A Pilgrimage Of Faith, J.B. Toews, 1993

us encouragement of Walter E, Kroeker, for many years the secretary of the foundation. A second source of fi- nancial help was the William Dyck Corporation in Fresno. We remain indebted to these persons who made the project and its completion financially possible. Last but not least I must express my deep indebtedness to Laurene Peters who has labored with me through the orig- nal typing and many subsequent editorial changes. Her pa- tience and efficiency in the process was a contribution essen- tial to the publication of this book. To all the participants in the preparation of the manu- script I hereby extend my deep appreciation, Acknowledging them, however, does not absolve me from the final responsi- bility for the content of the book. The process brought me both enrichment and pain. The enrichment came as I was able to immerse myself in the spiri- tual pilgrimage of my own people, and to see it as a testimo- ny of God's mercy and grace. Psalm 103 contains a fitting postscript to this period of our history: Tor he knoweth our frame; he remembereth that we are dust" (Ps, 103:14). The pain was felt deeply in the recognition of our imperfections and weaknesses. My conclusion to the years of research into the past and present of the Mennonite Brethren is best ex- pressed in the words of Paul: "Being confident of this very thing, that he which hath begun a good work in you will per- form it until the day of Jesus Christ" (Phil. 1:6). v Foreword \/ Then Eusebius, bishop of Cesarea and apologist \V m / ^or Emperor Constantine, wrote his Ecclesiastical ^/^f History in the fourth century, he launched a new historical genre. Written under the impression of the church's "victory1 under Constantine, Eusebius described the rise and spread of Christianity against incredible odds. When Rufinus translated Eusebius into Latin nearly a century later, he felt compelled to delete the last chapter of the Eccle- siastical History and replace it with two of his own that dealt with the problems created in the church by the Arian heresy. Thus, rather than conclude in triumph, Rufinus concluded with internal conflict in an age when the church had peace. Changing conditions had produced a new interpretation of church history. Had he written his own history of the church, Rufinus might well have interpreted the church's entire history quite differently than had Eusebius. Although opposition to the triumphant Roman Catholic Church in the West led, on occasion, to an attempt to rewrite that church history - the most noteworthy example is that of