Rick Yoder is pursuing an M.Phil in Theology (Ecclesiastical History) at the University of Oxford. He is a recent alumnus of the University of Virginia, where he majored in Religious Studies and completed a thesis examining the role of John Henry Newman’s ecclesiology in the thought of T.S. Eliot. He is a descendant of the first Amish bishop in America, Jacob Hertzler, and was received into the Catholic Church on Easter, 2013. He enjoys going to museums, discussing the latest episodes of The Young Pope, Twin Peaks, and Game of Thrones, and reading the poetry of Eliot, Yeats, and Rilke. He also occasionally writes fiction and poetry of his own. He has recently taken up watercolor, and admits that he is somewhat obsessed with art.

~Note: Rick has never actually been Amish or Mennonite himself. The blog title refers to the historical irony of his situation in view of his family background. His branch of the Yoders seems to have parted from the Amish religion some time around the Civil War. And while Rick maintains an interest in the Peace Churches as a culture and religion, he has little personal experience or insight regarding their situation.