In celebration of the 499th birthday of Anabaptism, John Roth reports on the development of the Anabaptist Community Bible, which is slated to be ready for readers on the 500th birthday of Anabaptism.
This post is in celebration of the birthday of Anabaptism, which is celebrated on Jan. 21 every year.
For many years (1985-2022), John D. Roth was a professor of history at Goshen College, where he also served as director of the Mennonite Historical Library and editor of The Mennonite Quarterly Review. John has published widely on topics related to Anabaptist-Mennonite history and church life. He is also the founding director of the Institute for the Study of Global Anabaptism at Goshen College and secretary of the Mennonite World Conference Faith and Life Commission. In July 2022, John accepted a new position with MennoMedia as project director of the Anabaptism at 500 initiative. John and his wife, Ruth, are the parents of four adult children and grandparents to five grandchildren. They are active members of Berkey Avenue Mennonite Fellowship in Goshen, Indiana.
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One morning, in spring 2022, I woke up with a deep sense of foreboding.
A few months earlier, I had left a job of more than 35 years — a job that I loved — to take on a new role as project director of MennoMedia’s Anabaptism at 500. The assignment envisioned 6 or 7 different projects; but its centerpiece was to be a new study Bible that would somehow embody the spirit of the Anabaptist tradition.
Within only a few months, my initial enthusiasm for the project had bumped up against a healthy dose of realism.
