Thesis (Ph. D.)--Florida State University, 2009. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 159-176).

Evaluations of John Howard Yoder’s legacy have proliferated since his death in 1997. Although there is much disagreement, a broad consensus is forming that his theology was, on the one hand, focused on the social and political meaning of the New Testament accounts of Jesus Christ and, on the other hand, sociologically reductive, hermeneutically tendentious, and ecclesiologically ambiguous. This thesis proposes a revision of Yoder’s theology that maintains its broadly sociological emphasis but corrects for its apparent problems. In specific, adjustments are made to his social theory to open it to spiritual reality, to hone its analytical approach, and to clarify its political import. To do so his preferred framework for social criticism, the theology of the principalities and powers, is examined in the context of his wider work and its critics, and then synthesized with concepts from Pierre Bourdieu’s influential reflexive sociology. Yoder maintains that the powers, understood as social structures, are part of God’s good creation, fallen, and now being redeemed through their subjection to the risen Lord Christ. Bourdieu’s fundamental sociological concepts--habitus, capital, and field--enable an interpretation of the powers as dynamically constituted by their relations to the triune God and to personal dispositions. His treatment of social reproduction and freedom furthermore facilitate a construal of choice as a divinely gifted, sociologically mediated freedom for obedience to God. The sinful restriction of this freedom is read in light of Bourdieu’s concept of symbolic violence, which recognizes the ambiguity of violence without thereby identifying any form of killing as nonviolent. Violence and other phenomena can be investigated by a reflexive, dialogical, and empirically rigorous comparison with the life of Christ. The church’s spiritual participation in the redemption of the violent powers is conceptualized in Bourdieusian terms as a critical legitimation of other political and cultural fields made possible through autonomy from those fields. Christian social distinctiveness moreover has universal meaning because it is oriented towards the worship of God and so radically welcoming of others; and this sociological universality is distinctive because it is the result of a particular history of social struggles with and for God. These revisions to Yoder’s theology of the principalities and powers produce a sociological theology that is material and spiritual, critical and dialogical, and particular and universal. By incorporating these revisions, Yoder’s work can continue to support those who seek peace in a world riven by violence.

In this thesis I analyse the reporting and the reception of news about distant suffering in the light of John Howard Yoder‘s work on witness. Studies of news reporting about foreign wars, genocide and disasters commonly conclude that the practice of bearing witness to distant suffering contributes to a context where both journalists and spectators appear to have limited moral agency. I argue that the practice of bearing witness has ethical significance for those actively engaged in bearing witnessing. In his work on Christian witness, Yoder demonstrates how witness can be understood as a method for moral reasoning. I assert that Yoder‘s argument presents a fruitful approach for interdisciplinary consideration of the ethical significance found in the practice of bearing witness to distant human suffering. In chapter one, I lay the foundation of my investigation into the ethical agency involved in bearing witness. John Howard Yoder‘s theological approach to social ethics provides that foundation. Central to Yoder‘s claim that witness is a form of ethics, is the premise that presence testifies. Yoder calls this the 'phenomenology of social witness‘. Yoder‘s work opens new ways in which to ask questions about the practice of bearing witness as a form of social ethics. It is from this foundation that I begin to ask questions about the news media practice of bearing witness to distant suffering, the subject of chapter two. Media practices are social practices that involve a dense interaction of many layers of society. In the media practice of witnessing distant suffering, governments, charities, news media organisations, and audiences are all involved in what I call the social formation of the Global Samaritan. The foundational work on Yoder in chapter one allows me to ask the question: How is the Global Samaritan a presence, and to what does this presence testify? In chapters three and four, I focus on two of the prominent groups which contribute to the formation of the Global Samaritan: audiences and foreign correspondents. News audiences as moral agents already seem a problem for Yoder‘s claim that presence testifies. Do audiences who bear witness to distant suffering have moral agency? How can the amorphous and fleeting presence of television, internet, or twitter audiences testify? In the chapter on audiences, the initial claim regarding presence makes for an important investigation into how audiences can potentially move beyond mere spectatorship and towards participation in care for the suffering. Foreign correspondents bearing witness to distant suffering do not face the same obstacles to testifying as audiences do. After all, foreign correspondents are often live, on-the-scene of extraordinary circumstances of suffering. The danger and risks foreign correspondents face in order to report live from scenes of devastation and disaster testify to the fact that the situation is indeed dangerous and causing suffering. Yoder‘s claim that presence testifies is a claim strongly paralleled within the tradition of investigative journalism. In chapter four, I investigate the ethical function of foreign correspondent presence. I consider the foreign correspondent‘s dual role as the proxy 'eyes and ears‘ of the public and the proxy voice for those without a voice. Through these two roles, I explore major concepts involved in the practice of investigative journalism. One prominent issue I explore is the tension between the principles of a liberal democratic press and the practice of frontline reporters live, on-the-scene of extraordinary and extreme situations. In the final chapter, chapter five, I focus on the experience of three frontline reporters bearing witness to human suffering. BBC [British Broadcasting Company] reporter John Simpson‘s reflections on his coverage of the beginning of the Iraq War illustrate the importance of bearing witness as involving real presence on location. Norwegian freelance reporter Ǻsne Seierstad‘s reflections on covering the Iraq War from Baghdad further contributes to the concept of 'being there‘ as central to bearing witness. Focus on Seierstad also furthers discussion on women reporters bearing witness to war. The third reporter I highlight is BBC reporter Fergal Keane. I focus on his reflections covering the Rwandan genocide to illustrate how the claim to bearing witness involves more than spectatorship, but often involves participation. I conclude with an analysis of the media practice of bearing witness, involving the range of reporter presence to the quasi-presence of the audience, in the light of John Howard Yoder‘s claim that bearing witness is a form of social ethics.

Thesis (Ph.D.)--McMaster University, 2006. / Supervisor: Travis Kroeker ... [et al.]. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 298-304).

Thesis (M.A.)--Georgia State University, 2006. / Title from title screen. Timothy Renick, committee chair; Kathryn McClymond, Jonathan Herman, committee members. Electronic text (89 p.) : digital, PDF file. Description based on contents viewed Apr. 24, 2007. Includes bibliographical references (p. 81-89).

Thesis (M.A.)--Associated Mennonite Biblical Seminary, 2005. / Abstract. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 167-170).

Thesis (M.A.)--Associated Mennonite Biblical Seminary, 2005. / Abstract. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 167-170).

Thesis (MTh)--Stellenbosch University, 2011. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: Critical New Testament study has drawn on analytical techniques and interrogatory methods from a wide range of disciplines. In recent decades the dominance of historical and ecclesiologicallylocated approaches have been challenged by insights from literary, sociological, anthropological, cultural and ideological scholarship. These challenges have proved fruitful and opened biblical scholarship to new and generative interpretation. This plurality of interpretation has in turn challenged the reductionism of biblical scholarship, leading to the now common acknowledgement that a particular reading or reconstruction is but one of many. Unfortunately many new readings have been too tightly bound to a single method or insight. The broad interaction between these readings has been often overlooked. In contrast to this trend an epistemology of text emerging from the poststructural notion of intertextuality allows the construction of links between a range of interpretive methods. Intertextuality emerges from literary and cultural theory but spills over to make hermeneutical connections with historical, cultural and ideological theory. For the most part New Testament scholars who have appropriated the term have noted this but not thoroughly explored it. In this study an ideologically-declared overtly intertextual approach to the third canonical gospel demonstrates the interlinking hermeneutic allowed by intertextuality. John Howard Yoder's reading of the gospel of Luke underscores the development of a Christian social-ethic. This reading in turn forms the framework for the more overtly intertextual reading offered here. An intertextual reading of the New Testament Scriptures is both narratively generative and politically directive for many Christian communities. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Kritiese Nuwe Testamentiese studies het in die verlede gebruik gemaak van analitiese tegnieke en ondervraende metodes uit ‘n wye verskeidenheid van dissiplines. Meer onlangs is die oorheersing van historiese en kerklik-gerigte benaderings uitgedaag deur insigte vanuit letterkundige, sosiologiese, antropologiese, kulturele en ideologiese dissiplines. Hierdie uitdagings het vrugbaar geblyk en het Bybelse vakkennis toeganklik gemaak vir nuwe en produktiewe interpretasies. Hierdie meervoudige interpretasies het op hul beurt weer die reduksionisme in Bybelse geleerdheid uitgedaag, wat aanleiding gegee het tot die nou algemene erkenning dat ‘n bepaalde vertolking of rekonstruksie slegs een van vele is. Die breë wisselwerking tussen sulke vertolkings word dikwels misgekyk. In teenstelling met hierdie neiging, laat ‘n epistemologie van die teks wat te voorskyn kom uit ‘n poststrukturele begrip van intertekstualiteit toe dat verbande gekonstrueer word word tussen ‘n verskeidenheid van vertolkingsmetodes. Intertekstualiteit spruit voort uit literêre en kulturele teorie, maar vorm ook hermeneutiese skakels met historiese, kulturele en ideologie kritiek. Die meeste Nuwe Testamentici wat gebruik gemaak het van hierdie term, het kennis geneem van sulke verbande, maar dit nie altyd volledig verreken nie. In hierdie studie demonstreer ‘n ideologies-verklaarde, openlik intertekstuele benadering tot die derde kanonieke evangelie die gekoppelde hermeneutiek wat toegelaat word deur intertekstualiteit. John Howard Yoder se vertolking van die Evangelie van Lukas plaas klem op die ontwikkeling van ‘n Christelike sosiale etiek. Hierdie interpretasie vorm op sy beurt weer die raamwerk vir die meer openlik intertekstuele vertolking wat hier aangebied word. ‘n Intertekstuele interpretasie van die Nuwe Testamentiese geskrifte is beide verhalend produktief asook polities rigtinggewend vir talle Christelike gemeenskappe.

Thesis (DTh)--University of Stellenbosch, 2008. / Bibliography. Also available via the Internet.

This study examines the theology and social ethics of John Howard Yoder with a view toward how creation and redemption are related in his theology. The first chapter examines Yoder's aversion to certain construals of creation and argues that he is not inherently hostile to creation as such, but is cautious with respect to the possible abuse of creation as a theological and ethical category. The second chapter evaluates the nature of the state in Yoder's theology, examines his view of the Powers in this context, and argues that his view of redemption can be seen as a restoration of an eschatologically open creation. The third chapter compares Yoder's theology and social ethics with those of J. Richard Middleton, arguing that there may be a potential for interconnection between Yoder's Anabaptistic focus on the politics of Jesus and Middleton's Reformational emphasis upon the goodness of the power of creation seen in the imago Dei of Genesis I.