Description
Book SynopsisTraces the socio-cultural transformation of Eastern Mennonite University from a fledgling religious separatist school in 1917 to a flourishing, world-engaged university populated by many faith traditions, cultures, and nationalities.
Trade Review“This book pulsates with life. Unlike most institutional histories with their inexorable march across time, this one contains elements of conflict rarely found in higher education. Each era of the school’s history presented new challenges, and the answers leaders found were unlike those of any other institution. Donald Kraybill offers insight without jargon, love without blindness, and language that sings.”
—Shirley Hershey Showalter,former professor and president of Goshen College, EMU class of 1970
“Careful history and colorful stories abound in this masterful narrative about Mennonite identity, values, and higher learning. More than just an institutional history, this is a riveting tale set against the broad backdrop of American cultural development that explores how one religious community sought to be simultaneously countercultural and culturally engaged. No one but Donald Kraybill, the world’s premier Anabaptist scholar, could have written this story with such nuance and insight.”
—Douglas Jacobsen and Rhonda Hustedt Jacobsen,codirectors of the Religion in the Academy Project
“An unlikely experiment? A countercultural initiative? Sociologist Donald B. Kraybill’s centennial history of Eastern Mennonite University examines the cultural and religious forces that have shaped and transformed a fledgling Bible school into a university with global impact. This is an account of a passionate vision enlarged by an ability to change. Kraybill beautifully lures the reader into the drama, with a story of heroes, some unexpected heroics, and a few ornery characters along the way. An instructive and fascinating read.”
—Lee Snyder,president emerita, Bluffton University
“The volume is quite masterfully done. Richly illustrated, and strong in both theme and detail.
”—Robert B. Townsend Isis-Jrnl. History of Science Society
