Scattering Point , livre ebook

225

pages

English

Ebooks

2012

Écrit par
Jeff Gundy

Publié par
State University of New York Press

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225

pages

English

Ebooks

2012

Lire un extrait

Obtenez un accès à la bibliothèque pour le consulter en ligne En savoir plus

Publié par

State University of New York Press

Date de parution

01 février 2012

EAN13

9780791487174

Langue

English

Poids de l'ouvrage

1 Mo

Part memoir, part family history, part meditation on history and the present, this work of creative nonfiction allows Jeff Gundy to ask what it should mean to "live in the world but not of it," as the traditional Mennonite saying recommends. As Scattering Point moves through time and space, it repeatedly questions how a modern, assimilated Mennonite poet and professor might live with some kind of fidelity to his tradition and to the promises and griefs of contemporary life.

Scattering Point takes its title from Scattering Point Creek, which has its source on the author's family farm in Illinois. This book explores that place while also ranging widely from it and the Amish and Mennonites who have been associated with the area for nearly the last century. It traverses the Illinois prairie to churches and caves in Europe and incorporates family stories, soil geology, the architecture of cathedrals and churches, reflections on depression, and Mennonite martyrdoms and schisms. Scattering Point speaks of the great questions of history and religion, the quiet lives of Amish and Mennonite men and women whose histories are almost forgotten, and of our lives today.

Readers of all backgrounds will see something of themselves in Jeff Gundy who writes, "I must admit it: I do love this world and, many, though not all, of the things in it," and whose quest is always for understanding that will allow us to "go back into the world more able to undertake the difficult work of loving it as we should."

List of Illustrations

Acknowledgments

Introduction

1. Cathedrals, Churches, Caves: Notes on Architecture, History, and Worship

2. Fantasia with Raspberries, Baby Chicks, Wine and Roses

3. Scattering Point

4. Scatter Plots: Depression, Silence, and Mennonite Margins

5. The Notebook in My Back Pocket

6. Where We Live: Two Scenes from the Black Swamp

7. The Sparrow in the Mead Hall: On Birds, Souls, and the World

8. "Would You Have Left All This for Waldo?": Notes on a Partial Pilgrimage

Notes

Works Cited

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Publié par

State University of New York Press

Date de parution

01 février 2012

EAN13

9780791487174

Langue

English

Poids de l'ouvrage

1 Mo

Religion Christianisme

SCATTERING POINT

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Scattering Point

The World in a Mennonite Eye



Jeff Gundy

STATE UNIVERSITY OF NEW YORK PRESS

Published by State University of New York Press, Albany

Printed in the United States of America

No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission. No part of this book may be stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means including electronic, electrostatic, magnetic tape, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise without the prior permission in writing of the publisher.

For information, address State University of New York Press, 90 State Street, Suite 700, Albany, NY 12207

Production by Marilyn P. Semerad Marketing by Fran Keneston

Library of Congress CataloginginPublication Data

Gundy, Jeffrey Gene, 1952– Scattering point : the world in a Mennonite eye / Jeff Gundy. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references. ISBN 0–7914–5657–9 (hc : alk. paper) — ISBN 0–7914–5658–7 (pbk. : alk. paper) 1. Gundy, Jeffrey Gene, 1952– 2. Mennonites—Illinois—Biography. 3. Gundy, Jeffrey Gene, 1952– — Family. 4. Mennonites— History. I. Title.

BX8143.G86 A3 2003 289.7´092—dc21 [B]

10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

2002026881

CONTENTS

List of Illustrations Acknowledgments Introduction 1. Cathedrals, Churches, Caves: Notes on Architecture, History, and Worship 2. Fantasia with Raspberries, Baby Chicks, Wine and Roses 3. Scattering Point 4. Scatter Plots: Depression, Silence, and Mennonite Margins 5. The Notebook in My Back Pocket 6. Where We Live: Two Scenes from the Black Swamp 7. The Sparrow in the Mead Hall: On Birds, Souls, and the World 8. “Would You Have Left All This for Waldo?”: Notes on a Partial Pilgrimage Notes Works Cited

vii ix 1

37 61

87 117 139

151

167 193 205

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ILLUSTRATIONS

Figure 1.1. St. Lamberti Church, Münster, Germany. 8 Figure 1.2. Interior of Hidden Church, Pingjum, Netherlands. 9 Figure 1.3. River Limmat, Zurich, Switzerland. 11 Figure 1.4. Täuferhöhle (Cave of the Anabaptists) near Wappenswil, Switzerland. 12 Figure 1.5. Cathedral of Notre Dame, Paris. 26 Figure 2.1. Christian and Phoebe Ringenberg with the author, their great-grandson, ca. 1953. 38 Figure 2.2. Henry and Mary Stalter’s wedding photo, 1896. 42 Figure 3.1. Map of Livingston County, Illinois. 62 Figure 3.2. Waterway, looking back toward the origin of Scattering Point Creek. 69 Figure 3.3. Scattering Point Creek. 81 Figure 4.1. Art and Ella Ringenberg with grandchildren. 103 Figure 4.2. Illinois Mennonite Relief Sale Committee, 1960. 104 Figure 6.1. Lauber Hill sign with Reformed Mennonite church in background. 143 Figure 8.1. Wahlerhof, with Marlyce Gundy in foreground. 169 Figure 8.2. Monbijou, home of Josef Stalter (1786–1853). 175 Figure 8.3. Kirschbacherof, home of Josef Stalter Jr. (1807–1888). 180 Figure 8.4. In the Wahlerhof courtyard. 183 Figure 8.5. Friedenslinde (Linden of Peace) planted by Jakob Stalter (1819–?). 185 Figure 8.6. Pillars at base of Friedenslinde. 186

vii

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ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

y thanks to the editors of these periodicals, where earlier ver-M sions of these pieces first appeared: Creative Nonfiction: “Scattering Point” Conrad Grebel Review: “Fantasia with Raspberries, Baby Chicks, Wine and Roses”; “Scatter Plots: Depression, Silence, and Mennonite Margins” The Georgia Review: “Cathedrals, Churches, Caves: Notes on Architecture, History, and Worship” The Heartlands Today: “Lauber Hill” “Scatter Plots: Depression, Silence, and Mennonite Margins” was the 1999 C. Henry Smith Peace Lecture. I am grateful to the C. Henry Smith Trust for its support, and to Associated Mennon-ite Biblical Seminary, Goshen College, Bluffton College, the 1999 Mennonite Health Assembly, and Eastern Mennonite University, where earlier versions of the lecture were presented. Thanks as well to all those who took part in discussions of the lecture, many of whose comments and suggestions enriched the final version of this piece. “A Black-Haired Girl in the Rain” was first presented in dif-ferent form as a convocation address at Goshen College on April 7, 1999. A shorter version of “The Notebook in My Back Pocket” appears in the FestschriftMinding the Church: Scholarship in the Anabaptist Tradition, edited by David Weaver Zuercher and Michael King and published by Pandora Press, U. S., in 2002. The poems “Rain” and “Ancient Themes: The Martyrs and the Child” appear in my bookRhapsody with Dark Matter (Huron, Ohio: Bottom Dog Press, 2000). Reprinted by permission of Bottom Dog Press.

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