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Tim Gorringe, Nonviolence: A Brief History. The Warsaw Lectures. By John Howard Yoder. Edited by Paul Martens, Matthew Porter, and Myles Werntz., The Journal of Theological Studies, Volume 61, Issue 2, October 2010, Pages 913–914, https://doi.org/10.1093/jts/flq137
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It follows from the claim that Christianity has a ‘gospel’ that its exposition ought both to illuminate and to exhilarate. As Karl Barth used to say, there is no place for dull or morose thoughts in Christian theology. These eleven lectures, delivered in Warsaw in 1983, have the clarity and luminosity of truly evangelical theology, though my impression is that Yoder spent more time on polishing the first eight: the last three read more like notes or drafts. There are four steps to the argument.
Beginning with Tolstoy, Yoder first considers the tradition of non-violent direct action through Gandhi and Martin Luther King to the opposition to the Vietnam war. Tolstoy argued that the readiness to suffer was the key to overcoming violence. Gandhi learned from that and brought to it formidable organizational ability. Learning from both these figures King showed that suffering love was an effective vehicle of social change. The lectures are powerful and beautifully constructed. Had one been in the audience one might have wanted to suggest that what Yoder was talking about was the power of the martyr tradition, and that that is not identical with non-violence.
