POSITION: Professor Emeritus/Seminary
DEPARTMENT: Emeriti
LOCATION: Main Campus, Harrisonburg | SB 225
PHONE: (540) 432-4262
Dr. Lawrence M. Yoder graduated from college in 1966 and seminary in 1969, and then spent a year taking courses in Islam, Indonesian language, Asian Historiography and Asian and Indonesian church history in preparation for a nine-year assignment teaching church history and Anabaptist studies at Wiyata Wacana Mennonite Seminary in Pati, Indonesia, where he served one year as rektor (president/dean). He also served four and a half years in Indonesia as country administrator for Mennonite Central Committee and two years as researcher and writer for the histories of the Muria Javanese Mennonite Church (GITJ) and the Muria Mennonite Church (GKMI) in both Indonesian and English languages. Earning Th.M. and Ph.D. degrees from Fuller Theological Seminary School of Intercultural Studies further prepared him for teaching mission studies at Eastern Mennonite Seminary since 1983 while remaining involved in Indonesia through frequent teaching, writing, peace building and consulting assignments. In the spring semester of 2008 he taught in the Indonesian Consortium for Religious Studies (ICRS), a Ph. D. program in inter-religious studies sponsored jointly by Duta Wacana Christian University, Sunan Kalijaga State Islamic University and Gajah Mada State University in Yogyakarta, Indonesia. In the summer of 2009 he taught an intensive course in Anabaptist History and Theology in Ethiopia as part of EMS’s course of study at Meserete Kristos College in Debre Zeit. In May 2010 he participated in the celebration in Indonesia of the publication of Tata Injil di Bumi Muria: Sejarah Gereja Injili di Tanah Jawa (Way of the Gospel in the World of the Muria), a history of the Muria Javanese Mennonite Church, which he and Sigit Heru Sukoco wrote together. He is currently preparing an English version of this book for publication.
BA, Messiah University (History Education)
MDIV, Associated Mennonite Biblical Seminary (Historical Theology and Church History)
MTH, Fuller Theological Seminary School of Intercultural Studies (Missiology)
PHD, Fuller Theological Seminary School of Intercultural Studies (Missiology)