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Suffering the Truth: CMU Professor Chris Huebner reflects in new book

Suffering the Truth: CMU Professor Chris Huebner reflects in new book

The gaping mouth of a giant fish stretches open across the cover of Chris Huebner's new book, Suffering the Truth: Occasional Sermons and Reflections. The image of a Polish church pulpit in the shape of the giant fish from the biblical story of Jonah represents the difficult undertaking of speaking on behalf of God through preaching.

Huebner, Associate Professor of Theology and Philosophy at CMU, released the book this April through CMU Press. The 111-page volume is a collection of provocative explorations and thoughts on the Christian life. It consists of 16 sermons and reflections structured around the liturgical calendar, moving through Advent, Epiphany, Lent, Easter, Ordinary Time, Peace Sunday, and other important dates.

The title, Suffering the Truth, comes from the title of one of his sermons, which he thought captured the essence of the whole collection. "I also think it reflects my own approach to theology; that the truth, as Christians understand it, is not a category or concept or an abstract thing, but a person, Christ Jesus," Huebner says. "And that truth is expressed precisely in his story, which included the suffering we call the cross and that makes it profoundly lived and concrete."

He wanted to work on a project that was less academic and more accessible to the wider public, and hopes this collection speaks into the lives of everyday people. "I see this as a kind of book that would be of interest to your average... churchgoer who enjoys sermons. There are people who do!"

Suffering the Truth

Huebner, who has been teaching at CMU since 2000, was partly inspired to create this volume because he himself loves reading books of sermons by other academics and observing the different genres, forms, and voices.

"What makes this book interesting is that it shows how theological reflection is sometimes best expressed in its occasionality, through the genre of oral preaching," says Gordon Zerbe, CMU Press Editor. "Huebner in a variety of ways highlights especially the "strangeness" of the Christian life and its calling, in the midst of its vulnerabilities and uncertainties."

Suffering the Truth: Occasional Sermons and Reflections is Huebner's fifth book as author or editor. It is available for purchase through CommonWord Bookstore and Resource Centre. An event to launch the book will be held at a future date, when gathering in physical spaces is once again permitted.

 

About CMU
A Christian university in the Anabaptist tradition, CMU's Shaftesbury campus offers undergraduate degrees in arts, business, humanities, music, sciences, and social sciences, and graduate degrees in Theology and Ministry, Business Administration, Peacebuilding and Collaborative Development. CMU has 1,600 students, including those enrolled in degree programs at its Shaftesbury Campus and Menno Simons College Campus. CMU is a member of Universities Canada.

For information about CMU, visit cmu.ca.

Kevin Kilbrei, Director of Communications & Marketing
kkilbrei@cmu.ca; 204.487.3300 ext. 621
Canadian Mennonite University
500 Shaftesbury Blvd., Winnipeg, MB R3P 2N2

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