Editing John Howard Yoder (section)

==Sexual abuse==
According to articles in ''[[The Elkhart Truth]]'', allegations that Yoder had sexually abused, harassed, and assaulted women circulated for decades and became known in wider Christian circles, but were never publicly acknowledged until 1992.<ref name="Elkhart" />{{full citation needed|date=March 2019}} After repeated institutional failures to address these abuses a group of victims threatened to engage in a public protest at a [[Bethel College (Kansas)|Bethel College]] (in [[North Newton, Kansas]]) conference where Yoder was to be a speaker. The college President rescinded Yoder's invitation, the student newspaper reported the story, and one of the victims reported that Bethel was "the first institution in the church that has taken this seriously".<ref>''Mennonite Weekly Review''. March 12, 1992.</ref>{{full citation needed|date=March 2019}} ''The Elkhart Truth'' articles detail extensive allegations of harassment of students and others.<ref name="Elkhart">{{cite web |url=http://peacetheology.net/john-h-yoder/john-howard-yoder%E2%80%99s-sexual-misconduct%E2%80%94part-five-2 |title=John Howard Yoder's Sexual Misconduct |first=Tom |last=Price |publisher=The Elkhart (Indiana) Truth |year=1992 |access-date=March 14, 2007}}</ref>{{full citation needed|date=March 2019}}

From the summer of 1992 to the summer of 1996, Yoder submitted to the discipline of the [[Indiana-Michigan Mennonite Conference|Indiana–Michigan Conference]] of the Mennonite Church for allegations of sexual misconduct. Yoder's writing in the unpublished 1995 book ''The Case for Punishment'' suggested he believed he was the innocent scapegoat of a conspiracy. Upon the conclusion of the process, the church urged Yoder "to use his gifts of writing and teaching."{{sfn|Nation|2003}}

Despite the allegations of abuse, Yoder's obituary in ''[[The New York Times]]'' did not mention any improprieties.<ref>{{cite news |last=Steinfels |first=Peter |author-link=Peter Steinfels |date=January 7, 1998 |title=John H. Yoder, Theologian At Notre Dame, Is Dead at 70 |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1998/01/07/us/john-h-yoder-theologian-at-notre-dame-is-dead-at-70.html |url-access=limited |newspaper=The New York Times |access-date=March 13, 2019}}</ref> Sixteen years after his death, in October 2013, ''The New York Times'' ran an article discussing the allegations, quoting one of the complainants Carolyn Heggen who claimed that more than 50 women "said that Mr. Yoder had touched them or made advances." The article also discussed the recent formation of a support group for victims.<ref>{{cite news |last=Oppenheimer |first=Mark |date=October 11, 2013 |title=A Theologian's Influence, and Stained Past, Live On |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2013/10/12/us/john-howard-yoders-dark-past-and-influence-lives-on-for-mennonites.html?pagewanted=all |url-access=limited |newspaper=The New York Times |access-date=March 13, 2019}}</ref>

More recently,{{When|date=May 2022}} the Mennonite church and Christian peace theologians are actively trying to come to grips with the sexual abuse&nbsp;– and apparent institutional cover-up&nbsp;– which taints the legacy of John Howard Yoder.{{sfn|Goossen|2015}}

In October 2014, the governing board of [[Anabaptist Mennonite Biblical Seminary]] (AMBS) released the following statement:

{{blockquote|With a desire to contribute to the larger church discernment process and to own the specific responsibility of the seminary, the AMBS board in their October 23–25 meeting approved a statement acknowledging the pain suffered by women who were victimized by Yoder:

{{blockquote|As an AMBS Board, we lament the terrible abuse many women suffered from John Howard Yoder. We also lament that there has not been transparency about how the seminary's leadership responded at that time or any institutional public acknowledgement of regret for what went so horribly wrong. We commit to an ongoing, transparent process of institutional accountability which the president along with the board chair initiated, including work with the historian who will provide a scholarly analysis of what transpired. We will respond more fully once the historical account is published. We also support the planning of an AMBS-based service of lament, acknowledgement and hope in March 2015.}}}}

Seminary leaders held an AMBS-based gathering, including a Service of Lament, Confession, and Hope on the weekend of March 21–22, 2015.<ref>{{cite news |last=Klassen |first=Mary E. |date=December 5, 2014 |title=AMBS Service to Acknowledge Harm from Yoder Actions |url=https://themennonite.org/daily-news/ambs-service-acknowledge-harm-from-yoder-actions/ |work=The Mennonite |access-date=March 13, 2019 |archive-date=March 1, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190301024426/https://themennonite.org/daily-news/ambs-service-acknowledge-harm-from-yoder-actions/ |url-status=dead }}</ref>

The historian Rachel Waltner Goossen was commissioned by [[Mennonite Church USA]] to produce a complete report chronicling Yoder's sexual abuse and church responses to it, which was published in January 2015.{{sfn|Goossen|2015}}<ref>{{cite news |last=Huber |first=Tim |date=January 5, 2015 |title=New Sources Give Clearer View of Abuse by Theologian |work=Mennonite World Review |url=https://anabaptistworld.org/new-sources-give-clearer-view-of-abuse-by-theologian/ |access-date=November 20, 2024}}</ref>