Final Print Issue for The Conrad Grebel Review
The Conrad Grebel Review, established in 1983, was an initiative of Conrad Grebel University College’s first Chaplain and Religious Studies Professor Walter Klaassen. In his introduction to the first issue, he located the journal at a critical moment of Mennonite self-assurance and noted that the time was ripe for a journal that looked at the present and towards the future. Whereas other Mennonite journals “focus particularly on the Mennonite story past and present,” he wrote that “Our task is to reflect more on present and future in the context of the whole church and the world.”
Writing on behalf of the entire editorial council—the College’s faculty and administration—Klaassen hoped that the content would extend beyond Mennonite matters, reflecting the multi-disciplinary makeup of Grebel’s faculty. Klaassen stated in his first editorial: “The conditions for accepting contributions for publication are that they reflect sound scholarship and that Christian faith be the acknowledged perspective from which an issue is discussed.”
Despite the proclamations of confidence and denominational breadth, the first volumes reflect a community of scholars still discussing the contours of Mennonite theological thought and group identities that drew from the Mennonite and Anabaptist pasts. Nevertheless, contributions soon included articles, poetry, lectures, reviews, reflections, and “literary refractions” that spanned topics of theology, Mennonites, biblical studies, history, religion, Christianity, peace, music, literature, and philosophy.
The Review’s success was the result of its editorial leadership and the maturity of Anabaptist-Mennonite thought. Primarily managed in-house, Grebel faculty such as Rodney Sawatsky, Arnold Snyder, Hildi Froese Tiessen, Marlene Epp, Jeremy Bergen, and Derek Suderman were responsible for setting the direction of the journal and choosing articles. They were supported by an editorial board, consulting editors, managing editors, copy editors, and Pandora Press.
Theological Studies Professor Jeremy Bergen was editor of The Review for nearly a decade (until 2017), working closely with Managing Editor Stephen Jones. In the face of declining subscriptions and conflicting readership perceptions, Bergen showed innovation and persistence in establishing agreements with online databases, even as he clarified the journal’s purpose and grappled with the question, “Is The Conrad Grebel Review about Mennonites, by Mennonites, or for Mennonites?”
With awareness of and gratitude for the dedicated work by previous scholars and former colleagues, Grebel made the difficult decision to end publication of The Conrad Grebel Review at the end of 2024. This decision was not taken lightly, but it was necessary in the context of changing faculty interests and a strained financial context for the College, the University of ݮƵ, and higher education in Ontario.
Kyle Gingerich Hiebert was the final Review editor, leading the journal through the pandemic to its final issue. His team championed the journal and its mandate to advance thoughtful, sustained discussions of theology, peace, society, and culture from broadly-based Anabaptist/Mennonite perspectives while remaining steadfastly committed to scholarship of the highest quality.
Grebel is planning to redeploy financial resources and faculty energy in support of a new online publishing platform for scholarship on Anabaptist/Mennonite topics, working with several Mennonite institutions of higher education to explore potential models for carrying journal conversations into new, open access forms. Grebel faculty are excited about the possibilities of this new venture, as the new online project is being designed with the same multi-disciplinary spirit that animated The Conrad Grebel Review.
In his reflection in the last issue of The Review, Bergen asked, “What is the future for the kinds of conversations that The Review has hosted in the past, and will its legacy and ethos live on in other forms?” Even as conversations and debates move to new platforms with reimagined leadership, my hope as Dean and a historian is that future readers will continue to find the records of the conversations in its pages worthy of their consideration for many years to come. And we hope that the journal’s network of readers and contributors will join us on the new platform when it launches.
The Conrad Grebel Review, established in 1983, was an initiative of Conrad Grebel University College’s first Chaplain and Religious Studies Professor Walter Klaassen. In his introduction to the first issue, he located the journal at a critical moment of Mennonite self-assurance and noted that the time was ripe for a journal that looked at the present and towards the future. Whereas other Mennonite journals “focus particularly on the Mennonite story past and present,” he wrote that “Our task is to reflect more on present and future in the context of the whole church and the world.”
Writing on behalf of the entire editorial council—the College’s faculty and administration—Klaassen hoped that the content would extend beyond Mennonite matters, reflecting the multi-disciplinary makeup of Grebel’s faculty. Klaassen stated in his first editorial: “The conditions for accepting contributions for publication are that they reflect sound scholarship and that Christian faith be the acknowledged perspective from which an issue is discussed.”
Despite the proclamations of confidence and denominational breadth, the first volumes reflect a community of scholars still discussing the contours of Mennonite theological thought and group identities that drew from the Mennonite and Anabaptist pasts. Nevertheless, contributions soon included articles, poetry, lectures, reviews, reflections, and “literary refractions” that spanned topics of theology, Mennonites, biblical studies, history, religion, Christianity, peace, music, literature, and philosophy.
The Review’s success was the result of its editorial leadership and the maturity of Anabaptist-Mennonite thought. Primarily managed in-house, Grebel faculty such as Rodney Sawatsky, Arnold Snyder, Hildi Froese Tiessen, Marlene Epp, Jeremy Bergen, and Derek Suderman were responsible for setting the direction of the journal and choosing articles. They were supported by an editorial board, consulting editors, managing editors, copy editors, and Pandora Press.
Theological Studies Professor Jeremy Bergen was editor of The Review for nearly a decade (until 2017), working closely with Managing Editor Stephen Jones. In the face of declining subscriptions and conflicting readership perceptions, Bergen showed innovation and persistence in establishing agreements with online databases, even as he clarified the journal’s purpose and grappled with the question, “Is The Conrad Grebel Review about Mennonites, by Mennonites, or for Mennonites?”
With awareness of and gratitude for the dedicated work by previous scholars and former colleagues, Grebel made the difficult decision to end publication of The Conrad Grebel Review at the end of 2024. This decision was not taken lightly, but it was necessary in the context of changing faculty interests and a strained financial context for the College, the University of ݮƵ, and higher education in Ontario.
Kyle Gingerich Hiebert was the final Review editor, leading the journal through the pandemic to its final issue. His team championed the journal and its mandate to advance thoughtful, sustained discussions of theology, peace, society, and culture from broadly-based Anabaptist/Mennonite perspectives while remaining steadfastly committed to scholarship of the highest quality.
Grebel is planning to redeploy financial resources and faculty energy in support of a new online publishing platform for scholarship on Anabaptist/Mennonite topics, working with several Mennonite institutions of higher education to explore potential models for carrying journal conversations into new, open access forms. Grebel faculty are excited about the possibilities of this new venture, as the new online project is being designed with the same multi-disciplinary spirit that animated The Conrad Grebel Review.
In his reflection in the last issue of The Review, Bergen asked, “What is the future for the kinds of conversations that The Review has hosted in the past, and will its legacy and ethos live on in other forms?” Even as conversations and debates move to new platforms with reimagined leadership, my hope as Dean and a historian is that future readers will continue to find the records of the conversations in its pages worthy of their consideration for many years to come. And we hope that the journal’s network of readers and contributors will join us on the new platform when it launches.
By Troy Osborne | Dean, Conrad Grebel University College
