Dr. Perry Bush, history and religion department chair at Bluffton University, will present "Becoming C.: The Anabaptist History of Henry Smith" at a Bluffton Colloquium Friday, Sept. 24. The event, which is free and open to the public, will begin at 4 p.m. in Stutzman Lecture Hall in Centennial Hall.
Bush will outline his research on Mennonite historian and longtime Bluffton faculty member C. Henry Smith, one of the first Mennonites to earn a doctorate and stay in the Mennonite church.
His presentation will center on the question that Smith wrestled with: How can Christians be more engaged in the world? Bush will focus on the resurrection of Smith's view of Mennonite engagement, favoring a carefully negotiated acculturation into outside society.
Bush obtained his bachelor's degree from the University of California-Berkeley and went on to earn his master's degree and Ph.D. from Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, Pa.
He has published two books on Mennonite history and pacifism-including Bluffton's centennial history, Dancing with the Kobzar-and is currently working on a book about Smith's life.
