues of fundamental significance. At the same time, the students’ immersion in day-to-day life in the region leads to deeper, human connections with the people they encounter.

“I think it’s a lesson that our students are learning in life – that even though you disagree with people, you can be respectful and you can be friends,” says Janet. “There are so many of our young adults who are going on to do amazing things, and I feel that it’s so neat to be a part of that.”

—Andrew Jenner

Mennonite professor and Israeli philosopher debate pacifism, violence and resistance to evil

Andrew Jenner — Fri, 04 Oct 2013 20:25:26 +0000

In front of a packed audience at the , an Israeli philosopher and a Mennonite theologian sat down to debate the ethics of pacifism and violence, approaching the issue from an unconventional angle: Is it unethical not to use violence as a last resort to resist evil?

Moshe Shner, a professor of Jewish philosophy at in Israel, spoke about his mother’s participation as a paramedic in a Jewish partisan group that violently resisted Nazi Germany during World War II. Shner grew up on an Israeli kibbutz surrounded by the children of other veterans of the partisan movement, feeling pride that they had “done something” to stand up for themselves.

“It doesn’t mean that we love war or that we love bloodshed,” said Shner. But it does mean, he continued, that sometimes, when all other options have been exhausted and when facing a truly implacable enemy causing harm to innocent people, using violence to try to prevent further harm is the ethical choice.

“Violence is bad. Violence is ugly … but in the end, we have responsibility to ourselves and our society and we have to do something that will stop [other] violence,” said Shner.

Unethical to acquiesce to harm

, an �� professor who has written extensively on the subject of pacifism, agreed with Shner that standing aside while innocent people are being harmed is unethical. As a conviction that each human life is precious, pacifism, Grimsrud said, requires nonviolent resistance to protect others from harm. But he argued that eventually resorting to violence – and later “valorizing” that violence, as he implied Shner does in the case of the Jewish partisans – makes violence “much more acceptable” the next time a conflict arises.

Grimsrud also said that the lesson of World War II should be that violence doesn’t work, as indicated by the Allies’ failure to stop the Holocaust from happening.

“The war was essentially a failure when it came to preventing harm-doing to Europe’s Jews,” he said.

He pointed out that the most successful instances of saving Jewish lives during the war – the “rescue” of Danish Jews to Sweden and the safe haven created in the French village of Le Chambon – were forms of nonviolent resistance.

Shner simply disagreed with Grimsrud’s stance on the efficacy of violence during World War II. It wasn’t philosophers or theologians or intellectuals who stopped Nazi Germany, he said, it was General Patton and General Zhukov who stopped Nazi Germany and saved the Jews who were still alive when the Allied armies were finally successful.

Force necessary at times?

“There are moments in life – you don’t like them and you hope they don’t come – when you have to use force,” Shner said.

By the end of their debate, Shner and Grimsrud had agreed in general that we are ethically obligated to nonviolently resist people or things causing harm to other people. They then began to split finer and finer hairs over the appropriate response to a harm-doer who doesn’t stop when confronted nonviolently, moving through an increasingly aggressive set of nonlethal violent tactics up to, finally, lethal violence (which Shner said is justified when all other options are exhausted).

“The line that I wouldn’t want to cross is killing somebody,” said Grimsrud, acknowledging the difficulty of the issue. “In a fundamental sense, I think violence is always wrong … but it was good that the Nazis were defeated.”

Shner’s visit to �� was arranged by , a professor of who regularly leads semester-long study groups to the Middle East. Stutzman first met Shner more than a decade ago when Shner made a similar presentation to a group of �� undergraduates in Israel, as he has regularly been doing ever since.

“His position on the ethics of ‘non-pacifism’ is intriguing. We need that to test our own convictions,” said Stutzman, who said that Shner’s position, if nothing else, compels pacifists to empathize with individual traditions and experiences that lead people to non-pacifist stances.

Stutzman also said that the question of pacifism’s efficacy, which consumed much of the debate, isn’t central to his thinking on the subject. Violence clearly is effective, and claiming pacifist convictions is easy in the comfortable Shenandoah Valley, Stutzman continued. But Jesus, he said, wasn’t in a position of personal security or comfort when he taught his followers to love their enemies.

Called to pacifism as a follower of Jesus

“I’m not a pacifist because I think it will protect me [or others]. I’m a pacifist because I believe that’s what Jesus calls us to do.”

Elise Sauder, a junior who attended the debate, came because she’s sometimes wondered whether her own pacifist convictions are always ethical.

“Although I believe that Moshe had really good points, my thinking is that things always come back to my faith in God, that He will protect me. If somebody was attacking me, I believe in my heart that I know where I’m going,” said Sauder, who was also a student on Stutzman’s cross-cultural to the Middle East in the spring of 2013.

And when it comes to the ethics of using violence – or not – to prevent harm being inflicted on someone else?

Much harder question, Sauder acknowledged, as other members of the audience clustered around Grimsrud and Shner to continue the discussion past its allotted hour and a half – not enough time to change peoples’ minds, it seemed, but plenty to get them thinking hard about difficult questions.

Bible Students Explore Emerging Church, Set Future Foundation

Mike Zucconi — Fri, 30 Mar 2012 19:43:38 +0000

Bible students are different now than they were in the 1990s when was a student at �� (��). Students now, says Dula, chair, want to “experiment” with what it means to be church and “dig deep into the meaning of Anabaptism, even if they don’t know it by that name.”

“There are more options out there for today’s students,” says Dula. “Rather than joining a traditional church structure, they sometimes choose to search for something even more Anabaptist.”

The emerging church movement and New Monasticism have created alternatives to traditional church that draw from and can inform an Anabaptist perspective, says Dula, a 1992 graduate.

“New Monasticism focuses on prayer, communal life and reaching out to the poor… Ideas that are rooted in the Christian tradition, but in a way Anabaptists can recognize as their own. It is an interesting time to teach and think about Anabaptism.”

Embracing the change

Instead of resisting alternatives to traditional worship, Dula and , a 1981 �� graduate and Bible and religion instructor, see an opportunity to embrace alternatives and use them to engage and inform students.

“Our goal is to equip students to engage in shaping the future of the church,” said Schrock-Hurst, who also serves as co-pastor at Immanuel Mennonite Church in Harrisonburg, Va. “All these ideas are available to this generation and we can create space for them to explore and figure out what works in their faith journeys.”

��ѱ�’s Bible and religion department tries to continually learn from students, says Dula. “Many of them are way out ahead of us as teachers.” We want to be a “meeting place,” he notes, where Mennonite and students from diverse backgrounds can share ideas on faith and God’s calling in their lives.

“Some of our best students enter �� without a background in Anabaptism or the Mennonite church,” said Dula. “They find here, however, a space to own, appropriate and transform what they learn in our classrooms in ways that manage to be thoroughly Anabaptist.”

, professor of Bible and religion added, “I find that sometimes the students who are not from Mennonite backgrounds add a kind of new-discovery freshness when they embrace the peace position. Other times, we get challenges to pacifist assumptions born out of different ways of thinking about the Bible and Christianity.”

More than a classroom

��ѱ�’s provides an alternative classroom for many Bible and religion students with profound results. The experience, led by , professor of culture and mission and his wife, , showcases the history of the Bible while exploring current conflicts. Students are immersed in language and cultural studies while living in Palestine and Jerusalem.

After spending a semester in the Middle East, senior Jamie Hiner, from Culpeper, Va., observed, “I can connect to the stories [of the Bible] on a completely different level. I understand who Jesus was on a human level, and I have a connection to the land, people and cultures.”

In addition to the Middle East cross-cultural program, �� is the only higher-education institution offering a major in . , associate professor of , says that while Catholics and Protestants have a long academic tradition in philosophy, Anabaptists are important contributors “because our own history of having been marginalized, our understanding of concrete embodied community, and our commitment to peace and reconciliation.”

Senior Ben Bailey, from Simsbury, Conn., found his knowledge of the Bible to be “limited compared to my peers at ��.” A double-major in and , Bailey says his studies have provided him with a “comprehensive base knowledge to build upon.

“I continually feel the need to understand and question the Bible and theology on a deeper level.”

Hiner, a major with a minor in , added, “I’ve learned so much from personal relationships with my professors. I love having real conversations with them outside the classroom.”

Looking ahead

Bible and religion department faculty envision their department’s influence expanding across campus and in the community through dialogue with campus ministries and local churches. Interest in the department’s is growing as opportunities to explore internships outside of “traditional” pastoring arise. The very definition of “pastor” and “church” is changing; students are interested in how they intersect with these concepts.

“Students have an advantage with on campus, in addition to and numerous Mennonite churches nearby to integrate and connect with pastors, leaders and teachers,” Schrock-Hurst says.

Dula agrees, adding, “The goal is to make the discussion and debates that occur in our classrooms become the heart and soul of campus. This will encourage growth not only in the department and across campus, but in the broader church.”

Explore the Bible via Sailing in the Mediterranean

Laura Lehman Amstutz — Mon, 12 Dec 2011 18:22:12 +0000

Professor of mission will lead a cross-cultural program via boat around the eastern Mediterranean in May 2012. The group will explore Athens, Ephesus, Corinth and many other sites of New Testament churches, usually traveling as the apostle Paul did in the Book of Acts.

The trip, called, will begin in Antalya, Turkey, on May 13, 2012, and end 18 days later. Using small sailboats, the class will cruise along the southern coast of Turkey, exploring remote, beautiful impressive sites such as Andriake harbor, Patara, and other key historical sites. From Ephesus, the group will take ferries to the island of Samos, Greece, then across the Aegean to Athens where the seminar ends.

Besides experiencing the Roman Empire from the sea, students will engage in intensive reading and discussion of the culture, politics, religion, and economics of the first century world. They will also learn to work together as sailors, said Stutzman.

Experiences change thinking about New Testament

Michael Swartzentruber, a first-year seminary student who traveled with Stutzman in 2011, said: “There is no better way to study the early church than on a boat, taking whatever the sea throws at you. Living that experience forever changed the way I read Paul and Acts.”

Betsy Fisher Rhodes and her husband Philip had just concluded their year in Nazareth, Israel, when they took this trip. “This course was a real highlight of my year abroad and will continue to influence my thinking of the church in the first-century as well as the church today,” Betsy said.

Stutzman is a veteran of sailing on the Mediterranean and following the journeys of Paul. In 2004-05 he and his wife Janet spent 16 months visiting every port linked to Paul’s travels in Acts. The journey is detailed in Linford’s book “Sailing Acts,” published by Good Books.

Students from will join graduate students from Jerusalem University College for this trip. It costs $2,825, including three semester hours of tuition and all expenses for the three weeks in the Mediterranean. It does not include international travel to Antalya and from Athens, passports, or visas for Turkey. Final costs are subject to adjustment, depending on exchange rates or tax increases.

Contact Linford Stutzman, director of the program of Eastern Mennonite Seminary, for further information and reservations.