The Heterodox Yoder

The Heterodox Yoder provides a critical rereading of Yoders corpus through his own conviction that discipleship is most basically ethics. Tracing the development of Yoders theological foundations through to their final role in redefining Jewish-Christian and ecumenical relations this volume explains why the appropriation and use of the language of politics eventually constrains Yoders ethical vision to the point that it reframes Christianity within the limits of social ethics alone. Because this vision self-consciously excludes or at best relativizes many of the claims of orthodox Christianity (including but not limited to the ecumenical creeds) Martens concludes that Yoders Christian ethic is best described as heterodox. [T]here has been an influx of recent books on Yoder that has ensured that the significance of his work will continue to be engaged. Most of those books try to help us better understand Yoder. Martens tries to help us understand what may be some troubling trajectories associated with Yoders work. He has therefore written a book that all who are concerned with the significance of Yoders work must take seriously. I confess I remain unconvinced by some of Martens criticisms. Nonetheless this is a book that should be taken seriously. --Stanley Hauerwas Gilbert T. Rowe Professor of Theological Ethics Duke Divinity School [S]ince his death the swell of interest in John Howard Yoders contributions to Christian ethics--as seen in the many constructive appropriations of his work--has shown no signs of dissipating. Dispersion however is finally surfacing with Paul Martens rather unorthodox reading of Yoder. . . . By carefully identifying and critically examining in Yoders corpus a trajectory toward practices and politics and away from beliefs and creeds Martens offers a provocative-and I think helpful-argument that should stimulate and inform future waves of scholarship about or indebted to Yoder. --Tobas Winright Associate Professor of Theological Ethics Saint Louis University Among the excellent studies of Yoder published in recent years this one stands out for its controversial yet well-argued thesis. Like Yoder himself Martens conceals his considerable knowledge in a lively style and dislodges fixed assumptions with a light touch. This book ensures that in his legacy Yoder will remain as resistant to assimilation as he was in his lifetime and no one with a stake in that legacy can afford to ignore it. --Gerald McKenny Associate Professor of Christian Ethics Theology University of Notre Dame This is a soul-wrenching book . . . for its author above all. John Howard Yoder measured his Church and our world with unyielding measures of reason and of witness. In The Heterodox Yoder Paul Martens holds the words of his beloved John Yoder up to the same measure. No reading or discussion of Yoder will remain untouched by the results. --Peter Ochs Bronfman Professor of Modern Judaic Studies University of Virginia Building on a persuasive account of key shifts in John Howard Yoders thinking Paul Martens advances a provocative and refreshing thesis: Yoders account of the particularity of Jesus Christ as ethical is ultimately heterodox. Yet rather than reject him Martens asks how critical engagement with Yoder might nevertheless help Christians resist the many temptations of modernity. The Heterodox Yoder is a lively and important book. --Jeremy M. Bergen Assistant Professor of Religious Studies and Theology Conrad Grebel University College University of Waterloo Paul Martens held a postdoctoral research fellowship at The University of Notre Dame and currently teaches Christian Ethics at Baylor University. He has co-edited several works by John Howard Yoder including Nonviolence: A Brief History and Revolutionary Christianity: The 1966 South American Lectures (Cascade Books 2012).