Friday, August 6, 2010

What Was John Howard Yoder Working On When He Died?

In his "Introduction" to For the Nations, Yoder references two different seeds for future work he planned on expanding and publishing in the future:
Page 7, note 18: "A set of more explicitly missiological writings is contemplated as a further volume in the present series."

Page 9, note 21: "A fuller text on [Constantine] and the events of the fourth century is in preparation."
Furthermore, while Andy Alexis-Baker has happily disproved the rumor, begun by Jim Wallis, that Yoder was hard at work in his last year of life on sanctifying a world police force, Hauerwas has referenced Yoder's late but passionate engagement with and work on issues of state discipline and capital punishment.

As it has become a bit of a cottage industry to publish handsome posthumous editions of Yoder's pamphlets and low-key or hard-to-find books, I'm even more curious about what else Yoder may have been working on that we have yet to see. Is there nothing more? Is there a good deal more? How much progress had he made on his projected Constantine and Mission books by his death? Are there outlines, chapters, or essays? Have they been published, are they still being edited, or have they not been suggested for publishing?

I would gladly welcome anyone with knowledge pertaining to these or other Yoder-related questions and curiosities to offer thoughts, direction, or answers.

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Update (8/11/10): Myles emailed me this link to Notre Dame's website for Yoder, which I recall having been to before, complete with PDFs for download of articles and essays yet to be published.

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