TEACHING AND RESEARCH
Joni teaches in the area of homiletics. Her interests include theological approaches to preaching, women preachers, preaching about the cross and resurrection and preaching in a context of trauma. She is a member of the Academy of Homiletics.
EDUCATION
BA, Goshen College, 1998.
MDiv, Princeton Theological Seminary, 2004
PhD, Toronto School of Theology, 2009
PUBLICATIONS
BOOKS
All Our Griefs to Bear: Responding with Resilience After Collective Trauma. Herald Press, 2022.
Words that Heal: Preaching Hope to Wounded Souls. Nashville, TN: Abingdon, 2019.
Stumbling Over the Cross: Preaching the Cross and Resurrection Today. Eugene, OR: Cascade, 2016.
ARTICLES AND CHAPTERS
“When Our Words Fail Us: Preaching Gospel to Trauma Survivors.” Theologies of the Gospel in Context. Ed. David Schnasa Jacobsen. Eugene, OR: Cascade, 2017.
“Propers 23-28.” Abingdon Theological Companion to the Lectionary Year B. Nashville: Abingdon, 2014.
“Proper 11, years A, B, and C.” Preaching Social Justice and Transformation: A Lectionary Commentary, Year A, Year B, and Year C. Eds. Ronald J. Allen, Dale P. Andrews, and Dawn Ottoni Wilhelm. Louisville: Westminster John Knox, 2011, 2012, 2013.
“Season after Epiphany.” New Proclamation, Series C, Advent through Holy Week, 2012–2013. Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 2012.
“Dawbarn, Elizabeth (early 19th cent.).” Biographical History of Women Biblical Interpreters. Ed. Marion Taylor. Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 2012.
“Deverell, Mary (18th cent.).” Biographical History of Women Biblical Interpreters. Ed. Marion Taylor. Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 2012.
“Calling Forth More Witnesses: Claiming the Voices of Preachers Silenced by History.” Toronto Journal of Theology, vol. 26, no 1(2010):47-58.
REVIEWS
“Presence: Giving and Receiving God.” Mennonite Quarterly Review,forthcoming.
“Jesus matters: good news for the 21st century.” Mennonite Quarterly Review84, no. 3 (July 1, 2010): 470-472.
Review of Meeting Our Multifaith Neighbors, by Brice H. Balmer. Consensus: A Canadian Lutheran Journal of Theology, vol. 32, no. 2 (2008): 127-128.
Review of Preaching with All You’ve Got, by David Day, Consensus: A Canadian Lutheran Journal of Theology, vol. 32, no. 2 (2008): 128-129.
Review of Why Church Matters, by Jonathan R. Wilson. Toronto Journal of Theology, v. 23 n. 2 (2007): 236-237.
PROFESSIONAL
Joni Sancken is an ordained pastor with Mennonite Church USA and has served as a pastor in Mennonite congregations in Indiana and Pennsylvania. Her credentials are currently held by Central District. Prior to joining the faculty at United, she served as Assistant Professor of Preaching and Practical Theology at Eastern Mennonite Seminary in Harrisonburg, VA, where she also served as the director of their Preaching Institute. Joni also served as a sessional faculty member at Anabaptist Mennonite Biblical Seminary and Candler School of Theology as a postdoctoral fellow at Emory University.
PERSONAL
Joni is married to Steven Schumm and they have a daughter, Maggie, and son, Theodore. She enjoys spending time with extended family, taking long walks with her dogs and watching British mysteries and period dramas.