The Lived Theology and Power Workgroup
Gerald W. Schlabach
Associate Professor of Theology (University of St. Thomas, MN). B.A., History (Goshen College); M.A. Theological Studies (Associated Mennonite Biblical Seminary); Ph.D. Theology and Ethics (University of Notre Dame)
During much of the1980s, Professor Schlabach worked with Mennonite Central Committee (MCC) in Nicaragua and Honduras on church-related peace and justice assignments. He and his wife Joetta Handrich Schlabach were program directors in Nicaragua for three years during the Sandinista Revolution. During that time, he launched MCC's regional "Peace Portfolio," which included projects in conflict transformation, advocacy for conscientious objectors, grassroots theological education, and support for nonviolent action groups such as Witness for Peace and Servicio Paz y Justicia. He later continued developing the MCC Peace Portfolio for Central America full-time in Honduras, in cooperation with the Honduran Mennonite Church.
Upon returning to the U.S., Schlabach wrote two books based partly on these experiences of "lived theology" -- And Who Is My Neighbor?: Poverty, Privilege and the Gospel of Christ (Herald Press, 1990) and To Bless All Peoples: Serving with Abraham and Jesus (Herald Press, 1991). Together with Philip McManus, he also edited Relentless Persistence: Nonviolent Action in Latin America (New Society Publishers, 1991), and contributed two chapters to that volume. As of 2001 Professor Schlabach is again associated with Mennonite Central Committee as a member of the advisory committee to the MCC Peace Office.
A key statement of Schlabach's formulation of Christian social ethics remains "Beyond Two- versus One-Kingdom Theology: Abrahamic Community as a Mennonite Paradigm for Christian Engagement in Society," Conrad Grebel Review (Fall 1993), especially when paired with his later essay, "Deuteronomic or Constantinian: What is the Most Basic Problem for Christian Social Ethics?" in The Wisdom of the Cross: Essays in Honor of John Howard Yoder, edited by Stanley Hauerwas, et al. (Eerdmans, 1999).
Nurtured in the Mennonite tradition, Professor Schlabach became a Benedictine oblate in 1997 in part to embody the commitment he also has to Catholic Christianity. In 1999 he helped to convene a group of Mennonites and Roman Catholics who are indebted to, interested in, or exploring one another's traditions. Now called Bridgefolk, this emerging ecclesial movement seeks to make Anabaptist-Mennonite practices of discipleship, peaceableness, and lay intentionality more accessible to Roman Catholics, while sustaining those practices by reconnecting them to their spiritual, liturgical and sacramental roots in the Catholic tradition.
Professor Schlabach and his wife Joetta are the parents of two sons, Gabriel (16) and Jacob (12). They are members of Faith Mennonite Church, Minneapolis.