Many people have heard of the name of Bill Cosby both before and after the rising accusations of sexual predation brought against him. Cosby is the famed American comedian whose The Cosby Show entertained and continues to entertain America and many around the world. John Howard Yoder is however little known beyond the circles of Christian theologians. He was a Professor of Christian theology both at Anabaptist Mennonite Biblical Seminary and the University of Notre Dame and one of those who have significantly shaped what may be known as post-liberal Christian theology and ethics. Ordinarily, there would be no direct connection between the comedian and the theologian unless we take it that theology could be understood as an exercise in divine comedy.
However, what ties Cosby and Yoder together is that they have both been accused of sexually molesting women. While the number may vary, so far over fifty women have accused Cosby of sexual molestation. A similar thing may be said of Yoder. It is said that he was accused by about one hundred women of sexual molestation. What seems interesting, however, is the kind of reaction that both of them have received. Yoder was for a while disciplined by his church, the Mennonite Church. However, he died in apparent respectability. Today, there are few theologians around the world who are as influential as Yoder. His Politics of Jesus is required reading in all graduate programs of theology in the United States. In fact, anyone trained in the United States, especially at Duke Divinity School, can hardly go through the program without a good dose of the work of Yoder.
Yoder's history with women, however, troubled many students who have bought into his vision of what it means to be a Christian. Some of these students, who are now professors at many universities and colleges around the United States, have struggled to make sense of what to do with the work of such an influential theologian but who was at the same time a sexual predator. This is a broad conclusion of what they proposed to do with Yoder's legacy:
"At this point, we shift to analyzing Yoder’s behavior from a theological point of view. To begin, we address some of the current challenges in approaching the issue. To conclude, we offer a preliminary way of thinking about Yoder’s behavior in relationship to his theology. To state it bluntly, when judged by standards internal to his own writing, what Yoder did makes a lie of what he said. Yet, rather than entirely dismissing what he said, we take certain aspects of his theology to be constructive and even hopeful in the wake of the devastation his actions have caused so many."
Compare this response with the reaction Bill Cosby has received so far. One of the most pronounced is the fact that Cosby has been stripped of many of the honorary degrees granted to him by some universities, including those where many of Yoder's followers now teach. While treating what Cosby is accused of in utmost seriousness, is it possible to evaluate it as the theologians have done with one of their own or are the theologians wrong to have evaluated Yoder the way they have done so far. Must Yoder's works simply be jettisoned because it made "a lie" of his own actions?
However, what ties Cosby and Yoder together is that they have both been accused of sexually molesting women. While the number may vary, so far over fifty women have accused Cosby of sexual molestation. A similar thing may be said of Yoder. It is said that he was accused by about one hundred women of sexual molestation. What seems interesting, however, is the kind of reaction that both of them have received. Yoder was for a while disciplined by his church, the Mennonite Church. However, he died in apparent respectability. Today, there are few theologians around the world who are as influential as Yoder. His Politics of Jesus is required reading in all graduate programs of theology in the United States. In fact, anyone trained in the United States, especially at Duke Divinity School, can hardly go through the program without a good dose of the work of Yoder.
Yoder's history with women, however, troubled many students who have bought into his vision of what it means to be a Christian. Some of these students, who are now professors at many universities and colleges around the United States, have struggled to make sense of what to do with the work of such an influential theologian but who was at the same time a sexual predator. This is a broad conclusion of what they proposed to do with Yoder's legacy:
"At this point, we shift to analyzing Yoder’s behavior from a theological point of view. To begin, we address some of the current challenges in approaching the issue. To conclude, we offer a preliminary way of thinking about Yoder’s behavior in relationship to his theology. To state it bluntly, when judged by standards internal to his own writing, what Yoder did makes a lie of what he said. Yet, rather than entirely dismissing what he said, we take certain aspects of his theology to be constructive and even hopeful in the wake of the devastation his actions have caused so many."
Compare this response with the reaction Bill Cosby has received so far. One of the most pronounced is the fact that Cosby has been stripped of many of the honorary degrees granted to him by some universities, including those where many of Yoder's followers now teach. While treating what Cosby is accused of in utmost seriousness, is it possible to evaluate it as the theologians have done with one of their own or are the theologians wrong to have evaluated Yoder the way they have done so far. Must Yoder's works simply be jettisoned because it made "a lie" of his own actions?
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