• More Yoder on Faithfulness and Tradition

    I’ve been working through a number of John Howard Yoder’s texts in the last week, reading what he had to say about ecumenicism and tradition within the “Radical Free-Church.” Here are a few quotes that really stood out to me from his essay in The Priestly Kingdom called, “The Authority of Tradition.” One thing I…

  • John Howard Yoder on Authority and Tradition

    A blog I read fairly often has been posting quotes from Yoder’s essay on tradition, they’re worth sharing here, plus you might as well check out INHABITATIO DEI. “We are not talking about ‘the authority of tradition’ as if tradition were a settled reality and we were then to figure out how it works. We…

  • Yoder – Beyond Legitimate Ends

    What Jesus renounced is not first of all violence, but rather the compulsiveness of purpose that leads the strong to violate the dignity of others. The point is not that one can attain all of one’s legitimate ends without using violent means. It is rather that our readiness to renounce our legitimate ends when they…

  • On Opening Our Doors to Critique

    On Opening Our Doors to Critique

    This post was originally written in September 2013 and it reflects issues that were going on then. Reflecting on the questions that relate to John Howard Yoder’s fall, I have been pushed to consider my own blind spots and complicity in the brokenness of the world. I have written some suggestions below for how we…

  • When Peace Preserves Violence

    As I continue to think about John Howard Yoder’s sexual misconduct and the reality that within his theology there is either implicit or explicit justification for this kind of behavior, I am concerned that my own theology is not only susceptible to this, but has already been impacted. How can I become more aware of…