Sorayya Khan – a Pakistani-Dutch-American writer who combines cross-cultural sensibilities with lyrical, haunting prose on war and its impact on humanity – is the last Writers Read guest of the year on Thursday, Mar. 13, at 6:30 p.m. in Common Grounds at EMU. Khan is the author of two novels, Noor (2003) and Five Queen’s Road (2009), both with story lines that hig ...More
More than 50 years after his first visit to campus, social activist and scholar Vincent Harding returned to EMU on Feb. 26 and 27, where he urged packed audiences to engage fully in the struggle to build a real participatory democracy based on justice, equality, sustainability and spiritual fulfillment, rather than on militarism, materialism and racism – or indeed on any form of discriminatio ...More
Salim Munayer is a citizen of a small nation that casts a giant shadow on the world stage. Small enough to fit four within the borders of Virginia, the modern state of Israel is a land of deep history and intractable conflict. Munayer’s mosaic of identities gave his four presentations at EMU, Feb. 20-21, the ring of authenticity. Palestinian. Christian. Arab. From a family whose lands ...More
Ask senior Aaron Erb to name the quality he appreciates most about his four-year experience in the Honors Program, and he begins with people. “This program has added so much depth to my college experience,” he says. “I’m in awe of the relationships I’ve formed across class levels within honors. These relationships have cemented my appreciation of EMU as a place filled with wond ...More
A writer known for her philosophical explorations of faith and doubt, punctuated by down-to-earth self-revelation, humor, and truthfulness, is coming to campus. Rachel Held Evans has attracted attention for her nuanced and accessible discussions about current issues in modern Christianity as the author of Evolving in Monkey Town (Zondervan, 2010) and The Year of Biblical Wom ...More
Why would an explicitly Christian university go out of its way to bring Muslim and Jewish scholars to its campus to teach entire courses and interact every day with students? That’s what is happening at Eastern Mennonite University. “Interacting with people of other faiths builds friendship and understanding – something we sorely need in this world,” says ...More
On the Wikipedia page for “Security Sector Reform,” you’ll read some nice-sounding stuff about helping police and military forces become more accountable to democratically elected governments and to hold human rights in higher regard. You’ll also see a picture, right at the top, of American and British soldiers teaching their Sierra Leonean counterparts how to use a mortar. It’ ...More
Hundreds of people filled to capacity the 2014 School for Leadership Training at Eastern Mennonite Seminary, interested in exploring “discernment processes” to address difficult issues in congregations, conferences and denominations. “Discernment together begins with love for one another and i ...More
Participants in the 2014 School for Leadership Training at Eastern Mennonite Seminary did not tiptoe for three days around the “elephant in the room” – that is, the anguish felt by many over congregational disagreements in regard to same-sex relationships. On the contrary, a highlight of the three days appeared to be a worship service ...More
Jim Minick, author of the award-winning The Blueberry Years, A Memoir of Farm and Family, will be at EMU on Monday, Feb. 10, for two events, culminating in the first Writers Read Author of the semester at 6:30 p.m., in EMU’s Common Grounds Coffeehouse in University Commons. Earlier tha ...More
