Harold Stauffer Bender was a prominent professor of theology at Goshen College

Goshen College

Goshen College, is a private Mennonite liberal arts college in Goshen, Indiana, USA with an enrollment of around 1,000 students. The college is accredited by North Central Association of Colleges and Schools and is a member of the Council for Christian Colleges and Universities...

 (Goshen, Indiana

Goshen, Indiana

Goshen is a city in and the county seat of Elkhart County, Indiana, United States. It is the smaller of the two principal cities of the Elkhart-Goshen Metropolitan Statistical Area, which in turn is part of the South Bend-Elkhart-Mishawaka Combined Statistical Area. It is located in the northern...

) and Goshen Biblical Seminary. His accomplishments include founding both the Mennonite Historical Library

Mennonite Historical Library

The Mennonite Historical Library is considered the world's most prominent and complete collection of resources and artifacts pertaining to Mennonites and related Anabaptist groups. It is housed in the Harold and Wilma Good Library on the campus of Goshen College in Goshen, Indiana. The specialty...

 and the Mennonite Quarterly Review

Mennonite Quarterly Review

The Mennonite Quarterly Review is an interdisciplinary review journal devoted to Anabaptist and Mennonite history, theology, and contemporary issues. Published continuously since its conception in 1927 by Harold S. Bender and the Mennonite Historical Society, the journal is now a cooperative...

. He served as President of the American Society of Church History, and was a major scholarly influence on fellow Mennonite theologian John Howard Yoder

John Howard Yoder

John Howard Yoder was a Christian theologian, ethicist, and Biblical scholar best known for his radical Christian pacifism, his mentoring of future theologians such as Stanley Hauerwas, his loyalty to his Mennonite faith, and his 1972 magnum opus, The Politics of Jesus.-Life:Yoder earned his...

.

Bender graduated from Elkhart High School (1914), Goshen College (Bachelor of Arts, 1918), Garrett Biblical Institute (Bachelor of Divinity, 1922), Princeton Theological Seminary (Master of Theology, 1923), Princeton University (Master of Arts, 1923). He attended the University of Tübingen, 1923-1924. Bender was awarded his Ph.D. from the University of Heidelberg in 1935.

Background

Bender taught one year at the high school in Thorntown, Indiana (1916-1917) and two years at Hesston College (1918-1920). From 1924 to 1962 he was professor at Goshen College in church history, Bible, and sociology. He was dean of Goshen College, 1931-1944, and dean of Goshen College Biblical Seminary, 1944-1962.

Professional

Bender is perhaps best known for authoring The Anabaptist Vision in 1944. The Anabaptist Vision was a short essay intended to refocus the Anabaptists and Mennonites during the trying years of World War II

World War II

World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...

by re-examining the religious movement's historical context. Anabaptists distinctives were summarized as:

1. Discipleship is the essence of Christianity.
2. Church as a community grows out of the central principle of newness of life.
3. Love and nonresistance apply to all human relationships.

External links

• Full text of The Anabaptist Vision
• The History of The Anabaptist Vision by Albert Keim
• Harold S. Bender in Global Anabaptist Mennonite Encyclopedia Online