This volume performs a critical and vibrant reconstruction of Anabaptist identity and theological method, in the wake of the recent revelations of the depth of the sexual abuse perpetrated by the most influential Anabaptist theologian of the 20th century, John Howard Yoder. In an attempt to liberate Anabaptist theology and identity from the constricting vision appropriated and reformulated by Yoder, these essays refuse the determinative categories of the last half century supplied by and carried beyond Harold Bender's The Anabaptist Vision.While still under the shadow of decades of trauma, a recontexualized conversation about Anabaptist theology and identity emerges in this volume that is ecumenically engaged, philosophically astute, psychologically attuned, and resolutely vulnerable. The volume offers a Trinitarian and Christological framework that holds together the importance of Scripture, tradition, and the lived experience of the Christian community, as the contributors examine a wide variety of issues such as Mennonite feminism, Anabaptist queer theology, and Mennonite theological methods. These essays interrogate the operations of power, violence, exclusion, and privilege in methodology in this changed context, offering self-critical constructive alternatives for articulating Anabaptist theology and identity.

Brings together leading Anabaptist voices from USA, Canada and Africa

Series Preface, Malinda Berry, Anabaptist Mennonite Biblical Seminary, USA, and Paul Martens, Baylor University, USAPreface, Myron A. Penner, Trinity Western University, Canada1. Challenge and Opportunity: The Quest for Anabaptist Theology Today, Paul Martens, Baylor University, USA2. Contours and Possibilities for an Anabaptist Theology, Karl Koop, Canadian Mennonite University, Canada3. Refiguration, Configuration: Tradition, Text, and Narrative Identity, Laura Schmidt Roberts, Fresno Pacific University, USA4. Mennonite Women Doing Theology: A Methodological Reflection on Twenty-Five Years of Conferences Carol Penner, Conrad Grebel University College, University of Waterloo, Canada5. Queering Anabaptist Theology: An Endeavor in Breaking Binaries as Hermeneutical Community, Stephanie Chandler Burns, Conrad Grebel University College, University of Waterloo, Canada6. On the Need for Critical-Contextual and Trauma-Informed Methods in Mennonite Theology, Melanie Kampen, Independent Scholar7. The Ecumenical Vocation of Anabaptist Theology, Jeremy M. Bergen, Conrad Grebel University College, University of Waterloo, Canada8. Dialogue as Theological Method: Mennonite Missionaries, West African Churches, and Twenty-First-Century Anabaptist Identity, R. Bruce Yoder, Independent Scholar9. Restlessness as Theological Method, Paul Doerksen, Canadian Mennonite University, CanadaNotes on ContributorsBibliographyIndex