Category: John Howard Yoder

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Evangelism John Howard Yoder Karl Barth Lesslie Newbigin Missiology Stanley Hauerwas

Stanley Hauerwas on “The Church as Mission”

Stanley Hauerwas has recently published his most sophisticated treatment of mission and evangelism.

Stanley Hauerwas, "Beyond the Boundaries: The Church as Mission" in Walk Humbly with the Lord: Church and Mission Engaging Plurality (ed. Viggo Mortensen and Andreas Østerlund Nielsen; Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2010), 53-69.

Read it at Google Books. 

Hauerwas is one of my main advisors in my doctoral work here at Duke and I approach the topic similar to the way he does here.  He draws heavily on John Howard Yoder, responds to Nathan Kerr, and cites Karl Barth, Lesslie Newbigin, and Bryan Stone approvingly. 

(Note also the reference to former Duke students Derek Woodard-Lehmann (now at Princeton) and Dan Barber).

This is not easy reading.  It is part of a broader conversation in theology, political theology, and ethics.

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John Howard Yoder

7 Reasons to Read John Howard Yoder and 8 New John Howard Yoder Books

Here are seven reasons why I like reading John Howard Yoder (1927-1997).

1. He effectively argues for the importance of vibrant local churches.

2. His explains the importance of the church orienting itself by Scripture. 

3. He interacts with a broad range of Christian perspectives. 

4. He is a very good writer.

5. He is very interested in the practical. 

6. His work is respected by philosophers, theologians and New Testament scholars. 

7. His work is extremely valuable for articulating the free church, baptist, nondenominational, or Mennonite perspective on issues.

The Politics of Jesus is Yoder's best known work but I would recommend people start with the quick 80 page Body Politics which I reviewed at Best book on ecclesiology I read this year: Body Politics by John Howard Yoder.  Then I would recommend reading The Politics of Jesus, Priestly Kingdom, Royal Priesthood, and For the Nations. The last three books are compilations of essays by Yoder. 

I have also written a long academic paper on Yoder at: The Ecclesiology of John Howard Yoder paper

Here are eight recent books that have come out or are coming out that
deal with his work.  Below that I have listed a partial bibliography of older books
as well. 

New John Howard Yoder Books (2008-2010)

  • Edited by Jeremy M. Bergen and Anthony G. Siegrist: Power and Practices: Engaging the Work of John Howard Yoder

    Edited by Jeremy M. Bergen and Anthony G. Siegrist: Power and Practices: Engaging the Work of John Howard Yoder
    Herald Press (August 20, 2009) Description excerpt: In this collection of essays, a new generation engages the theology of John Howard Yoder.

  •  Radical Ecumenicity edited by John C. NugentEdited by John C. Nugent: Radical Ecumenicity: Pursuing Unity and Continuity after John Howard Yoder Abilene Christian University Press (March 2010) Description excerpt: A collection of essays that explores the ecumenical work of celebrated Mennonite theologian John Howard Yoder, including two rare but important works by Yoder himself. "John Howard Yoder would have liked this book.  He would have liked it because of the conversations made possible by the critical yet constructive essays engaging his work.  We are extremely fortunate to have this book, which exemplifies not only Yoder's thought but also his life." –Stanley Hauerwas, Duke University

  • Edited by Peter Dula and Chris K. Huebner: The New Yoder

    Edited by Peter Dula and Chris K. Huebner: The New Yoder
    Cascade Books (January 1, 2010) Description excerpt: A new generation of scholars has begun reading Yoder alongside figures
    most often associated with post-structuralism, neo-Nietzscheanism, and
    post-colonialism, resulting in original and productive new readings of
    his work. At the same time, scholars from outside of theology and
    ethics departments, indeed outside of Christianity itself, like Romand
    Coles and Daniel Boyarin, have discovered in Yoder a significant
    conversation partner for their own work. This volume collects some of
    the best of those essays in hope of encouraging more such work from
    readers of Yoder and in hopes of attracting others to his important
    work.

  • John Howard Yoder: Christian Attitudes to War, Peace, and Revolution

    John Howard Yoder: Christian Attitudes to War, Peace, and Revolution
    Brazos Press (April 1, 2009) Description excerpt: John Howard Yoder was one of the most important thinkers on just war
    and pacifism in the late twentieth century. This newly compiled
    collection of Yoder's lectures and writings on these issues describes,
    analyzes, and evaluates various patterns of thought and practice in
    Western Christian history.

  • John Howard Yoder: The War of the Lamb: The Ethics of Nonviolence and Peacemaking

    John Howard Yoder: The War of the Lamb: The Ethics of Nonviolence and Peacemaking
    Brazos Press; 1 edition (December 1, 2009) Description excerpt: John Howard Yoder was one of the major theologians of the late
    twentieth century. Before his death, he planned the essays and
    structure of this book, which he intended to be his last work. Now two
    leading interpreters of Yoder bring that work to fruition. The book is
    divided into three sections: pacifism, just war theory, and just
    peacemaking theory. The volume crystallizes Yoder's argument that his
    proposed ethics is not sectarian and a matter of withdrawal. He also
    clearly argues that Christian just war and Christian pacifist
    traditions are basically compatible–and more specifically, that the
    Christian just war tradition itself presumes against all violence.

  • John Howard Yoder: To Hear the Word

    John Howard Yoder: To Hear the Word
    Cascade Books; 2nd Ed (January 1, 2010) "Of very few people can it be legitimately said that their work
    fundamentally reconfigured the landscape of two theological
    disciplines. But if there is anyone in recent memory who would be
    worthy of such an accolade, it is John Howard Yoder. The two
    disciplines are, of course, theological ethics and biblical
    studies—though Yoder would cringe at their separation, and his work was
    both explicitly and implicitly a prolonged exercise in maintaining
    their indissoluble union. For him, to hear the word rightly was to do
    the word publicly. . . . [Yoder] guides us toward a truly ecclesial yet
    missional reading of Scripture, with a profoundly Anabaptist yet
    ecumenical and catholic spirit, in historically astute and literarily
    sensitive ways that are nonetheless "straightforward" and pastoral. Or,
    as he would himself say, he guides us toward a reading of Scripture
    that proceeds from and focuses on Jesus: Vicit Agnus Noster, Eum
    Sequamur; 'Our Lamb has conquered; let us follow him.'"—from the foreword by Michael J. Gorman

  • John Howard Yoder: Nonviolence - a Brief History: The Warsaw Lectures

    John Howard Yoder: Nonviolence – a Brief History: The Warsaw Lectures
    Baylor University Press (March 15, 2010) Description excerpt: The eleven lectures collected in Nonviolence A Brief History
    were presented in 1983 in Warsaw, Poland, and this is their first
    publication together. Despite their apparent diversity, the lectures
    trace a single trajectory: the increasing relevance of nonviolent
    thought and action. They argue that nonviolence aligns with the inner
    logic of the world and, therefore, with human social existence.

  • Nathan R. Kerr: Christ History And Apocalyptic: The Politics of Christian Mission

    Nathan R. Kerr: Christ History And Apocalyptic: The Politics of Christian Mission
    Cascade Books (October 13, 2008) Description excerpt: On the basis of a rereading of John Howard Yoder's place within this
    genealogy, the author outlines an alternative "apocalyptic
    historicism," which conceives the work of Christian politics as a mode
    of subversive, missionary encounter between church and world. See also Analysis of Nathan Kerr's Christ, History and Apocalyptic at The Church and Postmodern Culture blog

Older John Howard Yoder Books (2007 and earlier)

I would also love someday to watch

John Howard Yoder's course New Testament Social Ethics at Regent College which is available on DVD at the Regent College Bookstore. 

Categories
Duke Divinity School Ecclesiology John Howard Yoder Karl Barth Stanley Hauerwas

Analysis of Nathan Kerr’s Christ, History and Apocalyptic at The Church and Postmodern Culture blog

I appreciated the analysis and conversation regarding Nathan Kerr's book Christ, History and Apocalyptic during January through March of 2009 at "The Church and Postmodern Culture" blog.  But it is a bit tricky to find all of the posts so I list them below.  Kerr (B.A., M.A.—Olivet Nazarene University; Ph.D. Vanderbilt University) is assistant professor of theology and philosophy at Trevecca Nazarene University.  His next book is entitled Exodus, Exile, and Ecclesia: In Search of the Church of the Poor.

January 12, 2009 Christ, History and Apocalyptic: A Symposium, part 1 Chapter 1: "Introduction," response by Joshua Davis, Ph.D. Candidate, Theological Studies, Vanderbilt University.

January 19, 2009 Christ, History and Apocalyptic: A Symposium, part 2 Chapter 2: "Ernst Troeltsch: The Triumph of Ideology and the Eclipse of Apocalyptic," response by David Congdon, a PhD Student in Systematic Theology at Princeton Theological Seminary.

February 02, 2009 Christ, History and Apocalyptic: A Symposium, part 3 Chapter 3: "Karl Barth: Foundations for an Apocalyptic Christology," response by John McDowell, a professor and chair of theology in a new post at the University of Newcastle.

February 11, 2009 Christ, History and Apocalyptic: A Symposium, part 4 Chapter 4: "Stanley Hauerwas: Apocalyptic, Narrative Ecclesiology, and 'the Limits of Anti-Constantinianism,'" response by John W. Wright, Professor of Theology and Christian Scriptures at Point Loma Nazarene University.

February 16, 2009 Christ, History and Apocalyptic: A Symposium, part 5 Chapter 5: "John Howard Yoder: The Singularity of Jesus and the Apocalypticization of History," response by Douglas Harink, Professor of Theology at the Kings University College in Edmonton, Alberta.

February 23, 2009 Christ, History and Apocalyptic: A Symposium, part 6 Chapter 6: "Towards an Apocalyptic Politics of Mission," response by James K. A. Smith, Associate Professor of Philosophy at Calvin College in Grand Rapids, MI.

March 02, 2009 Christ, History and Apocalyptic: a week off for further thought

March 11, 2009 Christ, History and Apocalyptic: Nate Kerr's Response