| John Howard Yoder | |
|---|---|
| Born | December 29, 1927 Smithville, Ohio, United States |
| Died | December 30, 1997 (aged 70) South Bend, Indiana, United States |
| Cause of death | Heart attack |
| Residence | Elkhart, Indiana, United States |
| Nationality | American |
| Ethnicity | Swiss |
| Alma mater | Goshen College (B.A.), University of Basel (Th.D) |
| Occupation | Professor, theologian |
| Years active | 1961–1997 |
| Employer | Goshen Biblical Seminary, Associated Mennonite Biblical Seminary, University of Notre Dame |
| Known for | The Politics of Jesus |
| Religion | Mennonite |
| Spouse | Anne Marie Guth |
John Howard Yoder (December 29, 1927 – December 30, 1997) was a Christian theologian, ethicist, and Biblical scholar best known for his radical Christian pacifism, his mentoring of future theologians such as Stanley Hauerwas, his loyalty to his Mennonite faith, and his 1972 magnum opus, The Politics of Jesus.
Contents |
Yoder earned his undergraduate degree from Goshen College where he studied under the influence of Mennonite theologian Harold S. Bender.[1] He completed his Th.D. at the University of Basel, Switzerland, studying under Karl Barth, Oscar Cullman, Walther Eichrodt, and Karl Jaspers. Anecdotally true to form, the night before he was to defend his dissertation on Anabaptism and Reformation in Switzerland, Yoder visited Barth's office to deliver an entirely different document: a thorough critique of Barth's position on war which he had written in the meantime called Karl Barth and the Problem of War.
After World War II, Yoder traveled to Europe to direct relief efforts for the Mennonite Central Committee. Yoder was instrumental in reviving European Mennonites following World War II. Upon returning to the United States, he spent a year working at his father's greenhouse business in Wooster, Ohio.
Yoder began his teaching career at Goshen Biblical Seminary. He was Professor of Theology at Goshen Biblical Seminary and Mennonite Biblical Seminary (the two seminaries that formed Associated Mennonite Biblical Seminary) from 1958 to 1961 and from 1965 to 1984. While still teaching at Associated Mennonite Biblical Seminary, he also began teaching at the University of Notre Dame, where he became a Professor of Theology and eventually a Fellow of the Institute for International Peace Studies.
Yoder's personal papers are housed at the Mennonite Church USA Archives.
According to articles in the Elkhart Truth, allegations of sexual misconduct against Yoder circulated for decades and became known in wider Christian circles, but were never publicly acknowledged until 1992.[2] After repeated institutional failures to address these abuses a group of victims threatened to engage in a public protest at a Bethel College conference where Yoder was to be a speaker. The college President rescinded Yoder's invitation, the student newspaper reported the story, and one of the victims reported that Bethel was "the first institution in the church that has taken this seriously" (Mennonite Weekly Review, March 12, 1992). The Elkhart Truth articles detail an extensive pattern of sexual assaults and harassment of students and others.[2]
From the summer of 1992 to the summer of 1996, Yoder submitted to the discipline of the Indiana–Michigan Conference of the Mennonite Church for allegations of sexual misconduct. Yoder vaguely acknowledged misconduct but suggested that the Mennonite Church had instructed him not to formally apologize to any of his victims (Yoder communicated this to Barbra Graber - a friend of some of the victims). Yoder's writing in the unpublished 1995 book "The Case for Punishment" suggest he believed he was the innocent scapegoat of a conspiracy.[3] Upon the conclusion of the process, the church urged Yoder "to use his gifts of writing and teaching."[1]
According to Stanley Hauerwas,[4] Yoder, who was married, began "experimenting" in the 1960s with unconsummated intimacies with various Mennonite women, arguing that such touching was nonsexual and spiritually beneficial. The various women eventually discovered each other and exposed Yoder, whose Mennonite congregation disciplined him in the 1990s across 4 years. Hauerwas helped persuade his friend to submit to his church's process. Finally reconciled with the flock in 1996, Yoder died a year later.—Mark Tooley (04-05-2011). "A Prophet Against the Empire". American Spectator. http://spectator.org/archives/2011/04/05/a-prophet-against-the-empire. Retrieved 26 August 2011.
Yoder is now cited as a typical example of an academic who engages in sexual misconduct.[5]
Yoder is best remembered for his reflections on Christian ethics. Rejecting the assumption that human history is driven by coercive power, Yoder argued that it was rather God—working in, with, and through the nonviolent, non-resistant community of disciples of Jesus—who has been the ultimate force in human affairs. If the Christian church in the past made alliances with political rulers, it was because it had lost confidence in this truth.
He called the arrangement whereby the state and the church each supported the goals of the other Constantinianism, and he regarded it as a dangerous and constant temptation. Yoder argued that Jesus himself rejected this temptation, even to the point of dying a horrible and cruel death. Resurrecting Jesus from the dead was, in this view, God's way of vindicating Christ's unwavering obedience.
Likewise, Yoder argued, the primary responsibility of Christians is not to take over society and impose their convictions and values on people who don't share their faith, but to "be the church." By refusing to return evil for evil, by living in peace, sharing goods, and doing deeds of charity as opportunities arise, the church witnesses, says Yoder, to the fact that an alternative to a society based on violence or the threat of violence has been made possible by the life, death, resurrection and teachings of Jesus. Yoder claims that the church thus lives in the conviction that God calls Christians to imitate the way of Christ in his absolute obedience, even if it leads to their deaths, for they, too, will finally be vindicated in resurrection.
In bringing traditional Mennonite convictions to the attention of a wider critical audience, Yoder reenergized stale theological debates over foundational Christian ecclesiological, Christological, and ethical beliefs. (Following Barth,) Yoder rejected Enlightenment presuppositions, epitomized by Kant, about the possibility of a universal, rational ethic. Abandoning the search for a universal ethic underlying Christian and non-Christian morality, as well as attempts to "translate" Christian convictions into a common moral parlance, he argued that what is expected of Christians, morally, need not be binding for all people. Yoder defended himself against charges of incoherence and hypocrisy by arguing for the legitimacy of moral double standards, and by pointing out that since world affairs are ultimately governed by God's providence, Christians are better off being the Church, than following compromised moral systems that try to reconcile biblical revelation with the necessities of governance.
Of his many books, the most widely recognized has undoubtedly been The Politics of Jesus; it has been translated into at least ten languages. In it, Yoder argues against popular views of Jesus, particularly those views held by Reinhold Niebuhr, which he believed to be dominant in the day. Niebuhr argued for a Realist philosophy, which Yoder felt failed to take seriously the call or person of Jesus Christ. After showing what he believed to be inconsistencies of Niebuhr's perspective, Yoder attempted to demonstrate by an exegesis of the Gospel of Luke and parts of Paul's letter to the Romans that, in his view, a radical Christian pacifism was the most faithful approach for the disciple of Christ. Yoder argued that being Christian is a political standpoint, and Christians ought not ignore that calling.
The Politics of Jesus was ranked by evangelical publication Christianity Today as the 5th most important Christian book of the 20th century.[6]