Books worth wrestling with
We asked writers to tell us about a book that they disagree with—but that they also see as important enough to argue with.
Stuart Murray’s The Naked Anabaptist is a book I should love. It’s a book that was written for me: a Mennonite by choice, raised Episcopalian in the suburbs of Washington, D.C., with no claim on the ethnic heritage that binds together the people who make up the majority of Anabaptists in the United States. It aims to offer Christians a wider appreciation for what is often conceived as an ethnically clad tradition that chooses to separate itself from the world.
Murray came to Anabaptism not through family lineage but through theological conviction. He was instrumental in founding the Anabaptist Mennonite Network—an affiliation of churches in the UK and Ireland that are invested in the neo-Anabaptist principles he pulls out in his book.
I love to argue with Murray, and I have ample opportunity. People who want to understand Mennonites ask me about The Naked Anabaptist more often than any other book.
