Surprised by Community

"Surprising Community" offers Christian readers biblical guidance on Christian social and political engagement. Along the way it tries to make sense of the unfortunate fact that believers are often as polarized over politics as anyone, and it offers guidance on how to navigate that polarization. Its ten chapters discuss the political idols that make us angry and afraid, the theology that can lay our fears to rest, a biblical account of our heavenly citizenship that helps us to be patient and winsome earthly citizens, an account of Jesus' remarkable command to "give to Caesar what is Caesar's and to God what is God's", a series of approaches for effecting social and political chance that can reduce rather than increase political heat, and some practical advice on how to talk about politics at church. Questions for reflection, discussion, and application appear at the end of each chapter. The aim of "Surprising Community" is to help Christians meet two obligations: (1) to love their neighbors as themselves and (2) to love each other even when they disagree over how best to love their neighbors. With reference to the first obligation, the book argues that Christians may not withdraw from social and political engagement: Jesus is the Lord of all and we are his ambassadors, called to do all we can to make our world more just, good, and beautiful. With reference to the second obligation (and this is the heartbeat of the book), "Surprising Community" argues that Jesus died to create a social surprise, a new society that showcases for our polarized world what human society will look like when Jesus finishes what he started: Christians must, for this reason, find ways to live in honest harmony with each other even when they disagree profoundly over politics. The church must, in other words, care for the world without becoming like the world by polarizing as the world does.

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