Yoder, John Howard

Internet Resources

The main resource for materials by Yoder is the web page at the University of Notre Dame which includes links to numerous of his unpublished writings (a reproduction of which from Jan 2009 appears below at the end of this page). Earlier versions of the page of unpublished writings are accessible from the Internet Archive.

The Use of the Bible in Theology, Chpt 6 of Robert K. Johnston (ed), The Use of Bible in Theology: Evangelical Options, 1984.

Sacrament as Social Process: Christ The Transformer of Culture, Theology Today, April 1991.

Political & Social Ethics

The Theological Basis of Christian Witness to the State, Mar 1955 [PDF]

The "Racial Revolution" in Theological Perspective, 1963.

The Limits of Obedience to Caesar: The Shape of the Problem, June 1978 [PDF]

Gustavo Gutierrez & Richard Shaull, Liberation & Change, Theology Today, April 1979.

The Way of Peace from He Came Preaching Peace, 1985.

The Changing Face of the War Question, Oct 1985

The Just War Tradition: Is It Credible?, Christian Century, Mar 1991

Peacemaking Amid Political Revolution [PDF]

Mennonite History & Figures

George Huntston Williams, The Radical Reformation, Theology Today, Oct 1963.

The Schleitheim Text, 1973

The Schleitheim Brotherly Union, Introduction to The Legacy of Michael Sattler, 1973.

Eberhard Arnold: An Introduction from God's Revolution

Tributes & Profiles

Michael J. Cartwright, Radical Catholicity: Reflections on the Life & Work of Theologian John Howard Yoder, Christian Century, Jan 1998.

Stanley Hauerwas, Remembering John Howard Yoder, First Things, April 1998

Daniel Schipani, John Howard Yoder: Teacher Of The World Church, Courier, 1998

Engagements with Yoder's Work

The Conrad Grebel Review Special Issue on Yoder, Mar 1998 with 6 major articles and 6 personal reflections [PDF]

Mark Theissen Nation's Response to article by Miller ("In The Footsteps of Marcion") in edition of Conrad Grebel Review above

Doug Harink, Apocalypsis and Polis: Pauline Reflections on the Theological Politics of Yoder, Hauerwas, and Milbank, 1999

Arne Rasmusson, Ecclesiology & Ethics, Ecumenical Review, April 2000.

Chris K. Huebner, How To Read Yoder: An Exercise in Pacifist Epistemology, June 2001.

J. Alexander Sider, 'To See History Doxologically": Miroslav Volf's and John Howard Yoder's Competing Conceptions, June 2001.

Gerald W. Schlabach, The Christian Witness in the Earthly City: John H. Yoder as Augustinian Interlocutor

Ted Grimrud, Pacifism and Knowing: John Howard Yoder's Epistemology, 2002

Mark Theissen Nation, John Howard Yoder: Mennonite, Evangelical, Catholic, Mennonite Quarterly Review, July 2003.

Craig A. Carter, The Legacy of An Inadequate Christology: Yoder's Critique of Niebuhr's Christ & Culture, MQR, July 2003.

Ray C. Gingerich, Theological Foundations For An Ethic of Nonviolence: Was Yoder's God A Warrior?, MQR, July 2003.

John Zimmerman, Yoder's Jesus & Economics: The Economics of Jesus or The Economics of Luke?, MQR, July 2003.

P. Travis Kroeker, Is A Messianic Political Ethic Possible?: Recent Work By & About John Howard Yoder, Journal of Religious Ethics, 2005.

Joon Sik-Park, John Howard Yoder as a mission theologian, International Bulletin of Missionary Research, Jan 2006.

John Howard Yoder as Historian, Edition of Conrad Grebel Review, with 4 major articles and book review, Spring 2006 [PDF]

Paul Martens, The Problematic Development of the Sacraments in the Thought of John Howard Yoder, Conrad Grebel Review, Fall 2006 [PDF, on pp65-77]

Mark Thiessen Nation, Mending Fences & Finding Grace: Regarding Christology & Divine Agency in Yoder's Thought, May 2007

Daniel Boyarin, Judaism as a free church: footnotes to John Howard Yoder's The Jewish-Christian Schism Revisited, Cross Currents, Winter 2007 (see also the responses from Rashkover, Epp Weaver, Weaver, Brenneman and Biesecker-Mast)

Nicholas Wolterstorff, Fallen Powers, Oct 2007 [critique of Yoder on power, PDF]

Andy Rowell, The Ecclesiology of John Howard Yoder: Scripture, Five Practices of the Christian Community and Mission, 2008 [96pp, links to PDF and to DOC]

Other Web Resources

Unpublished, Out-of-Print & Hard-to-Find Yoder Writings

A brief bibliography of other related "Just War Tradition" texts

Archive of Personal Materials

Brief Biographical Sketch

The John Howard Yoder Project at Toronto Mennonite Theological Centre

Simplified Summary of Politics of Jesus by Nathan Hobby with James Patton

Simplified Summary of Body Politics by Nathan Hobby

Unpublished Writings

The Bible
 

"Cult and Culture in and after Eden: On Generating Alternative Paradigms"

Christology after The Politics of Jesus

"' Confessing Jesus in Mission."
"'The Politics of Jesus Revisited."
"'A Response to Wayne Meeks' The Origins of Christian Morality: The First Two Centuries."
"'Twenty Years Later."

Church and State

'''Christianity and Protest in America."
"'Religious Liberty and the Prior Loyalty of the People of God."

The History of Christian Attitudes toward War, Peace, and Revolution

'"Early Christian 'Disciplines' or 'Church Orders'." (Chapter 1/B)
'"The Jewishness of Early Christian Pacifism." (Chapter 2)
'"The Nonviolence of Judaism from Jeremiah to Hertzel." (Chapter 3)
'"Anabaptists of the Sixteenth Century." (Chapter 5)
'"The Terror and the Power of the Light: The Roots of Quaker Nonviolence within the Puritan Reform." (Chapter 6)
'"William Penn's 'Holy Experiment'." (Chapter 7)
'"World Order Visions Since Early Modern Europe." (Chapter 8)
'"Chronology of Martin Luther King, Jr. and Civil Rights." (Chapter 9)
'"The Religious Origins of Ahimsa: A 20th Century Distillation." (Chapter 10)
'"Are the Tyrants Really in Charge? Realism and Radical Change." (Unpublished, 1993)
'"The Nonviolent Component of the February (1986) Manila Revolution." (Unpublished, 1987)
'"War Revisited: The Radical Reformation." (Unpublished, 1991)

The Jewish-Christian Schism Revisited

Please note: all links in this section have been removed because the texts have been published elsewhere. The Jewish-Christian Schism Revisited has been published by Eerdmans (2003), and can be purchased at, inter alia, Amazon.com.

"'Preface: What Needs to Change in the Jewish-Christian Dialogue and Why."
'"Prior Preface: Salvation is of the Jews."
'"Tertium Datur: It Did Not Have to Be."
'"Jesus the Jewish Pacifist."
'"Paul the Judaizer."
'"The Jewishness of the Free Church Vision."
'"Forms of a Possible Obedience."
'"Rabbinic Fragments."
'"An Alternative Perspective on Christian History."
'"Earthly Jerusalem and Jerusalem: A Mislocated Dualism."
'"On Not Being in Charge."
'"See How They Go with Their Face to the Sun . . . ."

The Just War Tradition

'"Backgrounds to Ethical Interpretation of the Bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasake in terms of the 'Just War Tradition."
'"David Urquhart: Knight Errant for the Just War Tradition in the Age of Empire."
'"From the Medieval Just War to the Modern 'Just Revolution'."
'"How Just War Thinking and Pacifism Coinhere."
'"Is the Relaxation of the Restraints Upon War Justified When the Stakes are Especially Great?"
'"Is there a Duty to Go Down Fighting? The Morality of Surrender."
"'Just War' and 'Non-Violence': Disjunction or Dialogue?"
'"The 'Just War' Tradition: Is It Credible?"
'"The 'Power' of 'Non-Violence'."
"'Selective Objection.' The Moral Responsibility to Refuse to Serve in an Unjust War: The Movement of 1968-75 and Its Prehistory." (Unpublished, 1992. Revised, 1993)
'"Testing the Methodological Underpinnings of the Just War Logic." (Unpublished, 1994)
A brief bibliography of other related "Just War Tradition" texts

Marriage, Divorce, and Sexuality

'"History and hermeneutics." (Re: homosexuality) (Unpublished, 1982.)
'"One Flesh Until Death: Conversations on the meaning and permanence of marriage." (Unpublished, 1968-1984. Also available from SDP, © 1996.)

Moral Theology Method

'"Absolute Philosophical Relativism is an Oxymoron." (Unpublished.)
'"The Metaphors of Clan and Culture do not work to characterize the problems related to moral language's being community-dependent." (Unpublished.)
"'Patience' as Method in Moral Reasoning: Is an Ethic of Discipleship 'Absolute'?" (Unpublished, 1992. Revised, 1997)

The Case for Punishment

'"Preface: The Shape of the Following Essays." (Unpublished, 1995)
'"Durkheim: In God's Name or in Ours." (Chapter I) (Unpublished 1995) "Antisthenes: The Cultural Imperative of Lèse-Majesté." (Chapter II) (Unpublished, 1995)
'"After Antisthenes: The Scapegoat." (Chapter III) (Unpublished, 1995)
"The Power of Innocent Suffering." (Chapter IV) (Unpublished, 1995)
'"With and Beyond Girard." (Chapter V) (Unpublished, 1995)
'"Mother Knows Best." (Chapter VI) (Unpublished, 1995)
'"The Old Man Must Go." (Chapter VII) (Unpublished, 1995)
'"Empowerment." (Chapter VIII) (Unpublished, 1995)
'"Entering a New Age." (Chapter IX) (Unpublished, 1995)
'"Further Agenda in the Girardian System." (Chapter X) (Unpublished, 1995)
'"Back to the Rest of Sociology." (Chapter XI) (Unpublished, 1995)
'"What Then Should the Old Man Do?" (Chapter XII) (Unpublished, 1995)
'"Jesus in Relation to the 'Socrates' Section." (Chapter XIII) (Unpublished, 1997)

Philosophical or Systematic Theology

'"Antipedobaptism revisited: The Radical Reformation."
'"Karl Barth, Post-Christendom Theologian." (Unpublished, 1995)
'"Regarding 'Nature'." (Unpublished, 1994)
'"Trinity versus Theodicy: Hebraic Realism and the Temptation to Judge God." (Unpublished, 1996)