A Lot With A Little by Tim Costello

Author:Tim Costello
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: ebook
Publisher: Hardie Grant Publishing
Published: 2019-06-12T16:00:00+00:00

At this time, I had John Howard Yoder – the Mennonite theologian I had written my treatise on at Rüschlikon – come and preach at our church while he was visiting Melbourne. He and his wife were guests at our place and I felt so honoured to meet them both. Some years later, John Howard Yoder was outed as a serial abuser of women. Really systemic, malicious behaviour. It was a profound scandal and he was later disowned by his Mennonite community.

This was deeply troubling to me. The victims were his female students, and the extent of the cover-up and the abuse of power (that we know so much more about now) was a seismic shock to me. It unsettled me to think that one who preached a pacifist gospel and had inspired me so much had betrayed his ideals and done such evil. This happens too often and raises the question: Can a person’s teaching be right, even if they do not live it out? Should I disregard everything he taught? I know that neither I nor anyone is perfect, but that defence cannot be a fig leaf for justifying malicious behaviour.

I now think his perfectionist teaching was too idealistic and unlivable. Even, and perhaps most especially, for him. The realism of a Niebuhr was more attainable, and it has continued to guide my thinking.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.