John Howard Yoder

Radical Theologian

Earl Zimmerman, Zachary J. Walton, Gerald J. Mast, Ted Grimsrud, J. Denny Weaver, Weaver

• Publisher: Cascade Books
• Year: 2014
• Print ISBN: 9781625645852, 9781498222341
• eBook ISBN: 9781630876425
• Topic: Theology & Religion
• Subtopic: Christian Denominations

This book argues that for John Howard Yoder both theology (in particular Christology) and ethics are expressions of the meaning of the narrative of Jesus. All such statements are relative to a particular context, which means that theology and ethics are always subject to reaching back to the narrative in order to restate the meaning in new and ever-changing contexts. This methodology is visible in Yoder's Preface to Theology, which has been little used in most treatments of Yoder's thought. Yoder has been characterized as standing on Nicene orthodoxy, criticized for rejecting Nicene orthodoxy, called heterodox, and designated a postmodern thinker to be interpreted in terms of other such thinkers. None of these characterizations adequately locates the basis of his methodology in the narrative of Jesus. Thus John Howard Yoder: Radical Theologian aims to go beyond or to supersede existing treatments with its demonstration that Yoder is a radical theologian in the historical meaning of radical--that is, as one who returns to the root. For Christian faith, this root is Jesus Christ. Parts II and III of the book explore the sources of Yoder's approach, and its application in several contemporary contexts.

Table of contents

• Title Page
• Contributors
• Foreword
• Preface
• Introduction
• Part 1: The Orientation of John Howard Yoder’s Theology
• Chapter 1: Christology
• Part 2: Sources of John Howard Yoder’s Theology
• Chapter 2: Sixteenth-Century Anabaptist Roots
• Chapter 3: Harold S. Bender, Anabaptist Vision, and the Goshen School
• Chapter 4: Oscar Cullmann and Radical Discipleship
• Chapter 5: Deconstructing Karl Barth
• Part 3: Extending John Howard Yoder’s Theology
• Chapter 6: Jesus to Paul
• Chapter 7: The Free Church as Body Politics
• Chapter 8: Pacifism as a Way of Knowing
• Chapter 9: A Nonviolent Public Ethic
• Chapter 10: Interfaith Conversations
• Chapter 11: A Model in Conversation with Black and Evangelical Theology
• Chapter 12: Reflections from a Chagrined “Yoderian” in Face of His Sexual Violence
• Chapter 13: Sin and Failure in Anabaptist Theology
• Conclusion
• Afterword: To the Next Generation of Pacifist Theologians
• Bibliography