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John Howard Yoder
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==Thought== {{more citations needed section|date=September 2018}} Yoder is best remembered for his work related to [[Christian ethics]]. Rejecting the assumption that human history is driven by coercive power, Yoder argued that it was rather God β working in, with, and through the [[nonviolent]], [[nonresistance|nonresistant]] community of disciples of Jesus β who has been the ultimate motivational force in human affairs. When a Christian church in the past made alliances with political rulers, it was because it had lost confidence in this truth. He called the arrangement whereby the state and the church each supported the goals of the other [[Constantinianism]], and he regarded this arrangement as a dangerous and constant temptation. He argued that the early Church was a socially subversive community because of their shared life focusing on the Kingdom of God rather than the kingdoms of any mere man, but later after the rise of [[Constantine the Great]] the more worldly focused Church came to covet temporal power and political influence. Yoder called this the [[Constantinian shift]]. He further argued that Jesus himself rejected this temptation, even to the point of dying a horrible and cruel death. The resurrection of Jesus from the dead was, in this view, God's way of vindicating Christ's unwavering obedience, as well as setting the example of a life laid down in serving and loving others, for all who claim to follow Jesus. ''Constantine Revisited: Leithart, Yoder, and the Constantinian Debate'' (2013), edited by [[John D. Roth]], is a collection of essays by Christian pacifists addressing the scholarly debate between Yoder and [[Peter Leithart]] about the nature of the Emperor [[Constantine the Great|Constantine]]'s impact on Christianity. In his book ''Constantine Revisited'', Leithart opposed Yoder's argument that God preferred Christians to focus on the spiritual needs around them and to build the Kingdom of God, rejecting coercion for a life of service, thereby remaining a politically powerless, physically defenseless minority.<ref name="RothDebate">{{cite news |date=June 3, 2014 |title=Review of ''Constantine Revisited: Leithart, Yoder, and the Constantinian Debate'', Edited by John D. Roth |url=https://www.christiancentury.org/reviews/2014-05/constantine-revisited-leithart-yoder-and-constantinian-debate-edited-john-d-roth |work=The Christian Century |access-date=September 26, 2018}}</ref> Likewise, Yoder argued, the primary responsibility of Christians is not to take over society and impose their convictions and values on people who don't share their faith, but to "be the church." By refusing to return evil for evil, by living in peace, sharing goods, and doing deeds of charity such as caring for widows and orphans as opportunities arise, the church witnesses, says Yoder, to the fact that an alternative to a society based on violence or the threat of violence has been made possible by the life, death, resurrection and teachings of Jesus. The Kingdom of God comes to rule in a different way, by one heart at a time yielding to the love of God. Yoder claims that the church thus lives in the conviction that God calls Christians to imitate the way of Christ in his absolute obedience, even if it leads to their deaths, for they, too, will finally be vindicated in resurrection. In bringing traditional Mennonite convictions to the attention of a wider critical audience, Yoder reenergized stale theological debates over foundational Christian [[ecclesiology|ecclesiological]], [[Christology|Christological]], and ethical beliefs. Yoder rejected [[Age of Enlightenment|Enlightenment]] presuppositions, epitomized by [[Immanuel Kant]], about the possibility of a universal, rational ethic. Abandoning the search for a universal ethic underlying Christian and non-Christian morality, as well as attempts to "translate" Christian convictions into a common moral parlance, he argued that what is expected of Christians, morally, need not be binding for all people. Yoder defended himself against charges of incoherence and [[hypocrisy]] by arguing for the legitimacy of moral [[double standards]], and by pointing out that since world affairs are ultimately governed by God's providence, Christians are better off being the Church, than following compromised moral systems that try to reconcile biblical revelation with the necessities of governance.
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