Mennonite Journals Merge Into New Open-Access Anabaptist and Mennonite Studies Review

In 2025, two Mennonite academic journals, *The Conrad Grebel Review* (CGR) and *Mennonite Quarterly Review* (MQR), announced plans to partner on a new multidisciplinary, peer-reviewed, open-access publication. The journal would be devoted to the study of Anabaptist and Mennonite history, theology, life and culture. The partners said that combining resources, expertise and scholarly communities would create space for conversation across institutions and disciplines. The last issue of CGR was published in May 2025, and the final issue of MQR, volume 100, was published in January 2026.

The new venture is supported by Anabaptist Mennonite Biblical Seminary (AMBS) in Elkhart, Indiana; Grebel in Waterloo, Ontario; and Goshen College in Goshen, Indiana. Grebel Professor Troy Osborne, who was Dean during the merger, said that from the early discussions it became clear there was “a common mission among Mennonite institutions for studying Mennonite and Anabaptist history and thought.” He leads the transition process with Beverly Lapp, Dean at AMBS, and Ann Vendrely, Dean at Goshen. Osborne said the interest in the subject came from a shared sense that the work might nurture the institutions’ supporting constituencies and congregations, “and not simply be an academic exercise.”

The inaugural issue of the new journal, recently named *Anabaptist and Mennonite Studies Review* (AMSR), is already in preparation, with publication planned for winter 2027. The editorial team includes Grebel Professor Jeremy Bergen, Professors Jamie Pitts (AMBS), Breanna Nickel (Goshen) and Jo-Ann Brant (Goshen), who is retiring in December. Bergen said that reading submissions from established and emerging scholars was “tremendously rewarding,” and that he gets an early look at new scholarship on all aspects of Anabaptist and Mennonite history, culture and theology. He also said editors help shape the articles so their particular contributions are clearly highlighted.

The collaboration serves both scholarly and practical purposes, according to the organizers. Bergen said that, given the complexities and costs of publishing a peer-reviewed academic journal, it is viable only if institutions work together. He also said he believes partnership among Mennonite institutions in the United States and Canada is one way to counter the divisiveness being expressed by political leaders, a point that reflects the peacemaking aim of living at peace with others (Romans 12:18).

Osborne said that working with other scholars and institutional leaders to carry out this shared mission through the launch of the new journal had been “incredibly satisfying personally and professionally.”

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