John Howard Yoder Comes to Dinner
Not really. It was just our family and a few guests at the Golden Corral. My brother Myron, however, and my nephew Benji engaged in a lively discussion of John Howard Yoder's writings. Since I was at the end of the table near them, I listened in part of the time. At one point Rhoda (Myron's wife) playfully held an imaginary microphone in front of Myron, noting that he had switched into his Rosedale or SMBI teaching mode. Myron countered her observation by noting that a bit of finger shaking would probably be necessary to fully adopt the teacher role. (How about it, former SMBI or Rosedale students? Was finger-shaking part of this teacher's persona?)
Some time within the past few decades I read The Politics of Jesus (POJ) by Yoder. I actually can't quite remember whether I read the whole book or not. I do remember that it was heavy reading. Some of the things Myron was telling Benji that Yoder taught made me wonder whether reading Yoder had shaped my thinking more than I remembered. Here's one thing I remember from last night's dinner conversation: Yoder says that throughout history, Christian efforts to accomplish change by political means has almost always resulted in disillusionment (not Myron's exact words, but as close as I can remember). He said furthermore that this is never because people have identified with the wrong political party. It is because they have identified with any party at all. Yes!
Benji appreciated what Yoder says about Romans 13.
Several years ago I looked up the Wikipedia entry on John Howard Yoder and learned some things I would rather not have known. This most famous Mennonite theologian had feet of clay. Although not his most serious problem, one writer on the internet describes him as also being anti-social. Myron met him once, and corroborated the internet writer's impression.
Tonight, in poking around on the internet for some "John Howard Yoder for Dummies" posts (The search actually was for JHY quotes.), I came across this simplified version of the POJ book in PDF form. (The PDF link follows the second paragraph on the blog page.) It was written by Nathan Hobby, an Australian Anabaptist. The simplified book was used in a Bible study series and contains discussion questions. I read the one chapter in Hobby's version that I remember having especially liked in the original POJ book--on the Year of Jubilee--and I wasn't sure that all the ideas I remembered from the original were present in the summary, but it was still worthwhile reading. The writing is certainly more accessible in Hobby's version than in the original.
I also found about five pages of Yoder quotes on this site. Some extraneous material is included, but by and large, the quotes are concise and profound.
Theology is not my forte. I'm glad though that some people are paying attention to this field of study and have the vision and skills to make important concepts understandable to the rest of us. Golden Corral is as good a place as any to acquire insight, and second hand versions are just fine by me--even from a younger brother and a much younger nephew.
Some time within the past few decades I read The Politics of Jesus (POJ) by Yoder. I actually can't quite remember whether I read the whole book or not. I do remember that it was heavy reading. Some of the things Myron was telling Benji that Yoder taught made me wonder whether reading Yoder had shaped my thinking more than I remembered. Here's one thing I remember from last night's dinner conversation: Yoder says that throughout history, Christian efforts to accomplish change by political means has almost always resulted in disillusionment (not Myron's exact words, but as close as I can remember). He said furthermore that this is never because people have identified with the wrong political party. It is because they have identified with any party at all. Yes!
Benji appreciated what Yoder says about Romans 13.
Several years ago I looked up the Wikipedia entry on John Howard Yoder and learned some things I would rather not have known. This most famous Mennonite theologian had feet of clay. Although not his most serious problem, one writer on the internet describes him as also being anti-social. Myron met him once, and corroborated the internet writer's impression.
Tonight, in poking around on the internet for some "John Howard Yoder for Dummies" posts (The search actually was for JHY quotes.), I came across this simplified version of the POJ book in PDF form. (The PDF link follows the second paragraph on the blog page.) It was written by Nathan Hobby, an Australian Anabaptist. The simplified book was used in a Bible study series and contains discussion questions. I read the one chapter in Hobby's version that I remember having especially liked in the original POJ book--on the Year of Jubilee--and I wasn't sure that all the ideas I remembered from the original were present in the summary, but it was still worthwhile reading. The writing is certainly more accessible in Hobby's version than in the original.
I also found about five pages of Yoder quotes on this site. Some extraneous material is included, but by and large, the quotes are concise and profound.
Theology is not my forte. I'm glad though that some people are paying attention to this field of study and have the vision and skills to make important concepts understandable to the rest of us. Golden Corral is as good a place as any to acquire insight, and second hand versions are just fine by me--even from a younger brother and a much younger nephew.
posted by Mrs. I (Miriam Iwashige) at
7:17 PM
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