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Upcoming lectures at CMU will highlight Anabaptist peace witness
Dr. Astrid von Schlachta to deliver 2025 John and Margaret Friesen Lectures

"Why did Anabaptists and Mennonites take up arms all of a sudden? Where are the limits for Christians to participate in social developments? Where must the often very quiet voice of minorities not be silenced?" These are some of the questions Dr. Astrid von Schlachta, head of the Mennonite Research Center and lecturer at the University of Regensburg, Germany, will address at the 2025 John and Margaret Friesen Lectures.
On January 23, von Schlachta will present two lectures at Canadian Mennonite University (CMU) concerning Anabaptist peace witness—its historical significance and today's mission. The opening lecture, "Anabaptists and the Peasants' War," will take place at 11:00 AM in the CMU Chapel (600 Shaftesbury Blvd.). The second lecture, "Mennonites and Military Service," will be held at 7:00 PM in the same location. Both presentations will be livestreamed and available later for on-demand viewing.
"I am always excited about history...you immerse yourself in distant worlds that are sometimes also very close," von Schlachta says. "History generally challenges us to engage with it and illustrates mechanisms of human action and interaction that are still effective today. Episodes that...deal with ruptures in identity and ambivalences, or that cause "confessional stomach-aches" in retrospect are always particularly fascinating. This is definitely the case with the topic of Mennonites and nonresistance. This topic goes to the very heart of Anabaptist-Mennonite self-understanding."
This focus is particularly fitting for this year, as 2025 marks the 500th anniversary of the Anabaptist movement's first baptism in 1525—on January 21, in fact, two days before von Schlachta will speak at CMU.
The historian will explore how to reconcile Anabaptists' use of violence and involvement in the Peasants' War of the sixteenth century, with Anabaptists' explicitly non-violent principles in the Schleitheim Confession of the same time period. She will also examine Mennonites' pacifist testimony towards military service throughout the centuries, and the consequences thereof, and how it evolved due to changing surrounding conditions.
"Considering the historical experiences of any movement is relevant as that movement seeks to continue to be faithful in a different time and in different circumstances," says Paul Doerksen, Associate Professor of Theology and Anabaptist Studies at CMU. "We're part of a tradition—knowing about that tradition helps us to persist in some practices even while we re-evaluate others. After all, traditions are living things."
He explains that a scholar from Baylor University, Alan Jacobs, calls this "breaking bread with the dead." Doerksen continues: "To hear voices and pay attention to past developments can bring to our minds and communities thoughts, ideas, and practices that we may well need and which might not be readily available in our own time...If we find ourselves in a time when military conscription isn't the major issue, we still need to consider carefully other contexts in which we seek to practice and promote the peace of Christ—contexts including but not limited to the church, domestic relationships, family life, gender relations, pursuit of reconciliation, the list could go on."
Von Schlachta has published numerous books on the history of Anabaptism, Pietism, and the Estates in the Early Modern period—two of which have been translated into English. She is a member of the Mennonite congregation in Regensburg and is on the board of the Associated Mennonite Churches in Germany. She is also chairwoman of the "500 Years of the Anabaptist Movement 2025" association.
"I am looking forward to crisp cold weather, which I hope will spark warm-hearted debates within CMU," she says. "I am looking forward to meeting old friends and getting to know new faces."
The John and Margaret Friesen Lectures in Anabaptist/Mennonite Studies are co-sponsored by CMU, the Mennonite Heritage Centre, and the Centre for Mennonite Brethren Studies. For the past 23 years, the lectures have explored Mennonite identity and experiences that have affected this distinct community. For more information and livestream feeds of the lectures, visit cmu.ca/friesenlectures.