Anabaptist Re-Vision: On John Howard Yoder's Misrecognized Sexual Politics (original) (raw)

This essay explores how John Howard Yoder’s victims and others could have perceived his abusive sexual politics as a legitimate function of his ministry. Pierre Bourdieu’s concept of “misrecognition” is used to show how cultural symbols can distract attention from oppressive domination. Yoder’s writings on singleness and his comments to his victims are reviewed in order to suggest that their effectiveness was derived from his ability to wield the symbols of positional authority, technical prowess, and socio-political radicalness. Deployment of these symbols would have provided compelling evidence of the legitimacy of his sexual politics. Understanding how Yoder’s persuasion worked helps us to avoid its repetition. In doing so it contributes to a feminist “re-visioning” of Anabaptist-Mennonite theology. Published in The Mennonite Quarterly Review 89, no. 1 (January 2015): 153–70