Sexuality: God's Gift

About the Authors

Anne Krabill Hershberger, RN, MSN, Editor (The Gift, The Gift and Aging, The Gift and the Sensuous, The Gift Misused, The Gift: Further Study)

Anne is associate professor of nursing emerita at Goshen (Ind.) College, where she taught maternity nursing, human sexuality, and healthcare ethics. She earned a BS in nursing from Goshen College in 1958 and an MS in nursing from Wayne State University, Detroit, in 1963. Her post-master’s study has been in the area of bioethics at the Kennedy Institute of Ethics, Georgetown University, Washington, D.C. (1981–82) and the University of California, San Francisco (1988–89). During her 1996–97 sabbatical leave in New York City, Anne did further study in sexuality at New York University, helped to design and teach an expanded Expectant Parent Education Program for the Morris Heights Birthing Center in the Bronx, and served on the Sexuality Curriculum Committee for the NYC Covenant House. While living in Washington, in addition to her bioethics studies, Anne served as health coordinator of the Cities-In-Schools Adolescent Pregnancy Prevention Program. For seven years she served as director and instructor of the Expectant Parent Education Program at Goshen General Hospital.

Willard S. Krabill, MD, MPH (The Gift and Intimacy, The Gift and Marriage, The Gift and Same-Sex Orientation, The Gift and Cross-Gender Friendships, The Gift Misused)

Prior to his death in January 2009, Willard held the title of college physician and associate professor of health education emeritus at Goshen (Ind.) College. He received his BA from Goshen College in 1949, and his MD from Jefferson Medical College, Philadelphia, in 1953.

Willard pioneered the development of expectant parent education and the opportunity for fathers to be present at the birth of their babies at Goshen General Hospital—firsts in the region. In 1972–73 he earned a master’s degree in public health at the University of California, Berkeley. He took an intensive course in bioethics at the Kennedy Institute of Ethics, Georgetown University, Washington, D.C. In 1984 he was a scholar-in-residence at the Institute for Religion and Wholeness, School of Theology, at Claremont, California.

In 1967, Willard became Goshen College physician. During his twenty-four years in that position, he emphasized the importance of each person assuming personal responsibility for her or his own wellness and health education. Willard developed and taught a popular human sexuality course. This was done when such courses were rare, especially on Christian college campuses.

Sue L. Conrad, MDiv (The Gift and Celibacy)

Sue grew up in Perkasie, Pennsylvania. She received a BA in Bible and religion and communication from Goshen (Ind.) College; an MA in speech communication from Penn State University in State College, Pennsylvania; and an MDiv from Associated Mennonite Biblical Seminary in Elkhart, Indiana.

Sue has worked as an admissions counselor, tennis coach, waitress, bank teller, college professor, and professional gift wrapper during various stages of her life. She currently serves as an associate pastor at East Chestnut Street Mennonite Church in Lancaster, Pennsylvania.

Delores Histand Friesen, PhD (The Gift Restored, The Gift: Further Study)

Delores is professor of pastoral counseling at Mennonite Brethren Biblical Seminary in Fresno, California, where she has taught for twenty-two years in the area of marriage, family, and child counseling. She is a graduate of Hesston College and earned a BA in elementary education from Goshen College. Her master’s degree in international and comparative education is from Indiana University, and her PhD in counseling and human development is from the University of Iowa.

After teaching for three years at Parkside Elementary School in Goshen, Delores and her husband, J. Stanley Friesen, worked for thirteen years with Mennonite Board of Missions in theological education with African Independent Churches in West Africa. This is where she began teaching and ministering in the area of human sexuality. She wrote a book on the subject, Let Love Be Your Greatest (Editions Trobisch, Kehl, German, 1979), which was translated into several languages.

Delores is a licensed marriage, family, and child counselor, and maintains a small psychotherapy practice.

Lauren Friesen, PhD (The Gift Expressed in the Arts)

Lauren Friesen is the David M. French Distinguished Professor of Theatre at the University of Michigan-Flint. He is chair of the department of theatre and dance and director of the Horace Rackam Graduate Program in Arts Administration.

For fifteen years Lauren served as professor of drama and director of the theater program at Goshen (Ind.) College. He pastored Seattle Mennonite Church from 1974 to 1980. For the General Conference Mennonite Church, he served as chairman of the Worship and Arts Committee for five years and chairman of the Media Division for four years.

Lauren has published and directed numerous plays and has published poetry in many journals. His degrees include a BA in history and philosophy from Bethel College, Newton, Kansas, in 1967; an MDiv from Associated Mennonite Biblical Seminary, Elkhart, Indiana, in 1970; an MA in religion and the arts from Pacific School of Religion, Berkeley, California, in 1981; and a PhD in religion and the arts “with distinction” from the Graduate Theological Union in cooperation with the University of California, Berkeley, in 1985.

Rachel Nafziger Hartzler, RN, MDiv (The Gift After Losing a Spouse)

Rachel Nafziger Hartzler is an ordained minister in Mennonite Church USA and has served as pastor of three congregations. She graduated from Goshen College in 1970 with a BS in nursing and from Associated Mennonite Biblical Seminary in 2004 with an MA in Christian formation.

For her master’s thesis at seminary, she did an empirical study of 152 widowed people, which she summarized in Loss as an Invitation to Transformation: Living Well Following the Death of a Spouse. This study was the basis for Grief and Sexuality: Life After Losing a Spouse, published by Herald Press in 2006.

Rachel serves on the Oaklawn Council on Faith and Mental Health at Oaklawn Psychiatric Center in Goshen and the board of directors at Menno-Hof, Shipshewana, Indiana. In addition she works as a spiritual director, leads retreats, and speaks on issues related to grief, spirituality, and sexuality.

Rachel has taught childbirth preparation classes and spoke to high-school classes about sexuality and childbirth. Within church and church-school settings, she has participated in and led retreats on sexuality for children and youth, served on the sexuality task group at College Mennonite Church, and worked as an assistant in the human sexuality class at Goshen College.

Barbara J. Meyer, MD (The Gift and Nurturing Adolescents)

Barbara is a family physician in Goshen, Indiana, where she practices with her husband, Lane Reed, and several others in a small, single-specialty group practice. She received her BA from Goshen (Ind.) College in 1985 and her MD from Indiana University, Indianapolis, in 1990.

Between college and medical school, Barb spent a year in voluntary service in Washington, D.C., serving as a medical assistant in an inner-city health services clinic. She completed her residency training in family medicine in St. Paul, Minnesota, and then moved across the border into rural Wisconsin to practice for seven years, before moving back to northern Indiana with her husband and three children in 2001.

Barb is an active member of Benton Mennonite Church, where she has served as youth sponsor for the past six years. She has been addressing groups of young people in various settings on issues relating to sexuality since 2003.

Keith Graber Miller, PhD (Guidelines from the Gift-Giver: Sexuality and Scripture, The Gift and Aging)

Keith is professor of Bible, religion, and philosophy at Goshen (Ind.) College, teaching in the areas of sexuality, Christian ethics and theology, religion and politics, religious history, and the sociology of religion. He also has been a visiting faculty member at Associated Mennonite Biblical Seminary, Elkhart, Indiana, where he received his master of divinity degree in 1988.

He earned his BA from Franklin (Ind.) College in 1981. He completed his PhD in religion at Emory University, Atlanta, in 1993. He is currently writing a fifth book, tentatively titled Shameless Sexuality.

Julie Nash, BA (The Gift and Singleness)

Julie Nash is a musician and teacher who grew up in the Rouge Valley Mennonite Church in Markham, Ontario. She earned a BA in music from Canadian Mennonite University in 2003, a BA in music education from Wilfrid Laurier University in 2008, and a BA in education from Nipissing University in 2009. Study and work opportunities have led her to Winnipeg, Manitoba and Kitchener-Waterloo and North Bay, Ontario. She is currently teaching elementary-aged children in London, England.

Her chapter on singleness is based on a sermon preached at Stirling Avenue Mennonite Church, Kitchener, Ontario, in May 2009, as part of a worship series on sexuality.

James H. Ritchie Jr., EdD, MDiv (The Gift and Its Youngest Recipients)

Jim is a pastor in the Western Pennsylvania Annual Conference of the United Methodist Church. In addition to his pastoral work, he served for several years as a children’s curriculum editor for his denomination and focused on multigenerational ministries as president of Ritchie Faith Span Ministries.

Jim earned his BA from Mount Union College in Alliance, Ohio; his MDiv from United Theological Seminary in Dayton, Ohio; and his EdD in religious education from Vanderbilt University in Nashville.

He developed the Created by God human sexuality education resources for fifth- and sixth-graders and their parents, published by Abingdon Press, and has led Created by God events across the country. Jim is also the author of Always in Rehearsal: The Practice of Worship and the Presence of Children, published by Discipleship Resources; and is a composer of music published in a variety of curriculum and worship resources.

Read an interview with the editor
Read the foreword
Table of contents
Full list of endorsements