Body Politics: Five Practices of the Christian Community Before the Watching World

Binding and loosing, baptism, eucharist, multiplicity of gifts, and open meeting; these five New Testament practices were central in the life of the early Christian community. Some of them are still echoed in the practice of the church today. But the full social, ethical, and communal meaning of the original practices has often been covered by centuries of ritual and interpretation.

John Howard Yoder, in his inimitably direct and discerning style, uncovers the original meaning of the five practices and shows why the recovery of these practices is so important for the social, economic, and political witness of the church today.

John Howard Yoder (1927–97) taught ethics and theology as a professor at Notre Dame University and Associated Mennonite Biblical Seminary and was perhaps the most well-known Mennonite theologian in the twentieth century. Widely sought around the world as a theological educator, ethicist, and interpreter of biblical pacifism, he is best known for his study on The Politics of Jesus. Yoder is also remembered for his long-term sexual harassment and abuse of women. Click here for more on Herald Press and John Howard Yoder.