Curiosity and Mennonite history probed by guest lectures

Two lecture series at Canadian Mennonite University (CMU) this fall probed the diverse topics of curiosity and Mennonite history in Poland and Prussia.

Paul J. Griffiths, professor of Catholic Studies at the University of Illinois, Chicago, presented four lectures Oct. 18–19, on “Curiosity: Towards a Theology of Intellectual Appetite.”

Griffiths began by outlining the Augustinian view of curiosity: the curious want to make what they know subject to themselves, and they are interested in owning and controlling knowledge.

In his second lecture, Griffiths again used Augustine, and Aquinas, to critique the very idea of owning knowledge. He insisted that, as Christians, we must believe that true ownership is restricted to God. Curiosity, he suggested, is an inappropriate road to knowledge because neither the eternal nor the temporal created world are ours to master.

Next, Griffiths dealt with the pervasiveness of curiosity within our culture and institutions. The modern university tempts us to commit intellectual sin, he warned, since its primary interest is in creating disciplines, under which there are more specialized sub-fields to master.

But, Griffiths said, he was not promoting anti-intellectualism. In his last lecture, he described the Christian alternative to curiosity, calling it “studiousness.” While curiosity seeks knowledge through possession, studiousness seeks knowledge through participation.

A curious person, Griffiths said, inhabits a world of objects that can be owned and controlled. A studious person, on the other hand, inhabits a world of gifts and seeks to know those things that better reveal God to us.

Griffiths concluded his lecture with a list of four important features that would be found in a Christian institution more interested in studiousness than curiosity. First, he said, all study would be a form of lovemaking, an approach made possible only if all study is framed by prayer.

Second, the institution would have the courage to define its own questions and even its own programs of study. Third, all programs of study should be accounted for and directed by theology.

Finally, he said, every student and every teacher at a Christian institution must be encouraged to find primary and direct loyalty to the community of the baptized.

Griffiths was speaking at the university’s 28th annual J.J. Thiessen lectures.

Recovering a heritage

Peter Klassen

Peter Klassen, professor emeritus of History at California State University, Fresno, provided new and fascinating information during lectures Nov. 9–10 on the Mennonite sojourn in Poland some 200 or more years ago. The story of Mennonites in Poland is still unfamiliar to many.

In his first lecture, Klassen, who has written a book and numerous articles on the subject, showed pictures of the remaining heritage of Anabaptist Mennonites who emigrated from the Netherlands to Poland as early as the 1530s. These include churches, farmsteads and graveyards that are still recognizable and intact.

Many Polish people, he said, are interested in preserving the story of the Mennonites who once resided in the city of Gdansk (Danzig) and the flood plain of the Vistula and Nogat rivers.

In his other presentations, Klassen explored the life and impact of the Mennonites on the region. Mennonites fled from persecution in the Netherlands to regions under the Polish crown due to significant promises of religious toleration. They were prized for their farming and engineering skills, building windmills and drainage systems.

Although initially tolerated, they did face discrimination by local churches and craft guilds.

Challenges to Mennonite exemption from military service increased after the Napoleonic wars and the option of moving to South Russia, upon the invitation of Catherine II, became more attractive. Eventually the broad exemption was totally abolished and regular military service became common among Mennonites who remained in the area.

Klassen was the guest of CMU’s annual John and Margaret Friesen lectures.

—CMU releases by Julia Thiessen (Griffiths) and Ken Reddig (Klassen)