Pastor/Spouse Retreat
Friday - Sunday, April 9-11, 2010
St. Benedict Center, Schuyler, Nebraska

Pastors and spouses, plan to attend the annual retreat at the St. Benedict Center near Schuyler, Nebraska for fellowship, worship, rest and learning.  Loren Johns will present several sessions on Anabaptist/Mennonite principles of biblical interpretation with opportunity for participants to practice these principles in Bible study.  Loren is Associate Professor of New Testament at Associated Mennonite Biblical Seminary.  Wilbur and Helen Yoder and Darvin and Martha Yoder will lead the worship times.   On Saturday evening, St. Benedict Center will present a one-woman show by Lisa Wagner, "Haunted by  God: The Life of Dorothy Day," to which retreat participants are invited.

See the brochure for the schedule and what to bring.

Biblical Interpretation in the Mennonite Church Today
Loren Johns

This series of presentations and discussions will focus on the role of the Bible in the Mennonite Church today, especially with regard to its interpretation. What did the sixteenth-century Anabaptists emphasize in their interpretation of the Bible? What significant developments have subsequently shaped today's church? How do we think about the continuing usefulness of those emphases? How would we reaffirm, revise, nuance, and/or repudiate those emphases today? Is there a formula or a set of principles that can or should control the church's use of the Bible for ethical guidance today? If so, what might such a formula or set of principles look like? How can we make sure that we are hearing the leading of the Holy Spirit accurately and faithfully?

Session 1   Anabaptist Interpretation
We will summarize and synthesize the contributions of Stuart Murray's book, Biblical Interpretation in the Anabaptist Tradition (Kitchener, Ont.: Pandora Press, 2000) and Willard Swartley s book, Essays on Biblical Interpretation: Anabaptist-Mennonite Perspective (Text-Reader Series; Elkhart, Ind.: Institute of Mennonite Studies, 1984), bringing in the work of Henry Poettcker, Bill Klassen, and Lydia Harder as appropriate. We will also touch briefly on how the Bible is treated in various Mennonite confessions of faith.

Session 2   Rethinking Anabaptist Interpretation
In this session we will assess the story of our tradition's handling of the Bible. In particular, we will attempt to identify ways in which we would reaffirm the distinctives of our tradition, as well as ways in which we might repudiate, revise, or nuance some of those emphases.

Session 3   Putting It Together
What does the Bible itself say or imply about how the Bible functioned in the early church s discernment processes? What guidance can we get from the church s story as narrated in the book of Acts? What positive, constructive affirmations can we make about the continuing authority of the Bible in the life of the church today? Here we will look at some biblical passages today that relate to the opportunities and challenges of biblical interpretation.