1994 CONFERENCE PROCEEDINGS DIALOGIZING THE SCRIPTURES: A BAKHTINIAN READING OF RUDY WEIBE'S PEACE SHALL DESTROY MANY Penny van Toorn 407 Rudy Wiebe is one of Canada's foremost contemporary novelists, and an active member of a liberal branch of the Mennonite Brethn:n Church. When the Mennonites migrated en mass from Russia to Canada in the 1870s and the 1920s, many sought to continue their tradition of living in closed communities as "a people apart." The more conservative Mennonite colonies put as much geographical distance as they could between themselves and the outside world. They established self-sufficient communal farming settlements on large tracts of land in the prairie provinces of Manitoba, Saskatchewan, and Alberta, where they set up their own schools, financial institutions, and local government bodies. But the most effective barrier the Mennonites erected between themselves and the outside world was the barrier of language. In order to keep the secular world out of earshot, many Mennonite communities strenuously resisted assimilation into either of Canada's two major language groups - English or French. Instead, they used Low German in day-to-day affairs and High German in church matters, just as they had done during their hundred and fifty-year sojourn in Russia. Rudy Wiebe was typical of a generation of Mennonite children in that he spoke no English at all until he entered school in 1940 at six years of age, by which time the German-language Mennonite schools had been absorbed involuntarily into the Anglophone Canadian provincial school system. Like other traditional Anabaptist groups, Canada 's Mennonite church communities are extremely Bible-centred, and highly literalistic in their interpretation of the Scriptures. This literalism is underpinned by certain assumptions about language, assumptions which are sustained by the Mennonites' ability to live as "a people apart". By separating themselves from alien cultural influences, and by resisting change from within their own communities, conservative Mennonites 408 Religion, Literature and the Arts Project endeavoured to lock the Scriptures into a fixed ethno-historical context. By fixing th e context in which they read the Scripture they effectively protected the authority apd semantic stability of their received version of tbc Bihlical text. The Mennonites' German Bible, (or example was shielded by the barrier of language from possible assault by voices issuing either from secular mainstream culture, or from the Francophone Catholic and Anglophone Protestant churches in Canada. In effect, the conservative Mennonites carried the Scriptures - or more precisely, a certain reading of them - down through history and across several national borders as if it were in a cocoon, cut off from alien cultural influence and historical change. In Bakhtinian terms, these conservative, separatist Mennonite communities forced the Scriptures to function monologically, that is, as a single-voiced, unambiguous, internally consistent encoding of a unitary order of truth. To the extent that the closed Mennonite communities were able to fix the context in which the Scriptures could be read, they effectively stabilized the meaning of the text and caused its authority to seem axiomatic. They saw the Bible as issuing from a single centre of authorial control, and resolved the question of the text's manifest multivoicedness by ranking its parts into a hierarchy, with the voice of Jesus - especially the Sermon on the Mount - as supremely authoritative. For these closed Mennonite communities, the Bible was their "sole source of spiritual authority" (Smith 21); and they ensured that the Scriptures always said the same thing by interpreting them always in the same context. But what happens to this monologized sacred text, and to the unitary truth encoded therein, when the cocoon of the closed, conservative society breaks open? What happens when the community can no longer live as "a people apart"? In one way or another, Rudy Wiebe has devoted his entire creative life to answering this question. Whether writing about Mennonites or Metis, lnnuit or Native Indians, he is intrigued by that crucial moment when the boundaries of a closed community disappear, and a people hitherto united in voice, language, and religious vision find themselves suddenly exposed to the confusing plurality of authoritative alien voices which vie for dominance in the wider social world. Wiebe opens Chapter One of his first novel Peace Shall Destroy Many (1962), with a symbolic breaching of the narrow horizon of a closed Mennonite community. In the spring of 1944 Thorn Wiens ploughs his wheatfield in the isolated Mennonite farming settlement of Wapiti in Northern Saskatchewan. Suddenly, a group of Canadian 1994 CONFERENCE PROCEEDINGS 409 fighter planes comes roaring out from above the trees that encircle Thorn 's world. The plane pass low overhead, ter rifying the plough horses and engulfing Thorn 's world in their noise. T he planes are engaged in a training exercise. They pose no physical threat to Thorn. What they signify, however, is that World War II has arrived. Thorn can no longer dismiss the war as just another story on the radio, a far- away turmoil fought by other people somewhere else. The planes are tangi ble, irrefutable evidence that the war - world history - is here, for eve ryone, now. No one escapes it! 1 This breaching of the boundary of the closed social world involves Thorn in a moral quandary. As a Mennonite, Thorn is morally committed to a pacifist stance. But as a Canadian citizen, a member of a wider national community with its own laws, Thorn is required to register for military service, to aid in the defence of the country that gave his people asylum. Wiebe's novel Peace Shall Destroy Many traces Thorn's attempt to find an answer to this dilemma: should he respond to Canada's "call" to join the armed forces, or act in accordance with the Mennonites' long-respected Scriptural prohibition against involvement in violence? With the breaching of the closed social world, the secular authority of Canadian law clashes directly for the first time with the moral authority of the Scriptural text. Thorn has been taught to make moral choices by electing to follow the voice of Christ rather than the voices of men.2 What confuses him most profoundly in this instance, however, is that he begins to "hear" the Scriptures differently. The opening of the closed community is crucial because it creates possibilities for the Scriptures to function dialogically rather than as monologue. With the arrival of Joseph Dueck, an "outsider" to the Wapiti church community, Thorn's mind opens for the first time to the possibility of multiple readings of the , 'criptural text. The "voice" of the Bi ble "doubles" as it we re, leading Thorn to the rea lization that what he thought were "the Scriptures" were really only one of many possible readings of a canonical text that has been mediated--translated, re-voiced--many times over throughout its history. The historicity of the Biblical text makes impossible any clear-cut choice between the voice of Christ and the voices of men: the words of Jesus are accessible only as mediated by other human voices. In Peace Shall Destroy Many the Biblical text becomes a site of struggle between Joseph Dueck's dialogizing "outsider's" reading of it, and the reading imposed by the tyrannical local church leader, Deacon Peter Block, whose voice has hitherto monopolized - and monologized - the Scriptures in Wapiti . 410 Religion, Literature and the Arts Project Throughout Wiebe's narrative in Peace Shall Destroy Many Block and Dueck are respectively identified with monologizing and dialogizing forces. Deacon Block acts consistently to force the Scriptures to function as monologue. To do so, he must force the Mennonite church community into a state of monovocatity. As his name suggests, Block cements the separate Mennonite families and individuals of Wapiti into a single-voiced social monolith. He insists that they always speak with one voice - his! He ignores, peaks over, or physically removes any voice which does not say "amen" to his own. hurch policy "originated almost exclusively with B1 ck" (p.68), his "big voice covering" all (p.36).3 Deacon Block maintains his power over the Mennonites of Wapiti not only by shouting loudest, but also by intervening in their dialogue with God. Block appropriates lhe authority the Mennonite community accords the Bible by taking it upon himself to interpret the criptures to the congregation: "On every ubject" we are told, Block "must place the on ly word in every man's mouth and they go h roe and re.-chew it for their family " (p.218). Until the arrival of Joseph Dueck, Deacon Block monologizes the Bible by presuming himself the sole qualified mediator between the Mennonite community and their sacred text. Block's voice delivers the Scriptures to the community in a definitive, finalized, monologic form, rather than as a piece of contested £extual territory the meaning of which must be socially negotiated through free and open dialogue between different readers. Block also monologizes the Scriptures by limiting the extent to which non-Mennonites can enter into dialogue with the Mennonites' sacred text. Block attempts to preserve the language barrier which separates the Mennonites' German language version of tlte Bible from the English, French, ree, and Russian speaking inhabitants of the Wapiti area. He thunders against the new minister, Joseph Dueck, for addres ing an ethnically mixed audience of young people in the English language instead of in the High German traditionally reserved for religious matters. Dueck s choice of English (and Wiebe's as well one might add) signiries that he places a higher priority on Cbri tian outreach than on preserving the ethnocentricity of the Mennonites' religious beliefs. Dueck opens possi ilities for religious dialogue between the Mennonites and their non-Mennonite neighbours by using a language that is common to both groups, rather than a language exclusive to "insiders." As well as fending off voices that enter the Mennonite community from without, Block attempt to prevent changes in thought or belief 1994 CONFERENCE PROCEEDINGS 411 that arise from within the closed community across time. Block rigidly upholds the tradjtions of those he calls "the fathers" of the Mennonite church. He rejects any possibility that a younger gene ration might have a right to re-evaluate the inherited moral code. Block e levates cultura l trailitlons to the status of ete rna l mora l la ws. Be lieving that the Mcnnorute "fathe rs found the right m ora l and spiritual ac ti on" (pp.202- 3), be bluntly de nies the cultura l re la tivity and histo rica l contingency f hi s own moral absolutes, and the Scriptural inter pretati on. upon which they depend. In opposition to Deacon Bl ck, Joseph Dueck, a rgues that even if the church fath ers bad found a mora lly correct mode of living in nine teenth century Russia, their code of behavi our wa s right and good in that context only. Und er different ocio-political circum sta nces, and in othe r hi storica l contex ts, the sa me action s might not be right at a ll. Dueck contend s that the moral significance of any give n ourse of action mu st be re-evaluated ove r and ve r in each new context in which it is practised. No action is rig ht or wrong in itself. It can only be judged within its particular contexl. The Second World War poses a seemingly unprecedented moral dilemma fo r the Me nn niLe community. Strict pacifi ts, Me nnorutes ha ve traditionally avoided pa rticipating in wa r at a ll costs. In the pa l, in the Ru ssian Menn onj te farming villages, "right wa right and wrong wa. wrong. Any situa tion c< uld be quickly placed into one or the othe r category" (p.21 ). But in Canada in 1944, "the circumstances are more involved" (p.47), both in a legal and a moral sense.4 Canadian law requires each adult male of military age in Wapiti to choose one of three options: t take up arm aga in st Canada's enemies to join the Restricted Med ica l orps or to avoid any form of pa rticipati on by procla iming th ei r conscie ntious objection. Deacon Block and his son, Pete, mechanically invoke the ways of the fathers, but abuse the Mennonite id eal of pacifism by using it as a convenient excuse to stay sa fe ly at home on the farm to reap the considerable financial rewards of growing food under favourable wartime market conditions. The Bl cks re fu e to concede to the effect of context on the meaning of a give n action; that i , they refuse to acknowledge the historicity or the dialogicity of the act-a s-sign. As Deacon Block advocates a monol ogic theory of the significance of actions, Joseph Dueck proposes a dia logic mod el. Dueck urge the Mennonite community to acce pt that tim es have changed, and that time-honoured action no longer nece sa rily mean what they once meant. He points out that the church community no longer enjoys 412 Religion, Literature and the Arts Project exclusive control over the meaning of its time-honoured actions: "outsiders"--the Canadian government--now claim a right to interpret and judge the Mennonites' desire to avoid involvement in the war. Joseph Dueck cau es Thorn and other young people in the community I Wapiti to understand that even the most sincere conscientious objectors find themselves participating in the war involuntarily. The ption of not participating no longer exists, as one o( Thorn' friends explains when she says ft was fine to say "We can have nothing to do with war" when ... wars were skirmishes on the next quarter and the king wh led his troop t a day's victory won. Then it was po sib le--[not to join in. But] the whole world is now in it. We can't avoid it. Father raises pigs because the price is high: some men charged up the Normandy bea hes last Tue day witlt our bacon in their stomachs (p.47) . .Jo eph Dueck pu hes tbis argument to its moral conclu ion: "Given a war situation, we Mennonites an practi e our belief in Canada only because other Canadians are kind enough to fight for our right to our belief. The godless man then die for the belief of the Chri tian! (p.60). As Thom vacillates over whether or not he should exempt himself from the Canadian war effort, Wiebe explores what might be called the diachronic dialogicity of action. An unprecedented historical situation - the Second World War -makes ambiva lent the morality of the Mennonites' traditional refusal to fight, which previously had been only right. The action itse lf does not change, but its meaning becomes subject to reinterpretation or revoking in each new socio-historica l context. Under Jo eph Dueck !s influence, the Mennonites of Wapiti begin to understand that they must contend at once with the shock of the new and with the h ck of the ocia ll y "other." The econd World War brings a powerfu l, invasive "other" - the Canadian government - into the Mennonites' sequestered live , an "other" which claims an equal, if not superior right to confer meaning on their action . As the legal authority of the stale comes into clirect onflict with the moral authority of the Bible, the act of "non-participation" fits into two completely separate systems of meaning, each recognized as supremely authoritative by the society which prop unds it. What the slate condemns as treachery the church praises as pacifism. As the Mennonites begin to engage with socially alien interpretations of their way of lire, their tradition of "not participating" in wars acquires the ambiguity and ambivalence or a non-verbal pun. "Non-participation '' in short, becomes a sign. 1994 CONFERENCE PROCEEDINGS 413 The sa me di alogic principle ca n be a pplied to Lingui stic significa ti o n. All words -including text of the Sc riptures - a rc gene rated a nd interpreted unde r specific historica l and cultural circumsta nces, in c nlext which dete rmine perceptions of meaning and a uthor it y as much as d the words of the text itself. Prevent contex tu a l va ria ti on as did the co n e rva tive Me nn onite co mmunities, a nd one ta bili zcs mea ning and preserves pe rce ption. of te xtu a l auth orit y. But wh at ha ppens to the mea ning a nd a uth ority of the Scriptures if one a ll ow. that each reading (or voicing) i unique beca use conditioned by unprecedented hi storical and cultura l contingencies att ac hing to the inte rprc live c nte xt ? Potentia lly, God ' W >rd co uld dissolve into a cacophony of conflicting relative truths and moral laws. In Peace half Destroy Many Thorn is convinced that "the teachings of Christ rightly a pplied" (p.87) offer the solution to all moral proble ms· the Bible carries th ese "teachings" down through hist )ry . But strictly spea king, each reading or voicing of the Bible i. hi tori a ll y unprecede nted , unique, diffe re nt. The tex t is neve r voiced or read the sa me way twice. And if the Bible ca n be re- inte rpreted in ea ch cont ext of re- reading - by reinflecting it word s ra nking its pa rts int new hie ra rchic , a nd anne xing it into new historica l and di scur. ive contex ts - how may Thoro o r an yone else kno w whethe r o r nm they a pply Jesu ' teachings "rightly "? Take n t l its furth est extre me, the dia logic princi.ple dis tribute. e ma ntic a uthor ity eq ua lly between aJI read rs, and indeed be tween all "voiciogs'' 0f rhe Bi b lica l tex t. A dia logic m de l of the criptures would uph old all readings a. equ ally a uth oritative and semantically "right. " What ha ppens, th ough to rhe noti on of Sc riptura l truth in the fac e of a theory of language that re nde rs aJI reading or voicings of a text equa lly valid and a ll a bs lute truth culturall y a nd hist rica lly contingent ? What happe n to long- te rm theologica l . ure ty if the received scriptura l te xt i ackn wledged as sub jec t to pa t, present, and future (mi s)a ppro pria ti n'? In the face of ques tion u h a these Thorn yea rn t und o th e long hi story of human media tion of Jesus' voice, to go back to the distant past, and recover the lost original meaning of Jesus' words: "Christ's teachings stood clea r in the Scriptures," he maintains, "could he but scrape them bare of all their acquired meanings and see the m as those first disciples had done, their feet in the dust of Ga lilee" (p.237). So in Peace Shall Destroy Many Wiebe po itions his young pr tagonist in a space between two equally una cce ptable theories of textuality: between, on the one ha nd , Deacon Bl ock s nai ve, monologic, fundame ntalist, politically oppressive model of the Scriptures, in which 414 Religion, Literature and the Arts Project the voice of one dogmatic man stands presumptuously for the voice of God; and, on the other hand, Joseph Dueck's more democratic, dialogic model of the Scriptures which views the text as a site where voices enter into dialogue to negotiate meaning, but which decentres sematic authority to so great an extent that truth and certainty threaten to dissipate into a spiritually disabling relativity. As Thorn searches for "the path of God's revelation" (p.237), he finds the polyphonic "void of splintered dogmas" · (p.235) no less repugnant than "one man's mi guided interpretation of tradition" (p.237). Now acros the course of his career so far, novel by novel, beginning with Peace Shall Des/roy Many Rudy Wiebe has articulated Lhis theoretical dilemma in increasingly complex ways. In fact, when his novels are viewed in chronological order, they form a series of experiments in which Wiebe progressively compounds the dialogicity of his own texts to see just how far he can go without relinquishing his position at the centre of authorial control. In other words, what we ,see in Wiebe's writing - not simply at the thematic level I've been discussing o far but also in hi s narrative and linguistic strategies - is an increasing tension between dialogizing and monologizing mechanisms. It is as if Wiebe's writing were itself subject to a law of textua l dynamics which demanded that every dialogizing action has an equal and opposite monologizing reaction. In Peace Shall Destroy Many the Mennonite community experiences a dialogization of the Scriptures due to an entry of alien voices into their hitherto closed community. As a novelist, Wiebe dialogizes the Scriptures in a converse manner: by taking the sacred Word out of the closed Mennonite church community to disseminate it across heteroglossic or muJtivoiced social space. In a Mennonite Brethren Herald editorial Wiebe wrote in 1963, he asserts that "the written word is still the most effective means of spreading the gospel. "5 He makes this point in the context of a broader argument for more active prose lytizing in the English language on the part of the Mennonite Brethren Church. Recognizing that the Mennonites' message must compete against, and enter into dialogue with "thousands of voices clamouring for people's attention" (Herald 3), Wiebe sees a particular need to effect evangelical outreach using discursive forms which do not repel, intimidate, or bore the unconverted. Unlike a sermon or a religious treatise, the novel is a genre which does not preach only to the converted. Nor does it address a specialized readership of theologians. Its utility for Wiebe lies in its capacity to scatter the Word into the territory of "others," the wider, 1994 CONFERENCE PROCEEDINGS 415 more audie nce not add ressed by tradit iona l forms of rc ligiou. litera tu re. Wieb ·'s novels tra ns mil port ion. of th e • 'c riptures int a u unforc eea ble vu riety of di cur. ivc, hi st()ri <.t l, a nd cultural contex ts whe re lhc mea ning and a uthority of th e text become open to negoti atio n. The usuul social, linguis ti c, in stitutional (lnd ritua listi c boundaries insula ting the sac red Word from "other" words disa ppea rs. By their very ex.iste nce, as we ll as through the storie s they tell, Wie be 's novels liberate the B.ible from wh at Bakhlin calls "the dungeon of a ingle c ntext" (1 981 247) into a space whe re it may potenti ally e ngage dia logically with the manifold voice s that speak in the wider social world. So Wiebe finds himself facing the same theoretical dilemma as his character, Tho rn Wiens, does in the nove l Peace Shall Destroy Many. Wiebe does not want to preach to his to be have like a Deacon Block , hoarding all auth ority to him se lf so he can more forcefully imp se his overt message on his audie nce. Novelists who do that sort of thing succeed only in inspiring readerly impulses to throw the novel in the fire and never buy another by that a uthor. Wiebe is very aware of the politics of address, the variety of power relationships that C(l n exist between speakers or writers and their audiences. He therefore avoids the practice of verbal coercion . Yet to some extent, Wiebe's intentions as a novelist are not only exploratory but also rhetorical and perhaps even didactic. He therefore he finds himself in something of a theoretical quandary: the dialogizing mechanisms he activates in his own texts, and the di alogizing influe nces he e xe rt on the Scriptures by dissemin ating them int o alien te rritory, run counter to hi rhetorical purposes (which are implicitly monologizing) . The political question Wiebe faces as an evangelical writer is this: how can a non-coercive novelist disseminate his reading of the Scriptures into heteroglossic space without letting the meaning he articulates become lost in a diversity of readers' voicings of his novel? In the six major novels Wiebe has published so far, 6 (which arc not all about Mennonites, by the way) he has experimented with various narrative techniques and modes of refracting his authorial voice in an effort to negotia te a path between a politically coercive m onologis m that is intellectually naive, and a more de mocratic dialogism that threatens the textual foundation of religious certainty. Time doesn ' t permit me to discuss Wiebe's strategies in detail, however, one point deserves particular emphasis: although Wiebe's novels disseminate the Scriptures into a diversity of contexts in heteroglossic space, there is a sense in which he still fixes their context and hence stabilizes their 416 Religion, Literature and the Arts Project meaning, not by locking them into an ethno-historical cocoon as the conservative Mennonites did, but by setting them in a fixed immediate verbal context. Wiebe's novels disseminate the sacred Word wrapped up in other words. As a consequence, readers of Wiebe's novels engage dialogically with the words of the Scriptures only as those words are mediated by the larger utterance which is the text of Wiebe's novel. In what is perhaps Wiebe's best-known and most widely acclaimed novel, The Temptations of Big Bear (1973), there is a wonderful image which makes concrete the idea of what Wiebe is trying to do. Big Bear was a leader of the Plains Cree People in the 1870s and 80s. His leadership was based not on physical prowess but on his voice and his powers as a religious visionary. Everywhere he went, Big Bear carried a "sacred bundle" called Chief's Son's Hand, a tanned bear's paw wrapped up in many layers of cloth, and consulted whenever he needed divine guidance from the Great Bear Spirit. When Big Bear wished to consult Chief's Son's Hand, he would ritually unwrap the bundle, opening up the pieces of cloth layer by layer, until the sacred bear's paw at the centre of the bundle was revealed. In similar manner, Wiebe ritualizes his readers' approach to the Scriptural word. By wrapping it up in a bundle of other words which must be negotiated before and after, he controls his readers' orientation to the Scriptural word. Wiebe's novels may be viewed as word-bundles. Each one forms a protective framing context for certain Scriptural words, a context designed to shape readers' perceptions of their meaning and their authority. But in the context of the theoretical questions I've been addressing today, the image of Big Bear's sacred bundle has more profound ramifications. Each time Big Bear consulted Chief's Son's Hand, he would place a new piece of cloth around the sacred bear's paw, not on the outside of the bundle, but on the inside, immediately around the paw itself. As Wiebe found out when he tracked Big Bear's Sacred Bundle down in a museum in New York, the outside wrappings - the oldest - were faded and worn, but as one unwrapped the concentric layers of cloth, they became progressively brighter and newer looking, with the most radiant being of course right next to the paw itself. The cloth wrappings around the paw formed a type of historical record of Big Bear's past consultations of this sacred object. Each time Big Bear unwrapped Chief's Son's Hand, each time a new situation arose in which he needed guidance, he would have to handle, but ultimately put aside, all these layers of cloth to get to the sacred object at the centre. 1994 CONFERENCE PROCEEDINGS 417 For me, the image of Big Bear's sacred bundle, with the newest cl oth a t lhe ce ntre a nd the oldest oo the o ut side, addre-sses the prob le m of the hi sto ricity of the Scri ptures in a n intriguing wa y. Wie he suggc ts that ove r time, each ne w rea ding or re vo icing of th e Scripture. i. like tha t la st la ye r of cl oth , lhc bright one a t the cent re, right nex t to the sacred bear's paw. This mode l run contra ry to o ur usua l a .. sum pti on that because each ne w reading follows chronol ogica lly afte r its predecessors, it i. "furth e r a wa y" from the historica l origi nal co ntext in which Jesus utte red the w ord. recorded in tb e G ospels. In Peace S hafl Destroy Many Thorn Wiens wisbes be could undo tbe historicit y of the Scripture . He belie ves that "Christ' teaching stood clear in the Scriptures" (p 2 37), but be find s the m ob cured by other pe )pies' readings, smothered by all the human voice. th a t medi a te ' hrist' words . For Thorn, the prospect of the "tradition " - pa st readings, the laye rs of cloth - forms a daunting barrie r be tween him self and the "true" meaning of the Scriptural word. which wa s cle ar, he imagi nes, in the originary context of the ir utterance. But in the image of Big Bea r '. sacred bundle, whe re each new reading of the sacred objec t is litc ralJy closer to originary sign, successive readings of the Gospels are e nvis aged as m oving pr gressivel y cl oser to the mea ning of Je. us' words in their original conte xt , ra the r than furlh e r a way from tha t mea ning. Each unwrapping of the sa cred bundle each new re rea ding or re voicjng of th e Bible, is an a u e mpt to fulli1 Thorn Wiens' wi sh in Peace Shall Destroy Many to dchistoricizc the Scriptures, and to ". crape [Jesus' teachings] bare of all their acquired mea nings a nd sec the m as those first disciples had done, their feet in the du , t of Ga Jjlce" (p.237). University of Sydney I. Wiebe describes his own experience of suddenly expanded social horizons to Shirley Neuman in "Unearthing Language: An Interview with Rudy Wiebe and Ro bert Kroetsch," in Ji Vo ice jn the La nd: Essnvs By a nd A bout Rud y Wie he (ed) W.J. Ke ith (Edmonton: University of Albe rta Press, 1981) p.232. 2. Mennonite church leaden; were at that time invariably male. NOTES 3. All page numb e rs cited parenthetically refer to Peate S ha ll Des troy Mmw (1\162) (Toronto: McCle lland and Stewart . 1972 ed) . 4. In the First World War all Mennonites living in Canada we re a utomatically exempted fr o m military service unde r the terms of the Mennonites · origin a l immigrati o n a greement with the Dominion Government. But those wh o ente red 418 Religion, Literature and the Arts Project Canada between 1923 and 1930, in the second great migration from Russia , were ad mitted on the understanding that they were legally obliged to participate like any other Canadian citizens in the defence of their adopted country. Wiebe establishes that the Mennonites of Wapiti came to Canada in the second wave of migration. For a more detailed analysis of the complexities of the "Russlander" Mennonites' legal and moral position, see E.K. Francis. ln Search of topia: The 1 lcnnonitcs in IVIu nitoba (Altona, Manitoba: D.W. Friesen. 1955) pp.232-42. 5. See Wiebe's "Church Prospect 1963: Writing," in The len nonitc Brethren Herald (11 January 1963), p.3. 6. l'eace Sholl Destroy Man y (1962). fir5t and Vital Qi ndl c (1966), The Blue Mountain. of China (1970), The Temptation of Big Dear (1?73). The to rched-Wood People (1977) and M,y Love ly · nemy (1983). WORKS CITED l. M. Bakhtin, The nialogic llll!ll!,i nntion (ed) M. Holquist, trans. C. Emerson (Austin: University of Texas Press. 1981 ). 2. E.K. Francis, In Search of topia: The Mennonites in Manitoba (Altona. Manitoba: D .W. Friesen. 1 ?55). 3. S. Neuman, "Unearthing Language: An Interview with Rudy Wiebe and Robert Kroetsch" in A Voice in the Land: .Es.<;ays By and About Rudy Wiebe (ed) W.J. Keith (Edmonton: University of Alberta Press, 1981), pp.226-47. 4. C.H. Smith, The Story of the Mennonites 4th ed revised and enlarged by C. Krahn (Newton. Kansas: Mennonite Publications Office, 1 ?57). 5. R. Wiebe, l'cace Shall Destroy Many (1962) (Toronto: McClelland and Stewart, 1?72). 6. R. Weihe, "Church Prospect 1963: Writing" an editorial in the 1 lcnno nitc Brethren ll era ld, 11 January. 1963, p.3. 7. R. Weihe, The Te mptations of Big Bear (Toronto: McClelland and Stewart. 1973). 8. R. Weihe, "Bear Spirit in a Strange Land" in A Voice in the Land: "SSU ys By and About Rudy Wiebe Op.Cit. pp.143-49.