What Would You Do?

Rating:
Summary: A practical response to a hypothetical question
Review: In this book, pacifists present a variety of ways to respond when you or your family are faced with a violent situation. It is presented in three sections. The first section is an essay written by Yoder to give an answer to this hypothetical situation. He shows that there are more avenues of action than either responding in violence and allowing the violence to occur. The second section presents the responses of others who decline to use violence in such situations. Some of these are funny and others are very serious, but all of them seek alternative means for dealing with the problem. The final section deals with real situations. It shows how people have confronted a violent attack with non-violence and not been harmed. These stories are very touching. This book is for anyone who is considering pacifism or is a pacifist, but can't seem to answer the simple question, "What would you do if..."

Rating:
Summary: A practical response to a hypothetical question
Review: In this book, pacifists present a variety of ways to respond when you or your family are faced with a violent situation. It is presented in three sections. The first section is an essay written by Yoder to give an answer to this hypothetical situation. He shows that there are more avenues of action than either responding in violence and allowing the violence to occur. The second section presents the responses of others who decline to use violence in such situations. Some of these are funny and others are very serious, but all of them seek alternative means for dealing with the problem. The final section deals with real situations. It shows how people have confronted a violent attack with non-violence and not been harmed. These stories are very touching. This book is for anyone who is considering pacifism or is a pacifist, but can't seem to answer the simple question, "What would you do if..."

Rating:
Summary: Wonderful collection of intelligent writings!
Review: My father gave me this book as a way to thouroughly explain his pacifism. It did. This is truly an inspiring book and a must read for anyone, on either side of the argument! Get this book today; I promise you won't regret it.

Rating:
Summary: Pacifists Take Note
Review: This book is a collection of answers to the age-old question: If a violent person threatened a loved one, what would you do? It is a treasured part of my library because it provides both simple responses (my favorite being courtesy of Joan Baez), and complex discussions of the values shifts necessary to to deny violence in all its forms. You won't come away from this book with a pat answer to a troubling question, but at least you will know there ARE answers.

Rating:
Summary: Razor sharp answers to a common question
Review: This book is John Howard Yoder's superb treatment of the common question put to pacifists: "What would you do if a bloodthirsty, half-crazed, machine gun weidling terrorist was going to lill your wife and kids, kick your dog, drown your cat and burn your house down if you did not attack and kill him?"

Maybe the question is put in quite such stark terms (Ha ha), but it does accentuate the far out and hypothetical nature of the question Yoder seeks to address. He tackles the question head on and shows how all of the presuppositions on which this question is based are deterministic and decidedly not informed by the gospel at all.

Yoder's razor-sharp reasoning and biblical argumentation show clearly that pacifists have plenty of resources to answer the "what would you do" question that are more true to the gospel and Jesus Christ than any violent response ever could be.

The second part of the book is a collection of writings from numerous other pacifist authors that have addressed this question. It is something of a breath of fresh air in response to the wildly far out hypothetical question which this book addresses. The reason for this is that most of these excerpts detail actual altercations in which the route of peacemaking did work. These are not far out, hypothetical questions, but real-life examples of how the biblical approach actaully works.

This book will be helpful reading for Christians committed to biblical nonviolence and those who are not yet convinced of the biblical truth thereof. Highly recommended.