Zimmerman, Earl 1950-

PERSONAL:

Born January 24, 1950, in Myerstown, PA; married Ruth Hoover; children: Krista, Stephen, Sara. Education: Earned degrees from Eastern Mennonite University in 1986 and 1987; Catholic University of America, Ph.D.

ADDRESSES:

Office—Eastern Mennonite University, 1200 Park Rd., Harrisonburg, VA 22802-2462.

CAREER:

Academic and ordained Mennonite pastor. Shalom Mennonite Congregation, Harrisburg, VA, pastor; Eastern Mennonite University, Harrisonburg, VA, assistant professor of religion and theological ethics, then associate professor and director of the Conflict Resolution Center. Served as a missionary in the Philippines for eight years.

WRITINGS:

(Editor, with Ray Gingerich) Telling Our Stories: Personal Accounts of Engagements with Scripture, foreword by Walter Wink, Cascadia (Telford, PA), 2006.

Practicing the Politics of Jesus: The Origin and Significance of John Howard Yoder's Social Ethics, foreword by John Paul Lederach, Cascadia (Telford, PA), 2007.

SIDELIGHTS:

Earl Zimmerman is an American academic and ordained Mennonite pastor. Zimmerman became an ordained pastor and conducted missionary activities in the Philippines with his wife, Ruth. Zimmerman also took an academic approach to his faith, earning degrees from Eastern Mennonite University and a Ph.D. from the Catholic University of America. Aside from serving as a pastor in Virginia, he is a professor of religion and theological ethics at his alma mater, Eastern Mennonite University.

In 2006 Zimmerman and Ray Gingerich edited Telling Our Stories: Personal Accounts of Engagements with Scripture. Written with a foreword by Walter Wink, the book is divided into three sections. The first part describes the conference that ultimately inspired this book. The second part deals with issues of homosexuality and militarism. And the third section involves eight storytellers, with four describing their presuppositions on interpreting and reading the Bible, while the rest relate their theological grids for studying the Bible.

Jennifer Davis Sensenig, reviewing the book in the Conrad Grebel Review, said that "comparing these personal accounts with our own and those of our Bible-reading companions will release some of the tension we may feel to get it right, to win our case, or to prove our next point with the Bible." She also noted that preachers, Biblical scholars, and those who "live the scriptures in faithful and winsome ways will be strengthened and supported by Telling Our Stories."

Zimmerman followed this book in 2007 with Practicing the Politics of Jesus: The Origin and Significance of John Howard Yoder's Social Ethics.

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

PERIODICALS

Conrad Grebel Review, November, 2007, Jennifer Davis Sensenig, review of Telling Our Stories: Personal Accounts of Engagements with Scripture.

ONLINE

Eastern Mennonite University Web site,http://www.emu.edu/ (January 25, 2008), author profile.