Advance Comment
Anabaptist Theology in Face of Postmodernity


"This book offers a wealth of insights into Mennonite scholarship, past and present. Weaver's central thesis, that nonviolence needs to inform the whole of Mennonite theology, is important and well argued. Such a theology will find its source not in the creeds but in the story of Jesus."
—Nancey Murphy, Professor of Christian Philosophy, Fuller Theological Seminary

"Weaver has undertaken a bold tour de force moving back over 450 years of Mennonite-Anabaptist theological reflection. In the quest for an Anabaptist theology and Christian identity in our contemporary postmodern era, this is a book Mennonite and peace church pastors and scholars cannot afford to miss.
"Weaver maintains that Mennonites, as a peace church, should and must construct a theological alternative to the time-honored creedal formulas of Christendom underlying much of Western violence. He is doing us a great service by insisting that for a theology to elucidate the way of Jesus and the kingdom of God in our postmodern context, peace must be at its very core. He convincingly argues that the peace-living, socially marginalized Anabaptists constitute a key resource for constructing such a theology."
—Ray Gingerich, Professor of Theology and Ethics, Eastern Mennonite University

"Can the Anabaptist-Mennonite faith community give rise to a distinctive peace church theology divorced from the classic formulations of orthodox Western theology? Working from his conviction that following the nonviolent Jesus is the ground of Christian faith, J. Denny Weaver audaciously rejects the prevailing "theology-in-general" as exemplified in the historic creeds of Christendom. It is the story of Jesus, not the Nicene and Chalcedonian formulations- that ought to shape an authentic Christian theology for the twenty-first century.
"Building from his simple yet profound thesis that it is ‘precisely at the point of rejecting violence that the reign of God made visible in Jesus is most distinct from the prevailing social order,’ Weaver tests his approach through attention to questions of atonement and ecclesiology in samplings taken from several centuries of Mennonite theologizing. He finds supportive methodological parallels in contemporary black and womanist theology.
"Weaver does not hesitate to pass judgment on writers in the Mennonite camp who seem comfortable with subsuming Anabaptism under the generic Protestant fold. He appropriates the postmodern context that enables freedom for theology to move in a unique direction without giving up its claim toward universal validity.
"This book stands as the culmination of the line of thought that Denny Weaver has been arguing for more than a decade. It demands the attention of anyone interested in Anabaptism and peace church theology."
J. R.Burkholder, Professor Emeritus of Religion, Goshen College

"Here is a stirring call to nonconformity in theological method for the believers churches in general and Mennonites in particular. Moreover, Weaver shows how such an Anabaptist theology joins its voice in solidarity with the voices of others who have been marginalized or neglected by the assumptions of mainstream theological orthodoxies."
—Gerald and Susan Biesecker-Mast, Assistant Professors of Communication, Bluffton College


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10/30/00