Can John Howard Yoder’s Ethics Embrace the Entire Old Testament as Scripture?

Authors

  • Paul J. KISSLING Dr. Paul J. Kissling is Professor of Old Testament and Biblical Languages and Research Director for the TCMI Institute, Heiligenkreuz, Austria., Australia

Keywords:

John Howard Yoder’s Ethics, Old Testament as Scripture, Yoder’s pacifist ethics, pacifist Jewish Rabbi Steven Schwarzchild

Abstract

John Goldingay, in his recent Israel’s Gospel: Old Testament Theology (p. 764) refers to Yoder’s “anti-Ezra-ism” as the “left hand of his Christology.” In this paper I will examine whether Yoder’s pacifist ethics is ultimately compatible with the acceptance of the entire trustworthiness of the Old Testament Scriptures. In particular I will examine his view of Ezra-Nehemiah, the compatibility of the self-defense of Jews recorded in Esther 9 with Yoder’s pacifism, and issues arising from his written interaction with pacifist Jewish Rabbi Steven Schwarzchild in Yoder’s posthumous The Jewish-Christian Schism Revisited.

 

 

 

 

 

Author Biography

Paul J. KISSLING, Dr. Paul J. Kissling is Professor of Old Testament and Biblical Languages and Research Director for the TCMI Institute, Heiligenkreuz, Austria.

Dr. Paul J. Kissling is Professor of Old Testament and Biblical Languages and Research Director for the TCMI Institute, Heiligenkreuz, Austria. He is an ordained minister and has served as a pastor, professor, academic administrator, editor and author in the United States, England, and Austria. Paul has taught and preached in more than twenty-five countries. His Ph.D. is in Hebrew Bible from the University of Sheffield. He and his wife Catherine have two adult sons, Joshua and Jeremiah.

References

  1. Barclay, John M. G. Jews in the Mediterranean Diaspora from Alexander to Trajan (323 BCE – 117 CE). Edinburgh: T & T Clark, 1996.
  2. Cahill, Lisa Sowle. Love Your Enemies. Discipleship, Pacifism, and Just War Theory. Minneapolis: Fortress, 1994.
  3. Eskenazi, Tamara Cohn. In An Age of Prose: A Literary Approach to Ezra-Nehemiah. SBLMS 36. Atlanta: Scholars Press, 1988.
  4. Goldingay, John. Israel’s Gospel. Old Testament Theology, Volume 1, Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 2004.
  5. Jews and Christians. The Parting of the Ways A.D. 70 to 135. Edited by James D. G. Dunn. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1999.
  6. Kissling, Paul J. Genesis Volume 1. College Press NIV Commentary. Old Testament. Joplin, MO: College Press, 2004.
  7. Must Christianity Be Violent? Reflections on History, Practice, and Theology. Edited by Kenneth R. Chase and Alan Jacobs. Grand Rapids: Brazos, 2003.
  8. Obed, B. “Yet I have been to them fum vdqml” pp. 103-114 in Sefer Moshe. The Moshe Weinfeld Jubilee Volume. Edited by Chaim Cohen, Avi Hurvitz, and Shalom M. Paul. Winona Lake, IN: Eisenbrauns, 2004.
  9. Reimer, A. James. “Theological Orthodoxy and Jewish Christianity: A Personal Tribute to John Howard Yoder.” Pages 430-448 in The Wisdom of the Cross. Essays in Honor of John Howard Yoder. Edited by Stanley Hauerwas, et al. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1999.
  10. Sailhamer, John. “Biblical Theology and the Composition of the Hebrew Bible.” Pp. 25-37 in Biblical Theology. Retrospect and Prospect. Edited by Scott J. Hafemann. Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity, 2002.
  11. Smith-Christopher, Daniel L. A Biblical Theology of Exile. Overtures to Biblical Theology. Minneapolis: Fortress, 2002.
  12. Schnabel, Eckhard J. Early Christian Mission. 2 Volumes. Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity, 2004.
  13. Thompson, J. A.. The Book of Jeremiah. NICOT. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1980.
  14. Thronvielt, Mar A.. Ezra-Nehemiah. Interpretation. Louisville: John Knox, 1992.
  15. VanderKam, James C.. “Exile in the Early Jewish Apocalyptic Literature.” Pages 89-109 (p. 90 is quoted above) in Exile: Old Testament, Jewish & Christian Conceptions. Edited by James M. Scott. SJSJ Leiden: Brill, 1997.
  16. The Wisdom of the Cross. Essays in Honor of John Howard Yoder. Edited by Stanley Hauerwas, Christ K. Huebner, Harry J. Huebner, and Mark Thiessen Nation. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1999. WOC
  17. Yoder, John Howard. Body Politics: Five Practices before the Watching World.Scottdale, PA: Herald Press, 2001.
  18. Yoder, John Howard. For the Nations. Essays Public & Evangelical. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1997. FTN
  19. Yoder, John Howard. The Jewish-Christian Schism Revisited. Edited by Michael G. Cartwright and Peter Ochs. Radical Traditions Series. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2003. JCSR
  20. Yoder, John Howard. The Original Revolution. Essays on Christian Pacifism. Eugene, OR: Wipf and Stock, 1998.
  21. Yoder, John Howard. The Politics of Jesus. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1972. Revised Edition 1994.
  22. Yoder, John Howard. When War is Just. Being Honest in Just-War Thinking. Second Edition. Eugene, OR: Wipf and Stock, 1996.
THEOLOGICAL REFLECTIONS #8 (2007)

Downloads

How to Cite

J. KISSLING, Paul. 2008. “Can John Howard Yoder’s Ethics Embrace the Entire Old Testament As Scripture?”. Theological Reflections: Eastern European Journal of Theology, no. 8 (June):217-28. http://reflections.eeit-edu.info/article/view/89438.

Issue

No. 8 (2007): Theological Reflections: Euro-Asian Journal of Theology

Section

Articles

License

Copyright (c) 2020 Paul J. KISSLING

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.

All articles published in the Journal are distributed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License

By submitting an article for publication in Theological Reflections: Eastern European Journal of Theology the author grants the editors the right to publish the article and distribute it in electronic and print form.

The author reserves all copyrights and the right to use the materials of the article in whole or in part for educational purposes, to write his own dissertations, to prepare abstracts, conference reports, oral presentations, etc., as well as post electronic copies of articles (including the final electronic version downloaded from the journal’s official website) on non-commercial web-resources without the consent of the editorial board and founders.