What Do We Do When Nobody Is Listening?: Leading the Church in a Polarized Society

Description: "A book for pastors and church leaders about how to restore unity in politically polarized churches while still speaking the truth about important social issues"--

Brief description:
Robin W. Lovin is an ordained minister in the United Methodist Church. He formerly served as the William H. Scheide Senior Fellow in Theology at the Center of Theological Inquiry in Princeton, New Jersey; as the Cary Maguire University Professor of Ethics at Southern Methodist University; and as dean of SMU's Perkins School of Theology. He is also a past president of the Society of Christian Ethics and a contributing editor to The Christian Century. His other books include An Introduction to Christian Ethics: Goals, Duties, and Virtues and Christian Realism and the New Realities.

Review Quotes: "Calmly reasoned analyses of our sharply divided society are hard to come by. But Robin Lovin has a gift for summarizing complex cultural movements with a clarity and dexterity that others may only aspire to. Here's an ethicist and theologian who brings light and hope to dispirited people frustrated by tense and even fighting times. Every pastor interested in helping a faith community stick together should be devouring these pages."
-- Peter W. Marty
editor/publisher of The Christian Century

"Lovin's new book causes me to consider the question, 'How is my congregation taking up space and serving as a witness to our overwhelming reality of God's love and justice in what too often feels like chaos?' I am thankful for the way Lovin frames our current reality and for his challenge to be a kind of witness that is different."
-- Shannon Johnson Kershner
pastor of Fourth Presbyterian Church, Chicago

"Robin Lovin graciously reminds us of some things we'd forgotten: that liberal means nothing if it doesn't mean generous, that conservative means ensuring we never move on from Jesus, that disagreement is the source of most creativity, that faithfulness is tested by entering the marketplace of ideas rather than withdrawing into our bunkers. Crucially, he highlights the question, 'Who are you listening to?' as a test of both wisdom and renewal. It would be ironic for any reader coming to this book to require it to confirm ideas already fiercely held. Only read this book if you want to be transformed into becoming a blessing to the stranger who was once your neighbor."
-- Samuel Wells
vicar of St. Martin-in-the-Fields, London
author of Humbler Faith, Bigger God