John Howard Yoder

John Howard Yoder (December 29, 1927 – December 30, 1997) 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 Mennonite and wrote from an Anabaptist perspective. He spent the latter part of his career teaching at the University of Notre Dame.

Life

Yoder earned his undergraduate degree from Goshen College where he studied under 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.

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 Anabaptist 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.

Thought

Yoder is best remembered for his work related to 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 this arrangement as a dangerous and constant temptation. He argued that the early Church was a subversive community, but later after the rise of Constantine the Great the Church came to desire power and political influence. Yoder called this the Constantinian shift. He further 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. 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.

The Politics of Jesus (1972)

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.^[2]

Sexual Abuse Allegations

According to articles in the Elkhart Truth, allegations that Yoder had sexually abused, harassed, and assaulted women circulated for decades and became known in wider Christian circles, but were never publicly acknowledged until 1992.^[3] 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 extensive allegations of harassment of students and others.^[3]

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's writing in the unpublished 1995 book "The Case for Punishment" suggest he believed he was the innocent scapegoat of a conspiracy. Upon the conclusion of the process, the church urged Yoder "to use his gifts of writing and teaching."^[1]

Despite the allegations of abuse, Yoder's obituary in the New York Times did not mention any improprieties.^[4] Sixteen years after his death, in October 2013, the New York Times ran an article discussing the allegations, quoting one of the complainants Carolyn Heggen who claimed that more than 50 women "said that Mr. Yoder had touched them or made advances." The article also discussed the recent formation of a support group for victims. ^[5]

Selected works

• The Christian and Capital Punishment (1961)
• Christ and the Powers (translator) by Hendrik Berkhof (1962)
• The Christian Pacifism of Karl Barth (1964)
• The Christian Witness to the State (1964)
• Discipleship as Political Responsibility (1964)
• Reinhold Niebuhr and Christian Pacifism (1968)
• Karl Barth and the Problem of War (1970)
• The Original Revolution: Essays on Christian Pacifism (1971)
• Nevertheless: The Varieties and Shortcomings of Religious Pacifism (1971)
• The Politics of Jesus (1972)^[6]
• The Legacy of Michael Sattler, editor and translator (1973)
• The Schleitheim Confession, editor and translator (1977)
• Christian Attitudes to War, Peace, and Revolution: A Companion to Bainton (1983)
• What Would You Do? A Serious Answer to a Standard Question (1983)
• God's Revolution: The Witness of Eberhard Arnold, editor (1984)
• The Priestly Kingdom: Social Ethics as Gospel (1984)
• When War Is Unjust: Being Honest In Just-War Thinking (1984)
• He Came Preaching Peace (1985)
• The Fullness of Christ: Paul's Revolutionary Vision of Universal Ministry (1987)
• The Death Penalty Debate: Two Opposing Views of Capitol Punishment (1991)
• A Declaration of Peace: In God's People the World's Renewal Has Begun (with Douglas Gwyn, George Hunsinger, and Eugene F. Roop) (1991)
• Body Politics: Five Practices of the Christian Community Before the Watching World (1991)
• The Royal Priesthood: Essays Ecclesiological and Ecumenical (1994)
• Authentic Transformation: A New Vision of Christ and Culture (with Glen Stassen and Diane Yeager) (1996)
• For the Nations: Essays Evangelical and Public (1997)
• To Hear the Word (2001)
• Preface to Theology: Christology and Theological Method (2002)
• Karl Barth and the Problem of War, and Other Essays on Barth (2003)
• The Jewish-Christian Schism Revisited (2003)
• Anabaptism and Reformation in Switzerland: An Historical and Theological Analysis of the Dialogues Between Anabaptists and Reformers (2004)
• The War of the Lamb: The Ethics of Nonviolence and Peacemaking (2009)
• Christian Attitudes to War, Peace and Revolution (2009)
• Nonviolence: A Brief History—The Warsaw Lectures (2010)

Articles and book chapters

• (1988) The Evangelical Round Table: The Sanctity of Life (Volume 3)
• (1991) Declaration on Peace: In God's People the World's Renewal Has Begun
• (1997) God's Revolution: Justice, Community, and the Coming Kingdom

See also

• List of peace activists
• Anabaptism
• Christian anarchism
• Christian pacifism
• Liberation theology
• Mennonite Church
• Nonresistance
• Nonviolence
• Peace churches
• Radical Christianity
• Yoder (surname)

Notes

External links

• Yoder Index. "A searchable index of the writings of John Howard Yoder" by John Nugent, Branson Parler, and Jason Vance.
• A simplified summary of John H. Yoder's book: The Politics of Jesus by Nathan Hobby with James Patton
• Steinfels, Peter (January 7, 1998). "John H. Yoder, Theologian At Notre Dame, Is Dead at 70". The New York Times. Retrieved February 5, 2010. 
• Remembering John Howard Yoder, by Stanley Hauerwas, First Things
• Memorial Page on FindaGrave
• Articles and video of John Howard Yoder, New online articles and video of Yoder, by Jesus Radicals
• John H. Yoder Reading Room, Online texts by and on Yoder (Tyndale Seminary)