Nation, Mark

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Nation, Mark

(Mark Thiessen Nation)

PERSONAL: Married; wife's name Mary. Education: Sangamon State University, B.A.; Associated Mennonite Biblical Seminary, M.A.; Christian Theological Seminary, M.Div. (magna cum lauda); Fuller Theological Seminary, Ph.D. (with distinction).

ADDRESSES: Office—Seminary Department, Eastern Mennonite University, 1200 Park Rd., Harrisonburg, VA 22802-2462. E-mail—[email protected].

CAREER: Evangelist, Youth Minister for several congregations in Indiana, Texas, and Illinois, 1972–75; Child Protective Services, Department for Human Services, Louisville, KY, 1977–79; Champaign-Urbana Peace Initiative, founding director, 1981–86; pastor for several congregations in Indiana and California, 1987–96; London Mennonite Centre, London, England, director, 1996–2002; Eastern Mennonite Seminary, Harrisonburg, VA, associate professor of theology, 2002–.

WRITINGS:

(Editor, with Stanley Hauerwas and Nancey Murphy) Theology without Foundations: Religious Practice and the Future of Theological Truth, Abingdon Press (Nashville, TN), 1994.

(Editor, with Nancey Murphy and Brad J. Kallenberg) Virtues and Practices in the Christian Tradition: Christian Ethics after MacIntyre, Trinity Press International (Harrisburg, PA), 1997.

(Editor, with Stanley Hauerwas, Chris K. Huebner, and Harry J. Huebner) The Wisdom of the Cross: Essays in Honor of John Howard Yoder, William B. Eerdmans (Grand Rapids, MI), 1999.

(Editor, with Samuel Wells) Faithfulness and Fortitude: In Conversation with the Theological Ethics of Stanley Hauerwas, T & T Clark (Edinburgh, Scotland), 2000.

(Editor) Karl Barth and the Problem of War and Other Essays on Barth by John Howard Yoder, Cascade Books (Eugene, OR), 2003.

John Howard Yoder: Mennonite Patience, Evangelical Witness, Catholic Convictions, William B. Eerdmans (Grand Rapids, MI), 2006.

Contributor of articles to periodicals.

SIDELIGHTS: Mark Nation is a theologian who has also edited and written several books focusing on religious thought. For example, Faithfulness and Fortitude: In Conversation with the Theological Ethics of Stanley Hauerwas, which Nation edited with Samuel Wells, presents several essays on the noted theologian. Writing in Theological Studies, Edward Vacek commented on this book: "Mark Nation helpfully begins the book with a brief intellectual biography of Hauerwas. Even more helpfully, Hauerwas concludes the book with an autobiographical response that clarifies some major themes and lacunae in his own work."

Credited as one of the foremost authorities on the theology and ethics of John Howard Yoder, Nation is also the author of John Howard Yoder: Mennonite Patience, Evangelical Witness, Catholic Convictions. In this biography, Nation gives an overview of Yoder's thought, providing insights into the peace theology of the influential Christian ethicist. Writing in Booklist, Bryce Christensen called the book "a biography of great worth" and one that will help readers "understand how faith can open a path to peace."

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

PERIODICALS

Booklist, February 1, 2006, Bryce Christensen, review of John Howard Yoder: Mennonite Patience, Evangelical Witness, Catholic Convictions, p. 7.

Southern Journal of Theology, summer, 2005, review of Faithfulness and Fortitude: In Conversation with the Theological Ethics of Stanley Hauerwas, pp. 87-88.

Theological Studies, March, 2002, Edward Vacek, review of Faithfulness and Fortitude, p. 192.