The Mennonites are a religious, social and ethnic group with origins in the time of
the sixteenth century Reformation. The group was named after a Dutch Anabaptist
leader, Menno Simons, who provided the members with substantial theological
leadership. Throughout the last four centuries, the Mennonites have migrated around the
world and divided into over a hundred different sub-groups. In 1989, Canada was home
to over 100,000 Mennonite members who belonged to 735 church congregations that
were part of 30 separate groups. The two largest Mennonite groups in Canada are the
Conference of Mennonite Brethren Churches (MB) and the Conference of Mennonites in
Canada (CMC). These two groups, and the Colleges they own and operate, are the focus
of this thesis topic - Mennonites and Higher Education in the 1960s.
By 1960, the Mennonite Brethren Bible College (MBBC) and the Canadian
Mennonite Bible College (CMBC) had become involved in the process of opening their
communities to the professional and vocational opportunities available in Canada while
selectively closing the community to secular influences. The Colleges made institutional
decisions which allowed them to offer a university standard education in a parochial
setting.
These decisions created an active discussion within the two sponsoring Mennonite
constituencies. Some members, within each group, were less inclined to embrace the
influences of a growing urban, modern worldview because involvement in modern
Canadian society would require the adaptation of their traditional, rural identity. The
Colleges, on the other hand, encouraged changes while attempting to maintain continuity
with essential community ideals. This process of change is the focus of this thesis.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:LACETR/oai:collectionscanada.gc.ca:BVAU.2429/9151 |
| Date | 05 1900 |
| Creators | Voth, Gay Lynn |
| Source Sets | Library and Archives Canada ETDs Repository / Centre d'archives des thèses électroniques de Bibliothèque et Archives Canada |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Electronic Thesis or Dissertation |
| Relation | UBC Retrospective Theses Digitization Project [http://www.library.ubc.ca/archives/retro_theses/] |
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