Weaving God’s design

Design of My Journey: An Autobiography Hans Kasdorf. A joint publication of Center for Mennonite Brethren Studies and Verlag für Theologie und Religionswissenschaft, 2004. 360 pages.

After reading this interesting autobiography, I can’t resist the temptation to apply to Hans Kasdorf Jesus’ words concerning Nathanael in John 1:47: “Here is a true Israelite, in whom there is nothing false.”

Hans Kasdorf

Hans Kasdorf, well-known in Mennonite Brethren circles in South and North America and in Europe, was born in the Soviet Union, left Siberia with his parents for Brazil in 1930, and came as a young man to Canada and the United States to study Bible and theology before returning to Brazil to serve the church there. Later he returned to North America to pursue further seminary and university studies in preparation for a career in teaching and preaching.

Having just completed my own memoirs (still to be published), I know that writing about one’s life is not easy, especially when one wishes to be honest and not seem to be patting oneself on the back. The book is a rich collection of Kasdorf’s lifelong experiences and reflections interspersed with his own poetry, beginning with the history of Mennonite settlement in Siberia and the difficult years under early Soviet rule – especially Mennonites’ attempts to leave Russia in the late 1920s – and ending with his much appreciated ministry in the MB conferences and beyond.

Kasdorf’s description of the difficult pioneering years in Brazil is especially vivid and interesting, dealing in detail with the flora and fauna of the Krauel region of southeastern Brazil, which became for Kasdorf a true Heimat or homeland. His grandchildren will especially enjoy the chapters on dogs, cats, snakes, rats, birds and butterflies which Kasdorf describes with great care and love. He also loves nature and his description of the beauty of parts of the Palatinate comes close to poetry.

In the chapters that treat his theological and “secular” studies, Kasdorf reminds the reader time and again that he felt the call to serve his Lord ever since his conversion in 1947. His conversion during a Brazilian thunderstorm, in which lightning struck his village, is vividly described. All his experiences and the acquired knowledge were God’s plan, or “design,” as Kasdorf calls it. However, his study of secular subjects (including German language and literature) and pursuing university degrees he calls a “detour,” which to this reviewer was no doubt part of his necessary preparation for a successful ministry.

A book like this raises questions, as it should: Here are just a few: 1) This reader would like to know why it was so difficult for his parents to choose Brazil, not Paraguay, when MCC favoured the latter because this country exempted Mennonites from military service, while Brazil did not. 2) A related question has to do with the influence that German politics and ideology had on South American Mennonites in the 1930s and 1940s. German leaders such as Walter Quiring had a great influence on the Mennonite settlers. Today we know that their influence was not altogether wholesome, which Kasdorf also notes, but he might have expanded on it more fully.

3) Kasdorf speaks of bringing an Anabaptist–Mennonite perspective to missiology. While this is no doubt true, it is not clear how he did that and with what results.

All those who have come to know and love Hans Kasdorf and his family will want to purchase this book, and it is a must that Mennonite church, college and university libraries include it on their shelves. Reading about the life and ministry of this man of God will be an enriching experience for many.

Harry Loewen is Professor Emeritus and former Chair of Mennonite Studies at University of Winnipeg, and lives in Kelowna, B.C.