The Christian Witness to the State

"Our purpose is to analyze whether it is truly the case that a Christian pacifist position rooted not in pragmatic or psychological but in Christological considerations is thereby irrelevant to the social order." —John Howard Yoder

These words by John Howard Yoder set the course of his pathbreaking treatise, The Christian Witness to the State. Yoder’s novel contribution to the debate concerning the church’s and the Christian’s calling is his starting point. He insists that Christ, through his death and resurrection, is now exercising dominion over the world. God has reclaimed his intention for creation. Thus the structures of the social order has as much potential for good as for evil. The church belongs in this world; it has a mission to and even with society.

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.