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Using Scripture in a Global Age
Framing Biblical Issues
by C. Norman Kraus
Cascadia Publishing House, 2006. 198 pages
Reviewed by Christy Risser-Milne
C. Norman Kraus is one of the shining reasons to have hope for the Mennonite Church today. Long ago, Mennonites began to move away from their theological Anabaptist roots. This move gained momentum as the modern Religious Right gained power in the United States throughout the past fifteen or so years. More and more, Mennonites have adopted the rhetoric, theology, and bigotry rife throughout the modern Evangelical movement. Kraus skillfully traces this history—though in far kinder terms than I just did—and calls the Church to renewal and repentance. Perhaps most importantly, Kraus calls the Church—and anyone who would be so bold and/or foolish as to call herself a Christian—to stop using the Bible as a weapon and begin using it as a tool for healing and reconciliation.
If you are not a Mennonite or from one of the other historically Anabaptist traditions, much of this book will rightly read as an internal denominational discussion. That said, I would strongly argue that historical Anabaptism has important and useful things to say to any person of faith.
A quick history lesson: Anabaptism was born out of the Radical Reformation. Put succinctly, when Martin Luther nailed his 99 theses to the Wittenberg door in 1517, there were those who felt his reforms did not go far enough. These “radicals” called for a return to living a biblical ethic, including adult believers’ baptism. (The theory there was that Jesus never baptized babies, because they were not capable of making a choice to believe. The Anabaptists believed that if you did not make an active choice for faith, then your church membership ran counter to the biblical witness.) The word “anabaptism” means to re-baptize, and not “anti-baptism,” as it is often misconstrued. These re-baptizers were very quickly deemed heretics, and were hunted down and killed as such. Their horrible deaths are recounted in a book called “The Martyrs Mirror”. For reasons I will never understand, this book, which is filled with stories and pictures of torture, maiming, and death, is frequently given to young Mennonite couples as a wedding gift.
Back to Kraus’s book. Through discussions about the historical peace witness of the Mennonite Church, discussions about the inclusion or exclusion of same-sex couples, and a reclamation of biblical transcendence, Kraus guides Mennonites and non-Mennonites alike through a swamp of theological quicksand. This collection of essays is not, unfortunately, for everyone. Kraus is a retired professor, and his language and constructs are likely a bit beyond the average reader’s ability or desire to dissect for the jewels that lie within. I desperately wish that either Kraus or his editors had been able to adjust the level of his language so as to provides access for those who have not been to seminary.
In saying this I do not mean that the book is without merit. Instead, this book has too much of import to say about the Church to be limited to a readership that holds graduate degrees or extensive theological training.
EXT Anabaptists understood the New Testament to be a new covenant between God and humans creating a new people of God—a new social order. It was not merely a spiritual directive for individuals in their religious life, but a social directive to guide the ethical life of the human community. END
While I am myself an Anabaptist (the Mennonites don’t want me anymore), the above passage is, I believe, for every person who believes that the Bible is more than a nice collection of interesting historical stories. It was, and is, a radical call to those who have ears to hear to engage and change the world. Kraus understands this and says it plainly. It’s just too encrusted by complex theological constructs for many readers to get that far.
As the book progresses, Kraus’s style (or at least the selected essays) become more conversational, and thus more accessible. Kraus was part of starting a church in Goshen, Indiana. This congregation was an offshoot of a much larger congregation, and those who formed it sought something akin to the new covenant referenced above. I know this congregation, and while it no longer resembles what it was at the start, it was good to know that it is possible to choose to live into the biblical call without needing to form a commune in the wilds of Vermont.
As important as his theological and biblical arguments for peace and inclusion are, Kraus’s reflections on his own life journey and transformation are an important witness to those of us who have not lived quite so many years. Born in the 1920s, Kraus was raised as a Mennonite fundamentalist. Throughout his years as a mission worker, teacher, parent, friend, and human being, Kraus’s fundamentalism has been shed for what he calls a “critical Anabaptism.” Our contemporary society increasingly teaches us that once a person surpasses a certain age he or she no longer has anything valuable to contribute to the human condition. Kraus’s book is proof positive that this teacher, no matter his age, still has many things to teach would-be students—if only they will listen.
Christy Risser-Milne is a freelance writer, editor, and photographer who has a seminary degree that came in handy while reading this book.
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