Uncommon Ground: Living Faithfully in a World of Difference

Photo by luca romano on Unsplash

When I taught the course on current social problems at Dayton Christian High School, I would teach my students that if we want to follow the way of Jesus in our response to the issues of the day, we will often find ourselves in a no-man’s land between the two camps shouting each other down. Like Jesus, who never fit into any of the ideological and political categories of his own day, we too will be misfits.

In our fractured cultural moment, it’s not easy to find thoughtful, faithful voices that haven’t been co-opted by either the Right or the Left. Tim Keller was one of those thoughtful voices. He didn’t flinch when he spoke out against both racism and abortion. It was Keller’s name on the cover that first attracted me to Uncommon Ground: Living Faithfully in a World of Difference, edited by Keller and legal scholar John Inazu (Thomas Nelson, 2020). I knew this would be a book where I wouldn’t find a diatribe or a jeremiad but a thoughtful, well-reasoned response to the issues of the day.

Uncommon Ground is divided into three parts with four chapters in each part, each chapter written by a different contributor:

1. Framing Our Engagement (how to think about the issues) includes chapters by a theologian, a pastor (Keller) and (surprisingly) an entrepreneur.
2. Communicating Our Engagement (how we express our convictions) includes chapters by writer Tish Harrison Warren, song writer Sara Groves, and spoken word artist Lecrae.
3. Embodying Our Engagement (how we act on our convictions) includes a chapter by Trillia Newbell

It was not just the Keller name but the thesis of the book – “finding common ground even when we don’t agree on the common good” – that attracted me. The idea that we might find common ground will make the book anathema to ideologues in both camps.

The reason for the cultural and political gridlock of our day is the lack of a common moral vision.
 
There was a time when the debate between the Left and the Right was a debate about means. Left and Right generally agreed about what a just and prosperous society would look like. Martin Luther King, Jr., didn’t frame his protest in identity politics but in terms of our shared vision for America. He could point to his dream, which we all shared, and urge us all to move toward that dream. Our problem now is that the Left and the Right are driven by vastly different ideals, so we debate not means but ends. We can’t even agree on the goal, much less on the best way to reach it.

In Uncommon Ground, Keller and Inazu speak of three essential virtues that must characterize the way Christians engage on the issues:

1. Humility: Since we must recognize that “in a world of deep difference about fundamental issues, Christians and non-Christians alike are not always able to prove why they are right and others are wrong,” we must set aside hubris and self-righteousness posturing to approach one another in a humble spirit.
2. Patience: manifests itself in the way we listen to people we disagree with.
3. Tolerance: What do Keller and Inazu mean by “tolerance”? They speak to the need for “a practical enduring of beliefs and practices that we do not share.” In a tense atmosphere where either the Right or the Left is poised to mount up in self-righteous indignation, a humble-minded patience will manifest itself, and, as the proverb has it, “a soft answer” just might “turn away wrath.”

Because it’s so easy to touch the third rail in a conversation with a friend or loved one and set off an angry diatribe, we who are politically homeless find that the safest course is to avoid not just politics but cultural debates as well. But we sometimes must engage on these hot-button issues. Keller’s and Inazu’s book can provide a framework and mindset that will help us be salt and light in those volatile situations.

Persevere.