Past Academic Conferences

June 22-25, 2017

Twenty years have passed since the watershed conference The Quiet in the Land? Women of Anabaptist Traditions in Historical Perspective took place in 1995. New topics, approaches, and viewpoints invite further examination of the constructions of gendered experience within groups in the Anabaptist tradition. Crossing boundaries and borders can and should encompass a wide range of disciplines, approaches and topics. This conference will encourage participants to think creatively about how Anabaptists, Mennonites, Amish and related groups have crossed and continue to cross lines, borders and boundaries.

March 29-April 1, 2012

This conference was held March 29-April 1, 2012, and was sixth in a series of Mennonite writing conferences in the United States and Canada and the first to come to the East Coast. The weekend included readings, scholarly paper presentations, writing workshops, performances, book-signings, and feasting.

March 31-April 2, 2011

This conference was held March 31-April 2, 2011, and featured internationally recognized speakers who cited the results of several decades of research to support their assertions that caring relations are as necessary to human life as air, food and water. The conference explored the concept that one of our most important tasks as humans is to learn how to form healthy attachments – with each other, with the earth, and with God.

September 23-25, 2004

This conference was held September 23-25, 2004, and focused upon the meaning of citizenship in the U.S. from the perspective of the Believers Church. The planners observed that the U.S. possesses and exercises unprecedented influence on a global scale. The conference was designed to clarify together what it means to be both citizens of the state and members of the body of Christ.

November 13-15, 2003

This conference was held November 13-15, 2003, and focused on:

• The fundamental biological basis of genetic research with its prospective promises and perils.
• The process of clarifying bioethical dilemmas through deliberation, evaluation of alternatives, and insights of others.
• Understanding the complexity of bioethical dilemmas by seeing how varied disciplines highlight different dimensions of the issues.
• Articulating foundational Christian and Anabaptist values that influence bioethical decision-making.