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This is a list of notable individuals associated with the American Goshen College, a private liberal arts college located in Goshen, Indiana. The list includes students, alumni, and faculty.
Principals of the Elkhart Institute
(Elkhart Institute was the former name of Goshen College)
Elkhart County is a county located in the U.S. state of Indiana. As of 2020, the county's population was 207,047. The county seat is Goshen. Elkhart County is part of the Elkhart-Goshen Metropolitan Statistical Area, which in turn is part of the South Bend-Elkhart-Mishawaka Combined Statistical Area. It is also considered part of the broader region of Northern Indiana known as Michiana, and is 20 miles (32 km) east of South Bend, Indiana, 110 miles (180 km) east of Chicago, Illinois, and 150 miles (240 km) north of Indianapolis, Indiana. The area is referred to by locals as the recreation vehicle (RV) capital of the world and is known for its sizable Amish and Old Order Mennonite population.
Goshen College is a private Mennonite liberal arts college in Goshen, Indiana. It was founded in 1894 as the Elkhart Institute of Science, Industry and the Arts, and is affiliated with Mennonite Church USA. The college is accredited by the Higher Learning Commission and has an enrollment of 950 students. While Goshen maintains a distinctive liberal Mennonite worldview and Mennonites make up 43 percent of the student body, it admits students of all religions.
John Howard Yoder was an American theologian and ethicist best known for his defense of Christian pacifism. His most influential book was The Politics of Jesus, which was first published in 1972. Yoder was a Mennonite and wrote from an Anabaptist perspective. He spent the latter part of his career teaching at the University of Notre Dame.
Harold Stauffer Bender was a prominent professor of theology at Goshen College and Goshen Biblical Seminary. His accomplishments include founding both the Mennonite Historical Library and The Mennonite Quarterly Review. He served as President of the American Society of Church History, and was a major scholarly influence on fellow Mennonite theologian John Howard Yoder.
Amish Mennonites came into existence through reform movements among North American Amish mainly between 1862 and 1878. These Amish moved away from the old Amish traditions and drew near to the Mennonites, becoming Mennonites of Amish origin. Over the decades, most Amish Mennonites groups removed the word "Amish" from the name of their congregations or merged with Mennonite groups.
Anabaptist Mennonite Biblical Seminary (AMBS) is an Anabaptist Christian seminary in Elkhart, Indiana, affiliated with Mennonite Church USA and Mennonite Church Canada. It was formerly known as Associated Mennonite Biblical Seminary until its name was changed in 2012.
Located in Smithville, Ohio, Oak Grove Mennonite Church is an historical church that has made a significant contribution to the larger Mennonite denomination, currently pastored by Doug Zehr. Oak Grove started as an Amish church in 1818, as many Amish started settling in Wayne County, Ohio. From humble beginnings the church grew and built a meetinghouse in 1862, one of the earliest of such meetinghouses the Amish have built.
Julia Mae Spicher Kasdorf is an American poet.
Alan Kreider was an American Mennonite historian. He was the American Professor Emeritus of Church History and Mission at the Anabaptist Mennonite Biblical Seminary in Elkhart, Indiana. His main interests were mission, worship, peace, and ecclesiastical history. Kreider continued to speak, write and publish in these areas of interest until his death in May 2017.
Joseph Yoder was an educator, musicologist, and writer, the first successful Mennonite literary figure in the United States, especially known for his semi-fictional account of his mother's life, Rosanna of the Amish (1940), and for his investigation of the sources of the Amish tunes of the Ausbund, along with his efforts to record and preserve traditional Amish music.
Roger N. Beachy is an American biologist and member of the National Academy of Sciences who studies plant virology. He was the founding president of the Donald Danforth Plant Science Center in St. Louis, Missouri, and the first director of the National Institute of Food and Agriculture.
Subgroups of Amish developed over the years, as Amish churches have divided many times over doctrinal disputes. The 'Old Order' Amish, a conservative faction that withdrew from fellowship with the wider body of Amish in the 1860s, are those that have most emphasized traditional practices and beliefs. There are many different subgroups of Amish with most belonging, in ascending order of conservatism, to the Beachy Amish, New Order, Old Order, or Swartzentruber Amish groups.
The Mennonite Church USA Archives was founded in 2001 under the denominational merger of the (old) Mennonite Church and the General Conference Mennonite Church. Prior to 2001, the two largest Mennonite denominations maintained separate archives: the Archives of the Mennonite Church, located on the Goshen College campus, housed materials pertaining to the (old) Mennonite Church, while the Mennonite Library and Archives on the Bethel College campus held the records of the General Conference Mennonite Church.
John S. Coffman was a leader in the Mennonite Church in the late 19th century. He promoted evangelical and progressive reform through his positions in the Mennonite Publishing Company, revival meetings and chairmanship of the Elkhart Institute.
John C. Wenger was an American Mennonite theologian and professor.
Prairie Street Mennonite Church is a Mennonite Church located in Elkhart, Indiana. It is a member of the Indiana-Michigan Mennonite Conference of Mennonite Church USA.
College Mennonite Church (CMC) is a Mennonite Church located in Goshen, Indiana, and a member of the Indiana-Michigan Mennonite Conference of Mennonite Church USA.
George Jay Lapp was an American missionary to India for the Mennonites. He was ordained in 1905 and became a Bishop in 1928 while in India. Lapp served as interim president of Goshen College from February 1918 until June 1919.
Christmas Carol Kauffman was an American author of Mennonite Christian literature. Kauffman was best known for her semi-biographical novels, and her writings were largely based on the life stories of people she met through the mission work she performed with her husband, pastor Nelson E. Kauffman. She is mother of James Kauffman.
… develop[ed] the American Seedless Watermelon variety known as 313.
