A Mennonite Woman:

Exploring Spiritual Life and Identity

A Mennonite Woman, part narrative, part theology, part spiritual memoir, Dawn Ruth Nelson asks us to wake up to what is shaping us spiritually as contemporary Christians in North American culture. Discover why Mennonites have been drinking deeply from contemplative spiritual formation wells in the last 30 years. Experience the story of twentieth-century Mennonite agrarian spirituality through the lens of one woman’s life and one seminary.

A Mennonite Woman explores how the shapes people live among in turn shape them. Mennonite Christians are called to be intentional about giving a God-shape to their lives. This book argues that spiritual formation is necessarily changing from a spiritual-formation-by-just-living-in-community to a more intentional spiritual formation-by-contemplative-and communal-disciplines.

But more than that, here is simply a good story! Here the author integrates her Mennonite background, her encounter with Irish Catholic faith, and the spiritual life she discovers in her grandmother and in her own everyday life.

"Nelson’s search leads from her grandmother’s life in Mennonite community, through peace work in Ireland and engagement with the Roman Catholic tradition, and finally to the essential inner/outer balance of the Anabaptist spiritual tradition—a response of discipleship made possible by the spiritual connection to the living vine, Jesus Christ." —C. Arnold Snyder, Professor of History, Conrad Grebel University College, Waterloo, Ontario

"Although Nelson’s six suggestions for contemporary spirituality are focused on Mennonite tradition and experience, their transforming power make them applicable for anyone desiring Christian formation." —Joann Wolski Conn, Professor of Christian Spirituality, Neumann University