A Preliminary Study of the Jeremianic Model of John Howard Yoder—Examining Its Ethical Meanings and "Public” Nature of His Theology

A Preliminary Study of the Jeremianic Model of John Howard Yoder—Examining Its Ethical Meanings and “Public” Nature of His Theology

Vincent CP LAU

The Jeremianic model is based on the Old Testament narrative describing the life of Jews living in exile during the time of the Babylonian Captivity. They were a minority presence in a Gentile world and had to learn to cope with their difficult situation. Indeed they prospered and had influence on their surrounding new culture. Yoder used this narrative as a paradigm or model to link the Old and New Testaments. The common links are in seeing God's Chosen People as a minority voice but, at the same time, a strong witnessing power for God as God's Chosen People, who must live in a secularized world that does not share their biblical world view or values. Yoder does not give a systematic discourse of his model. Nevertheless it is a rich and provocative way to understand his basic theology, one which gives priority to the power of a godly minority voice. In developing this model, three tasks are accepted: to explicate the biblical narrative, to draw out Christian ethical guidelines from the model, and to discuss the “public” nature of the model in order to categorize Yoder's theology.