CURRENTLY IN BOOKS

The redemption of Yvonne Johnson
Redeeming the past

AGNES DYCK

Rudy Wiebe and Yvonne Johnson. Toronto: Alfred A. Knopf, 1998.

Beginning with Peace Shall Destroy Many, Rudy Wiebe has drawn attention to the plight of aboriginal peoples of Canada. With Stolen Life, he documents the horrific details of the life of a Cree woman.

Yvonne Johnson wrote Wiebe from prison after she read The Temptation of Big Bear, explaining that Big Bear was her great-great-grandfather. Consequently, Wiebe collaborated with her on her story, using her journals, letters and court records, as well as visiting lawyers, family members and acquaintances.

Wiebe noted Johnson's gifted language skills and mentored her through what was often a torturous process in documenting her story. The book is not for the squeamish, but in allowing Johnson to be noticed and viewed as a complex human being, more as a victim than someone victimized, Wiebe has done her a great service.

Suffering from a double cleft palate, Johnson was unable to speak and verbally express her needs during her formative years until a compassionate judge ordered the state to pay for her medical treatment. In addition to her physical deformity and an abusive home environment, which included rape, incest and alcohol abuse, she was ostracized by her own community.

A brief review cannot do justice to this powerful account of one native woman. One could deal with the constant wanderings from one home to another, the rigid patterns of family authority and a tradition of hospitality with deep cultural roots that often became an onerous obligation. Further, one could examine the apparent injustice of Johnson's sentence and her family's role of denial and blame.

Johnson's long years in prison (she was sentenced to 25 years for murder in 1991) have given her insight into the complexity of her life. She has become aware of her and her family's strategies for dealing with abuse, and she understands how traditional aboriginal beliefs about the hierarchy of authority affected her mother's punitive attitude towards her. She writes compassionately about those who have caused her pain. Out of years of being depersonalized, she has emerged as a gifted word artist with a sense of regret for her past and a resolve to function as a truthful and loving human being.

AGNES DYCK IS A RETIRED TEACHER AND A MEMBER OF MCIVOR AVE. MB CHURCH, WINNIPEG.

Carolyn Bright

RUSSIANS, NORTH AMERICANS, AND THE TELUGUS: THE MENNONITE BRETHREN MISSION IN INDIA, 1885-1975. Winnipeg: Kindred Productions, 1997. 413 pages.

In this detailed, well-documented volume, historian Peter Penner uses biographical sketches of individual missionaries to tell the story of MB missions in India. He then examines the impact of their lives and work on the development of an indigenous Indian MB church.

Penner's concern is to present a truthful account; thus, there is a need to reveal previously undisclosed facts. He handles these with sensitivity and impartiality, revealing the many complex factors at work without negatively judging those involved. He appreciates the unusual circumstances faced by India missionaries: the harsh climate, the separation of families, the feeling of exile from the home and the difficulties in communicating with the home board. Penner succeeds in portraying missionaries as "unforgettable characters" and "real human beings". He must be commended for highlighting the often glossed-over commitment and contribution of single women to the work of the mission.

Penner's biographical approach, however, makes it difficult to gain a sense of the history and get an overall picture of the work. Moreover, the book is somewhat weak in providing a larger context within which to understand the MB experience. Readers will benefit from having some previous background on British India and the broader history of Christian missions.

As Penner states, "The legacy of the India mission is a fading memory" for many in North America. Yet, it is relevant. Many issues addressed in this history are the same as those which North American Christians face today. The challenge of reaching people beyond our comfort zones, the pros and the cons of building institutions, the tendency of the educated, wealthy and powerful to take control and the human desire for upward social/economic mobility at the expense of spreading the gospel are issues with which each Christian struggles.

 Carolyn Bright is the daughter of former India missionaries Peter and Betty Hamm, a mother of three children and a pastor's wife. She and her husband, Greg serve Gateway Community Church in Canora, Sask.

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