Harold Stauffer Bender (July 19, 1897 – September 21, 1962) was a prominent professor of theology at

Goshen College Goshen College is a Private college, private Mennonite Church USA, Mennonite Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college in Goshen, Indiana. It was founded in 1894 as the Elkhart Institute of Science, Industry and the Arts, ...

(

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 ...

) and

Goshen Biblical Seminary The land of Goshen is the Hebrew name of an area in the Nile delta in Ancient Egypt. Goshen may also refer to: Places United States Cities and towns *Goshen, Alabama *Goshen, Arkansas *Goshen, California *Goshen, Connecticut *Goshen, Georgia *Gos ...

. His accomplishments include founding both the

Mennonite Historical Library The Mennonite Historical Library (MHL) 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 ...

and

The Mennonite Quarterly Review ''The Mennonite Quarterly Review'' is an American interdisciplinary review journal, devoted to Anabaptist and Mennonite history, theology, and contemporary issues. History, circulation and operations Published continuously since its conception ...

. He served as President of the

American Society of Church History The American Society of Church History (ASCH) was founded in 1888 with the disciplines of Christian denominational and ecclesiastical history as its focus. Today the society's interests include the broad range of the critical scholarly perspectiv ...

, and was a major scholarly influence on fellow Mennonite theologian

John Howard Yoder John Howard Yoder (December 27, 1927 – December 30, 1997) was an American Mennonite theologian and ethicist best known for his defense of Christian pacifism. His most influential book was '' The Politics of Jesus'', which was first published in ...

. Bender graduated from Elkhart High School (1914), Goshen College (Bachelor of Arts, 1918), Garrett Biblical Institute (Bachelor of Divinity, 1922),

Princeton Theological Seminary Princeton Theological Seminary (PTSem), officially The Theological Seminary of the Presbyterian Church, is a private school of theology in Princeton, New Jersey. Founded in 1812 under the auspices of Archibald Alexander, the General Assembly of ...

(Master of Theology, 1923), and

Princeton University Princeton University is a private university, private research university in Princeton, New Jersey. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth, New Jersey, Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is the List of Colonial Colleges, fourth-oldest ins ...

(Master of Arts, 1923). He attended the

University of Tübingen The University of Tübingen, officially the Eberhard Karl University of Tübingen (german: Eberhard Karls Universität Tübingen; la, Universitas Eberhardina Carolina), is a public research university located in the city of Tübingen, Baden-Wü ...

, 1923-1924. Bender was awarded his Ph.D. from the

University of Heidelberg } Heidelberg University, officially the Ruprecht Karl University of Heidelberg, (german: Ruprecht-Karls-Universität Heidelberg; la, Universitas Ruperto Carola Heidelbergensis) is a public research university in Heidelberg, Baden-Württemberg, ...

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 writing ''The Anabaptist Vision'' in 1944. ''The Anabaptist Vision'' was a short essay intended to refocus the

Anabaptists Anabaptism (from New Latin language, Neo-Latin , from the Greek language, Greek : 're-' and 'baptism', german: Täufer, earlier also )Since the middle of the 20th century, the German-speaking world no longer uses the term (translation: "Re- ...

and

Mennonites Mennonites are groups of Anabaptist Christian church communities of denominations. The name is derived from the founder of the movement, Menno Simons (1496–1561) of Friesland. Through his writings about Reformed Christianity during the Radic ...

during the trying years of

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

by re-examining the religious movement's historical context. Anabaptists distinctives were summarized as: # Discipleship is the essence of Christianity. # Church as a community grows out of the central principle of newness of life. # Love and nonresistance apply to all human relationships.

References

External links

Full text of ''The Anabaptist Vision''

in ''Global Anabaptist Mennonite Encyclopedia Online'' {{DEFAULTSORT:Bender, Harold S. 1897 births 1962 deaths American Mennonites Mennonite writers American Amish writers Reformation historians Goshen College alumni Goshen College faculty Hesston College faculty Presidents of the American Society of Church History