Foreword
A Little Left
of Center
My first contact with Dan Hertzler was
in the early 1960s. I sent an article to Christian
Living magazine. No answer. Months later came a
check for $5 and some tattered remains. Editor Hertzler
had chopped out the few sections he wanted to use and
returned the rest. So this is how editors work, I
surmised. But my next articles were published whole, and
my relationship with Dan thereafter was always generous.
Although he is best known as an editor,
Dan’s wide-ranging ministry has included work as
theologian, church leader, minister, Bible teacher, world
traveler, and more. His ministry with Mennonite
Publishing House (MPH) covered thirty-seven years,
seventeen as Gospel Herald editor.
As his memoir shows, his Amish
Mennonite origins were an unlikely heritage for his
lengthy editing career. He could claim no ancestors as
models. His call to MPH forced him to decide between
becoming a farmer, a teacher, or an editor.
A privilege of retirement is to explain
decisions from the perspective of age and greater wisdom.
Education, Dan sees, has been an important lifelong
quest. He never finished high school yet earned several
bachelor’s degrees as well as a Ph. D and did
post-graduate studies. Learning has been a goal in
itself. He does admit to participating in one college
“stunt.”
Other factors that affected his
development were his mother’s early death and
watching his father struggle to keep the family afloat.
He saw his father as a man of principles.
Dan’s ministry has been anchored
in the Mennonite Church. Steadiness has marked his
career. He knows the denominational shibboleths and loves
the people. He has worked through many
boundary-maintenance issues. Readers with similar
backgrounds will resonate with his perplexities about the
difference between recommendations and tests of
fellowship, such as labeling paying honest debts a
recomendation but not smoking cigarettes a test of
fellowship.
Through his many years at MPH, Dan
witnessed a more flexible approach to discipleship arise
as Mennonite emphasis on rules eroded. He saw many
changes in journalism, from shifts in printing technology
to the emergence of editors with formal journalism
training (not the case early in his career). Mennonite
journalism standards rose under his leadership.
In this memoir Dan admits where he
stands on certain issues like distinctive attire: “I
have no great enthusiasm for it.” He allows himself
no self-justification for criticism of material he
edited. His Amish Mennonite background has engrained in
him not to push himself. Dan sees himself “a little
left of center” for a Mennonite audience, especially
on issues like behavior, church/state relations,
violence, environmental concerns, and women’s
ministry. He has carried few flags; he admits he is more
likely to report on than walk in a march.
As an editor Dan was forced to
recognize how carefully readers peruse church
publications and that some tolerate no departure from
tradition. He and fellow editors wrestled with how to
keep circulation up through interesting
material—thus paying expenses—without
compromising principles. Wryly he admits that
“editorials, like sermons and the evening news, are
eminently forgettable,” yet he hopes his editorials
may have moved readers along. This book will also move
readers along in their understanding of Mennonite
journalism.
—Katie Funk Wiebe, Professor Emerita, Tabor
College, Hillsboro, Kansas
A Little Left of Center
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