Chris K. Huebner – författare

The work of John Howard Yoder has become increasingly influential in recent years. Moreover, it is gaining influence in some surprising places. No longer restricted to the world of theological ethicists and Mennonites, Yoder has been discovered as a refreshing voice by scholars working in many other fields. For thirty-five years, Yoder was known primarily as an articulate defender of Christian pacifism against a theological ethics guild dominated by the Troeltschian assumptions reflected in the work of Walter Rauschenbusch and Reinhold and Richard Niebuhr. But in the last decade, there has been a clearly identifiable shift in direction. 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.

The work of John Howard Yoder has become increasingly influential in recent years. Moreover, it is gaining influence in some surprising places. No longer restricted to the world of theological ethicists and Mennonites, Yoder has been discovered as a refreshing voice by scholars working in many other fields. For thirty-five years, Yoder was known primarily as an articulate defender of Christian pacifism against a theological ethics guild dominated by the Troeltschian assumptions reflected in the work of Walter Rauschenbusch and Reinhold and Richard Niebuhr. But in the last decade, there has been a clearly identifiable shift in direction. 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.

Few recent Christian thinkers have been as widely influential as John Howard Yoder (1927-1997). Encompassing a teaching career of more than thirty years and such landmark publications as ''The Politics of Jesus'', Yoder''s life and thought have profoundly impacted students and colleagues from a broad range of disciplines. In the words of Stanley Hauerwas, Yoder is probably the major theologican/ethicists of this half-century in America and certainly the leading Mennonite theologian of the twentieth century.''The Wisdom of the Cross'' is the only book to provide valuable secondary essays engaging Yoder''s central theological concerns, together with a biographical reflection on his life and legacy. Written by scholars both from within and outside of Yoder''s Mennonite community, these essays develop the most significant aspects of Yoder''s thought - from his powerful defense of Christian pacifism to his seminal analysis of the politics of Jesus to his challenging contributions to Christian social ethics, ecclesiology, and theological method. The book also includes a previously unpublished essay on moral absolutes by Yoder himself. A fitting tribute to Yoder''s distinguished career, this volume will be useful to readers new to Yoder''s work and to those wishing to probe more deeply into the implications of his thought.