Last week, in my desperate need to read more and more of John Howard Yoder’s work in my precious free time, I ordered his For The Nations: Essays Public & Evangelical.
The book actually comes at the perfect time. Recently, my commitment to Christian nonviolence has been called into question by my peers. I recently received an email from a friend with a link to the Institute for Religious Democracy’s case against Yoder and Hauerwas’ s call for the Church to Christian pacifism: Playing With Pacifism. In effect, the author questioned the mainline church’s now oh-so-trendy commitment to pacifism in an age of terror.
After considerable thought, here is my response:
The problem with organizations like the Institute for Religious Democracy really begins with the name of the aforementioned organization. The notion that there can be a “Religious Democracy” comes from a group of people who would prefer to be relevant to society rather than faithful to the gospel. Christians, however, live under a monarchy, the kingship of Christ and not any democracy. Christian pacifists like Yoder and Hauerwas as mentioned in the article are popular in seminary circles; but their message is not heeded because what they are calling for is faithfulness to Christ first and foremost, and that is not happening in the Church. Hauerwas is despised at Brite, believe it or not. It is a liberal idea that Christians should conform their ideas to the world, take the gay marriage and abortion issue. Liberal Christians want churches to accept gay ordination and marriage, so they are more likely to mix Christian ideas with the latest science or gay rights political slogan. In the same way, conservatives mix Christianity with American ideas of patriotism and masculinity to promote a crusader war mentality that is anything but the original just war theory of Augustine. Augustine was originally deemed heretic because of his doctrines of Just War. Christian pacifism was once the original orthodox Christian stance. Now, the orthodox claim that Just war is the orthodox stance, when in reality, it never has been and never will be. For the meek shall inherit the earth.
It must have been an act of God for me to receive For The Nations in the mail today.
Truth and Peace, Rod
rod,
is yoder an evangelical? just curious – i think i had probably pegged him as more mainline, or at least an evangelical-leaning mainline type. that’s the problem with pegging people, i suppose
here’s a question i have: are non-violence and pacifism synonymous? i think they carry certain connotations, the first being relevant more to individuals and local communities (esp. participating in activism) and the latter (in my jumbled mind) seems to relate more to national endeavors and such (e.g. participation in war). this question quite possibly has nothing to do with your post lolz, but it’s one that popped into my mind while reading.
later friend (& pray that a library takes a look at rachel’s resumes!)
mf
Hey Mike,
That is actually a great question. Evangelicals consider Yoder to be biblical, as the book in the intro states. I do not see him as mainstream; I think he is more of a third way.
Nonviolence and pacifism are not synonymous. Christian nonviolence is a particular dedication to nonviolence that includes pacifism (the issue of war) but is also expanded in other areas such as loving our immediate neighbors and forgiving them as well as our enemies at work in our everyday life. Hauerwas even considers vegetarianism to be part of Christian nonviolence.
I will pray for Rachel.
Truth and Peace,
Rod