Mediaculture: Reflections on the effect of media and culture on our faith

Even though Mennonite theologian John Howard Yoder died more than a dozen years ago (at age 70), books of his writings keep coming out. So, too, do books written in response to his works. One source says that 10 such books will be published this year. (I’ll look at five of these.)

Although he trained primarily as an historian and taught theology, Yoder was conversant in many fields—biblical studies, ethics, sociology—and was fluent in several languages.

Perhaps his greatest gift to the church was his ability to clarify and synthesize issues in a coherent way, though reading him is no easy task.

At the same time, he resisted systematic theology and believed that theology should be written in service to the church, addressing issues as they arise. He writes: “This material was taken from the midst of work that was asked of me.’

While Yoder was always a Menno­nite, his work has had greater influence on those outside the Mennonite community. While he has done more than anyone else to clarify for the larger church what Mennonites believe, most Mennonites ignore him.

In an essay responding to critics of his seminal book The Politics of Jesus, Yoder notes that while some critics wrote him off as representing “a small and quaint European sect,” he “had not studied in a Mennonite setting since the age of 19.”

To Hear the Word (Cascade Books) is the second edition (with corrections and new essays) of a 2001 book that Yoder finished just before his death. It distills his commitment to the Bible as formative and to the need for figuring out what it said to its original audience.

The War of the Lamb: The Ethics of Nonviolence and Peacemaking, edited by Glen Stassen, Mark Thiessen Nation and Matt Hamsher (Brazos Press), was planned by Yoder before his death.

Yoder’s arguments on behalf of faithfulness rather than effectiveness have led many to say he ignored the latter. This book helps dispel that notion. In one essay, “The Political Meaning of Hope,” he writes, “[Nonviolence] is right because it goes with the grain of the universe, and that is why in the long run nothing else will work.”

The relevance of nonviolent thought and action is reinforced in Nonviolence —A Brief History: The Warsaw Lectures (Baylor University Press). These lectures, presented in 1983 in Warsaw, Poland, argue for the promise of nonviolent action. He looks at the lessons of Tolstoy, Gandhi and King and shows that “the just war tradition has never been appropriately applied, despite the fact that the concept has generally been approved by the church.”

Two books include essays by writers from various disciplines who respond to Yoder’s ideas. The New Yoder, edited by Peter Dula and Chris K. Huebner (Cascade Books), brings a new approach to Yoder. Dula and Huebner write that “new Yoder essays … read him as challenging categories themselves instead of just taking up a position within the given categories.”

Radical Ecumenicity: Pursuing Unity and Continuity After John Howard Yoder, edited by John C. Nugent (Abilene Christian University Press), collects papers from a 2009 meeting of representatives of the Stone-Campbell Movement and others, plus two essays by Yoder. The essays look at Yoder’s emphasis on ecumenical relations from a variety of angles. They agree with Yoder that Christians are to “maintain brotherly relationships with anyone who confesses Christ.”

These books reaffirm how valuable Yoder’s insights are for our churches. Pastors and other Mennonite members have much to gain from studying his work.