The Church: Midwife of History or Witness of the Eschaton?

Walter Rauschenbusch and John Howard Yoder offer two contrasting paradigms of ecclesiologically centered Christian social ethics. They give different accounts of history, eschatology, and the kingdom of God with the result that they differ in their conception of the church's ministry in the world. Rauschenbusch construes history as universal eschatology, while Yoder understands eschatology as particular history. Both offer powerful but problematic accounts of the ethical nature of the church, and it is possible that the strengths of both might be united in the concept of the "confessing church" in the tradition of Barth.

Duke Scholars

Author Reinhard Hütter Divinity School