A History of the Mennonite Brethren Church, Ja Toews

the M.B. Conference has found expression in a joint-publication called Direction. This new theological periodical (which first appeared in January, 1972) is a successor to The Voice, published by the Mennonite Brethren Bible College since 1952, and the Journal of Church and Society published since 1965 by the Mennonite Brethren Biblical Seminary, Tabor College and Pacific College. Direction seeks to serve the constituency by dealing with theological and church-related concerns and issues. Next to foreign missions, institutional education among Mennonite Brethren has been one of the major fields for investment of both spiritual and material resources. This investment can only be justified if 282 HISTORY OF THE MENNONITE BRETHREN CHURCH these institutions in their purpose and program remain related to the mission of the church. Many years ago P. M. Friesen warned against two deadly enemies of the Mennonite church: a dull, self-righteous obscurantism or hatred of education, and the shallow intellectual rationalism or deism, which places education above everything. Mennonite history is replete with developments that illustrate both dangers. There is for us, according to Friesen, but one solution: To win education for Christ and to place it in his service like Moses and Daniel won the wisdom of the Egyptians and the Chaldeans for the service of Jehovah. May we inspire youth for education and the arts, but teach them to know Jesus as the "most glorious of all," and the "fullness that filleth all in all;" and witness that we have in Him all joy and power in life, as well as life and comfort in death, and that we have in Him the foundation of all that is worthwhile in our social, cultural, intellectual, and spiritual life. . . . For us only such a school has value. The "swamp" (obscurantism) and the "desert" (rationalism) are both abominable to us Chapter 17 Publishing for the Brotherhood Although the publication efforts of the Mennonite Brethren Church have never been epoch-making nor on a large scale, they have nevertheless played a major role in the promotion of conference interests and in the preservation of conference unity. Orlando Harms, editor of the Christian Leader, assesses this phase of conference work as follows: "The work of publication has promoted unity in creating a denominational consciousness. It has helped to create theological unity. It has helped to advance missionary enthusiasm and enterprise. It has promoted education, relief and other conference efforts."' In the far-flung Mennonite Brethren constituency of North America, church publications were even more important as a "connecting link" than in the more compact settlements of Russia. As noted in chapter seven, the publishing enterprise among Mennonite Brethren in Russia was late in getting started and was never accepted as a conference responsibility. The conference did sponsor, however, two important publica