Writings on Christian Nonresistance and Pacifism from Anabaptist-Mennonite Sources

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Nonresistance is a central practice for the Anabaptist heritage of Christian witness and discipleship.  At this location, there are links to writings by Anabaptist-Mennonite writers on the subject of nonresistance which are currently available on the World Wide Web. These writings exhibit a range of perspectives among Mennonites: from conservative dualism between church and state to activist antagonism toward state-sponsored violence. Numerous denominations of Mennonites are represented here. While the texts below are limited to the themes of nonresistance and pacifism, the most recent systematic expression of faith for Mennonite Church USA is Confession of Faith in a Mennonite Perspective.

Confessional Statements	Theological and Biblical Studies	Church Life and History
Communication and Conflict	Social and Political Analysis	Sermons and Songs

Confessional Statements

• A Call to Faithfulness (1940), Dutch Mennonite Conference
• Agreeing and Disagreeing in Love: Commitments for Mennonites in Times of Disagreement
• Church and State Issues Related to Jury Duty
• A Christian Declaration on Peace, War, and Military Service (1953)
• Church and Peace Memorandum for discussion at the Second European Ecumenical Assembly (1997)
• Church of the Brethren Petition (1856)
• Confession of Faith in a Mennonite Perspective (1995), Article XXII, "Peace, Justice, and Nonresistance"
• A Declaration of Christian Faith and Commitment with Respect to Peace, War, and Nonresistance (1951)
• The Dordrecht Confession of Faith (1632), Article XIV, "Of Revenge"
• Mennonite Brethren Confession of Faith (1990), Article XIII, "Love and Nonresistance"
• Mennonite Confession of Faith (1963), Article XVIII, "Love and Nonresistance"
• A Mennonite Statement on Violence (1997)
• The Peacemaking Commitment of Mennonite Central Committee
• A Petition to the President in Time of War (1862), John Brenneman to Abraham Lincoln
• A Resolution: The Death Penalty
• The Schleitheim Brotherly Union (1527), Article VI, "We have been united as follows concerning the sword"
• A Statement on Peace, War, and Military Service (1937)

Theological and Biblical Studies

• Lois Barrett, "Thinking Theologically About Church and State"
• Gerald Biesecker-Mast, “Seeking a Better Country and the Peace of the City”
• Neal Blough, “From the Tower of Babel to the Peace of Jesus Christ: Christological, Ecclesiological, and Missiological Foundations For Peacemaking”
• J.R. Burkholder, “On the Gospel of Peace and Becoming a Peace Church”
• Vernard Eller, "A Theology of Nonresistance"
• Ray Gingerich, “Theological Foundations for an Ethics of Nonviolence: Was Yoder’s God a Warrior?”
• Scott Holland, “The Gospel of Peace and the Violence of God”
• Paul Horst, "Nonresistance and Nonparticipation in Civil Government"
• Duane Ruth Heffelbower, "Toward A Christian Theology of Church and Society As it Relates To Restorative Justice"
• Henry A. Hubert and John H. Redekop, “Christians and War”
• Joseph Keener, "Separation of Church and State"
• Ted Koontz, “Grace to You and Peace: Nonresistance as Piety”
• Ted Koontz, “Thinking Theologically About War Against Iraq”
• Christopher D. Marshall, “Atonement, Violence, and the Will of God: A Sympathetic Response to J. Denny Weaver’s The Nonviolent Atonement”
• Tom Yoder Neufeld, “‘In the Middle’: Biblical Reflections on Restorative Justice”
• Gerald Schlabach, "Beyond Two- versus One-Kingdom Theology: Abrahamic Community as a Mennonite Paradigm for Christian Engagement in Society."
• Gerald Schlabach, "Faithfulness, Temptation, and the Deuteronomic Juncture: Is Constantinianism the Most Basic Problem for Christian Social Ethics?"
• Gerald Schlabach, "Guy F. Hershberger and Reinold Niehbur on Christian Love: Will the Real Augustinian Please Stand Up?"
• David Schroeder, “God is For Peace Not War”
• Ralph Shank, "The Christian's Relation to the Nation"
• Menno Simons, “Reply to Gellius Faber” (excerpts)
• David J. Stutzman, "Nonresistance"
• J. C. Wenger, "Pacifism and Biblical Nonresistance"

Church Life and History

• Harold Bender, “The Anabaptist Vision”
• Thieleman van Braght, The Bloody Theater or Martyrs Mirror of the Defenseless Christians (complete text online!)
• John Richard Burkholder, “Mennonites in Ecumenical Dialogue on Peace and Justice”
• Perry Bush, “The Solidification of Nonresistance: Bluffton and World War, 1917-1945”
• Jennifer Elam and Chuck Fager, "Renewing Our Peace Witness: What Quakers Can Learn From Mennonites"
• Vernard Eller, "Neighbor Love" in Kierkegaard and Radical Discipleship: A New Perspective (Chapter 3)
• Peter Hoover, The Secret of the Strength
• Chapter 18 “On to Peace”
• Lawrence Hart, “A Cheyenne Legacy at the Washita River”
• John Horsch, "The Principle of Nonresistance"
• James Juhnke, “I Wish I’d Been There: John Schrag and the Kansas Mob, 1918
• James Juhnke, “Rachel Weaver Kreider and the ROTC Controversy at Ohio State University, 1934-35”
• James Lehman, “I Wish I’d Been There: Sonnenberg’s Civil War Petition”
• Keith Graber Miller, "Bumping Into the State: Developing A Washington Presence"
• Titus Peachey, “Silence and Courage: Income Taxes, War, and Mennonites 1940-1993”
• John D. Roth, “The Relevance of Menno Simons for Evangelical Christians”
• Daniel Schipani, "John Howard Yoder: Teacher of the World Church"
• Paul D. Steeves, "Russian Baptists and the Military Question (1920-1929)
• Andre Gingerich Stoner, “Entering Samaria: Peace Ministry Among U.S. Military Personnel in West Germany”
• Walter Unger, Bloody Theater
• Anne Yoder, “The Role and Impact of Conscience in Anabaptism”
• Franklin Yoder, “Tension on the Homefront: One Mennonite Community’s Experience During World War II”
• John Howard Yoder, The History of Christian Attitudes Toward War, Peace, and Revolution
• "Early Christian 'Disciplines' or 'Church Orders'"
• "The Jewishness of Early Christian Pacifism"
• "The Nonviolence of Judaism from Jeremiah to Hertzl"
• "Original Source Readings from the 'Anabaptist' Movements of the Sixteenth Century in Germanic Europe"
• "The Roots of Quaker Nonviolence Within the Puritan Reformation"
• "William Penn's Holy Experiment"
• "World Order Visions Since Early Modern Europe"
• "Chronology of Martin Luther King, Jr. and the Civil Rights Movement"
• "The Religious Origins of Ahimsa: A Twentieth Century Distillation"
• "Are the Tyrants Really in Charge?  Realism and Radical Change"
• "The Non-violent Component of the February (1986) Revolution"
• "War Revisited: The Radical Reformation"
• John Howard Yoder, The Just War Tradition
• "Backgrounds to Ethical Interpretation of the Bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in Terms of the 'Just War Tradition'"
• "David Urquhart: Knight Errant for the Just War Tradition in the Age of Empire"
• "From the Medieval 'Just War' to the Modern Just Revolution"
• "How Just War Thinking and Pacifism Coinhere"
• "Is the Relaxation of Restraints Upon War Justified When the Stakes Are Especially Great?"
• "Is There A Duty to Go Down Fighting? The Morality of Surrender"
• "'Just War' and 'Non-Violence': Disjunction or Dialogue?
• "The 'Just War' Tradition: Is It Credible?"
• The 'Power' of 'Non-violence'"
• "'Selective Objection.' The Moral Responsibility to Refuse to Serve In An Unjust War: The Movement of 1968-75 and Its Prehistory"
• "Testing the Methodological Underpinnings of the Just War Logic"

Communication and Conflict

• Gerald J. Biesecker-Mast, "Anabaptist Radicalism and Postmodern Publics"
• Gerald J. Biesecker-Mast, “Bloody Theater and Christian Discipleship”
• Gerald J. Biesecker-Mast, "Reading Rene Girard's and Walter Wink's Religious Critiques of Violence as Radical Communication Ethics"
• Jo-Ann Brant, "Jesus Prohibition of Swearing and His Philosophy of Language"
• Ron Claassen, Papers on Restorative Justice
• "'Restorative Justice' Focus on People, Not Procedures"
• "What is Restorative Justice?"
• "What is Forgiveness?"
• "The Myth of Redemptive Violence"
• "Measuring Restorative Justice"
• "Accountability and Restorative Justice"
• Ron Claassen, "Restorative Justice: Fundamental Principles"
• Mark Roth, "The Christian and His Adversaries"
• Robbert Veen, “Strife”
• J. C. Wenger, "The Christian and His Speech"

Social and Political Analysis

• J. Robert Charles, “Mennonite International Peacemaking During and After the Cold War”
• Duane Heffelbower, “The Christian and Civil Disobedience”
• Harold F. Miller, “Peace and Reconciliation in Africa”
• Vernard Eller, "PEACE: Not as the World Gives"
• Eric Olfert, et al, “African Churches and Peace”

Sermons and Songs

• Ausbund Songs (translated into English)
• Cruz Cordero, “Onward Martyrdom”
• Melvin Schmidt, “A Sermon in Response to 9/11: The Price Tag of Fairness”

Links to Other Sites with Collected Writings

• Writings collected at the Peace and Justice Network of Mennonite Church USA
• Sermons collected at the Peace and Justice Network of Mennonite Church USA

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created and maintained by Gerald J. Biesecker-Mast
last updated March 9, 2005

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