Volume 27, Issue 2, Fall/Winter 2007
Gerald W. Schlabach
Pages 171-207
Continuity and Sacrament, or Not
Hauerwas, Yoder, and Their Deep Difference
STANLEY HAUERWAS HAS FAMOUSLY TAKEN TO THE MENNONITES BEcause they constitute what appears to be an oxymoron—a tradition of dissent. He launched his career endeavoring to restore the stuff of continuity to the Christian life. In contrast, John Howard Yoder launched his career arguing against the assumption that traditions and organic communal life could carry practices of authentic discipleship forward across generations. Here lies a fundamental difference between Hauerwas and Yoder that runs deeper than whether one of them is more "for" or "against" the nations.