Recovering from the Anabaptist Vision: New Essays in Anabaptist Identity and Theological Method

by Laura Schmidt Roberts (Editor), Paul Martens (Editor), Myron Penner (Editor)

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.

Genres: Theology, Christian Non Fiction

200 pages, Paperback

Published February 20, 2020

Reviews

[Emily]

P. 101. “I think about the violence perpetrated daily against the people of color, especially Indigenous, Black, and Latina/o/x people. I think about the violence against women, girls, transgender people, and those who identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual, or other non-normative sexualities. Mennonite theological methodology in its current forms does not have the capacity to attend to the interlocking and traumatic nature of these violations.”

Leaving out Asians in this quote shows the inherent blindness and lack of understanding about racism towards Asians. Sadly, this article was resonating with me until the last paragraph. Quite ironically, the author tried to be “interlocking”, “trauma Informed”, and “contextual”, but ended up giving me more trauma.

Someone should apologize to the Asian Americans who have been beaten, raped, shot at and killed, pushed in front of subway trains, and experienced micro aggressions repeatedly over a lifetime. Someone should apologize to the Asian women forced into servitude. Because apparently, they did not experience enough violence to be included in this text.

This was one article out of several in a book that is seeking to be reflective about the future of Anabaptism. The last article was probably the one worth reading. I commend the effort, but the editors and countless people who read this book prior to its publishing should have caught the omission I noted above.