wfn.org | Newsline: Brethren scholar to be one of two named by Fuller chair in Anabaptist studies

[cobnews <cobnews@brethren.org>]

Newsline: Church of the Brethren News Service, News Director Cheryl Brumbau gh-Cayford, 800-323-8039 ext. 260, cobnews@brethren.org

CHURCH OF THE BRETHREN SCHOLAR TO BE ONE OF TWO NAMED BY FULLER SEMINARY CH AIR IN ANABAPTIST STUDIES

(May 7, 2009) Elgin, IL -- Fuller Theological Seminary in Pasadena, Calif.,  is seeking to establish an endowed chair devoted to Radical Reformation th ought, named in honor of Church of the Brethren scholar James William McCle ndon Jr., and Mennonite scholar John Howard Yoder.

"The chair will promote the scholarly investigation of Radical Reformation  history, theology, and ethics, and will provide leadership for the growing  community of Fuller students and faculty from the Anabaptist tradition," sa id Nancey Murphy, professor of Christian Philosophy at Fuller. Murphy was m arried to McClendon, who passed away in 2000, and is a member of Pasadena C hurch of the Brethren where McClendon had served for a year as interim past or.

Yoder is known for his book, "Politics of Jesus," originally published in 1 972. He was part of the faculty at Associated Mennonite Biblical Seminary i n Elkhart, Ind., as well as that of Notre Dame University where he taught i n the peace studies program and the Department of Theology.

McClendon found his first church home among Southern Baptists. "However, he  was deeply affected by Yoder's argument for the centrality of nonviolence  in the way of Jesus, and for the role of the church as modeling an alternat ive form of social existence," Murphy said. McClendon wrote a systematic th eology appropriate to the broad Christian movement that he came to call "sm all-b baptist," a translation of the German term "taufer." He moved to sout hern California in 1990 to accompany his wife, who began teaching at Fuller  in 1989.

McClendon taught doctoral seminars on radical-reformation theology at Fulle r Seminary, where he was Distinguished Scholar in Residence, and at the Gra duate Theological Union. In his teaching and scholarship he was significant ly influenced by Church of the Brethren scholars such as Dale Brown and Don ald Durnbaugh.

"Fuller Seminary was founded as a nondenominational institution, and has ma intained an evangelical identity inclusive of all varieties of Christians,  from Anglican to Pentecostal," Murphy said. "There is now a significant Ana baptist presence on campus. Equally significant is the fact that Fuller's p opulation is increasingly made up of students and faculty from McClendon's  more broadly baptist designation: Baptists who trace their roots as much to  the radical reformation as to the mainline reformers; new free churches th at developed in the American frontier; many Pentecostals, charismatics, and  nondenominational Christians," she said. "Students from Africa, Asia, and  Latin America discover the Anabaptist tradition to be relevant to contexts  where Christians remain a minority."

The Church of the Brethren is a Christian denomination committed to continu ing the work of Jesus peacefully and simply, and to living out its faith in  community. The denomination is based in the Anabaptist and Pietist faith t raditions and is one of the three Historic Peace Churches. It celebrated it s 300th anniversary in 2008. It counts more than 125,000 members across the  United States and Puerto Rico, and has missions and sister churches in Nig eria, Brazil, the Dominican Republic, Haiti, and India.

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>For more information contact:

>Cheryl Brumbaugh-Cayford
>Director of News Services
>Church of the Brethren
>1451 Dundee Ave., Elgin, IL 60120
>800-323-8039 ext. 260
>cobnews@brethren.org