This volume draws together leading theologians and Christian ethicists from across the globe to critically engage with and reflect upon Gerald McKenny, widely acknowledged as one of the most original and important Christian ethicists working today. The essays highlight the significance of McKenny's interventions with a range of important debates in contemporary theological ethics, ranging from analyses of the Protestant conception of grace to bioethics and medicine. The Ethics of Grace is the first volume to facilitate critical engagements with a number of key themes in McKenny's work, not in the least his interpretation of Karl Barth. Among the contributions, Jennifer Herdt discusses McKenny's Barthian interest in the relationship between nature and grace; Angela Carpenter uses his Barthian understanding of grace and human action as a framework to discuss Jonathan Edwards; Stanley Hauerwas pushes McKenny's theology beyond Barth. Economic, political, and technological themes are also discussed in depth, for instance in Robert Song's chapter on the phenomenology of biotechnological enhancement. Reaching far beyond the work of Gerald McKenny, this multifaceted volume is a high-level resource for students and scholars of theological and philosophical ethics.

This volume performs a critical and vibrant reconstruction of Anabaptist identity and theological method, in the wake of the recent revelations of the depth of the sexual abuse perpetrated by the most influential Anabaptist theologian of the 20th century, John Howard Yoder. In an attempt to liberate Anabaptist theology and identity from the constricting vision appropriated and reformulated by Yoder, these essays refuse the determinative categories of the last half century supplied by and carried beyond Harold Bender's The Anabaptist Vision. While still under the shadow of decades of trauma, a recontexualized conversation about Anabaptist theology and identity emerges in this volume that is ecumenically engaged, philosophically astute, psychologically attuned, and resolutely vulnerable. The volume offers a Trinitarian and Christological framework that holds together the importance of Scripture, tradition, and the lived experience of the Christian community, as the contributors examine a wide variety of issues such as Mennonite feminism, Anabaptist queer theology, and Mennonite theological methods. These essays interrogate the operations of power, violence, exclusion, and privilege in methodology in this changed context, offering self-critical constructive alternatives for articulating Anabaptist theology and identity.

Synopsis: The ambitious and accessible essays collected in this volume were presented by John Howard Yoder during an extensive visit to South America in 1966. Reflecting and also subverting the acknowledged "faddish" attempt to address the revolutionary nature of Christianity, these lectures provide an illuminating snapshot of Yoder's vibrant initial encounter with Latin American Christianity. In these lectures, he thematically addresses the shape of the free church, the Christian practice of peace, and the place of the church in the midst of revolution. In a manner that betrays his confidence in the eventual triumph of faithfulness, Yoder concludes that the peace-witnessing free church is, by definition, always the community that is the soul and conscience of our revolutionary age. Endorsements: "Revolutionary Christianity will be a welcome addition to the Yoder corpus for those familiar with his work as well as those who will read him for the first time. For the latter, Revolutionary Christianity is a wonderful introduction to the major themes in his work. For the former, this book is a very helpful reminder of the interconnectedness of Yoder's thought. We are fortunate, therefore, to have yet another book by Yoder." -Stanley Hauerwas, Gilbert T. Rowe Professor of Theological Ethics at Duke Divinity School "Revolutionary Christianity is vintage Yoder These lectures from 1966 have aged well. New readers will discover accessible wisdom from the same vineyard that produced The Politics of Jesus. Those who have enjoyed later harvests of the fruit of this vine known for its robust character will enjoy the subtle differences of this particular vintage. All readers should marvel at John Howard Yoder's capacity to speak a fresh word then and now" -Michael G. Cartwright Dean of Ecumenical and Interfaith Programs at the University of Indianapolis "This volume makes a significant contribution to the important task of bringing into print all the treasures in Yoder's unpublished materials. John Howard Yoder is the greatest Mennonite theologian/ethicist in our history. Revolutionary Christianity provides further insight into his fertile, creative mind." -Ronald J. Sider Professor of Theology, Holistic Ministry & Public Policy Palmer Seminary at Eastern University "For those of us that heard some of these lectures in the atmosphere of social turmoil of Latin America in the 1960s and 1970's, it is a joy to see them gathered and published in book form. Yoder's fresh and creative way of reading both Scripture and the Anabaptist tradition is still surprising and challenging. I am amazed by the continued relevance of his theological reflection and thankful for it." -Samuel Escobar Professor Emeritus Palmer Theological Seminary and Theological Seminary of the Spanish Baptist Union, Madrid Author Biography: John Howard Yoder taught at Associated Mennonite Biblical Seminary and later became a professor of theology and ethics at the University of Notre Dame and a fellow of the Joan B. Kroc Institute for International Peace Studies. He is the author of The Politics of Jesus (1972), The Priestly Kingdom (1984), For the Nations (1997), and several other books.

Description: The Heterodox Yoder provides a critical rereading of Yoder's corpus through his own conviction that discipleship is, most basically, ethics. Tracing the development of Yoder's 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 Yoder's 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 Yoder's Christian ethic is best described as heterodox. Endorsements: "" 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 Yoder's work. He has, therefore, written a book that all who are concerned with the significance of Yoder's 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 Yoder's 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 Yoder's 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 Yoder's thinking, Paul Martens advances a provocative and refreshing thesis: Yoder's 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 About the Contributor(s): 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).

This volume draws together leading theologians and Christian ethicists from across the globe to critically engage with and reflect upon Gerald McKenny, widely acknowledged as one of the most original and important Christian ethicists working today. The essays highlight the significance of McKenny’s interventions with a range of important debates in contemporary theological ethics, ranging from analyses of the Protestant conception of grace to bioethics and medicine. The Ethics of Grace is the first volume to facilitate critical engagements with a number of key themes in McKenny’s work, not in the least his interpretation of Karl Barth. Among the contributions, Jennifer Herdt discusses McKenny’s Barthian interest in the relationship between nature and grace; Angela Carpenter uses his Barthian understanding of grace and human action as a framework to discuss Jonathan Edwards; Stanley Hauerwas pushes McKenny’s theology beyond Barth. Economic, political, and technological themes are also discussed in depth, for instance in Robert Song’s chapter on the phenomenology of biotechnological enhancement. Reaching far beyond the work of Gerald McKenny, this multifaceted volume is a high-level resource for students and scholars of theological and philosophical ethics.