Collection HM1/048 - John Howard Yoder Papers

John Howard Yoder (1927-1997) was a Mennonite theologian and ethicist perhaps best known for his defense of pacifism. Born and raised in Ohio, Yoder completed his undergraduate and graduate studies at Goshen College in Indiana before moving to France in 1949 to serve with Mennonite Central Committee. While in Europe, he helped to manage postwar relief projects, worked to reestablish French Mennonite commitment to pacifism and became a peace advocate in larger ecumenical circles throughout Western Europe.

After returning to the United States in 1957, Yoder worked in a variety of jobs, working with Mennonite Board of Missions and the Council of World Churches, and completed his Doctorate of Theology from Basel University. He began a professorial career at Goshen College (1958-1959), and went on to teach at Associated Mennonite Biblical Seminaries (1960-1984, 1997) and Notre Dame (1967-1997). A dedicated student of languages, Yoder also spent several years teaching abroad in France, Argentina, and Jerusalem.

Although Yoder had been gaining recognition in the academic world since he began publishing in the 1950s, his book The Politics of Jesus (1972) secured his status as a theologian. In that work he argued that in order to faithfully follow Jesus one must embrace pacifism and accept that the Church has a role to play in broader society. Yoder focused on these themes in many of his other works, including his books The Christian Witness to the State (1964), Nevertheless (1971), The Priestly Kingdom (1984), and For the Nations (1997).

Allegations of Yoder's sexual harassment of women, some of whom were his students, first surfaced in the 1970s. In 1991, eight women formally charged Yoder with sexual misconduct through church channels. The 1991 charges resulted in the suspension of Yoder's ministerial credentials and prolonged disciplinary action by the Indiana-Michigan Conference of the Mennonite Church. In 1996, conference administrators announced that they considered the discipline process to have concluded, and they encouraged "Yoder and the church to use his gifts of writing and teaching."

At the time of his death in 1997, Yoder had published seventeen books and countless academic articles, many relating to his pacifist stance and to the social and moral duties of Christians. His writings and lectures continue to be published posthumously, and he remains an influential Christian ethicist today.