The last chapter of
The Activist Impulse is by (yours truly)
David C. Cramer, who continues charting an evangelical Anabaptist path with a biblical reexamination of the question of war in his essay, "Evangelical Hermeneutics, Anabaptist Ethics: John Howard Yoder, the
Solas, and the Question of War." While the majority of evangelicals have rejected the Anabaptist commitment to pacifism as unbiblical, Cramer believes that evangelicals should feel compelled by their commitment to Scripture to consider the pacifist position more carefully. His argument rests not on a discussion of just war theory or the merits of “redemptive violence” as is often the case. Rather, he asserts that this issue has more to do with traditional evangelical concerns regarding faith and Scripture than it does with violence per se. Appropriating John Howard Yoder’s evangelical Anabaptist reading of Scripture as well as a fresh consideration of
sola fide (faith alone) and
sola scriptura (Scripture alone), Cramer beckons evangelicals to reopen this important topic that has long been central to Anabaptist teaching.*
Finally, the book ends with a generous Afterward by
AMBS president,
Sara Wenger Shenk, who describes Anabaptists and evangelicals as a mixed family sitting down to dinner. Yes, over dinner there are bound to be hearty discussions and sometimes even heated debates, but at the end of the day, those conversations only prove that we are a part of the same family.
The Activist Impulse also includes a very detailed subject index to help you get around.
*This paragraph is slightly adapted from
The Activist Impulse, 324.
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