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Elusive Grace: Loving Your Enemies While Striving for God’s Justice
The United States is suffering through a season of social and political division unseen since the Civil War. Unrest over long-standing social (especially racial) injustices are confronting new, antidemocratic perspectives and practices. So much is at stake. Will this country fulfill or abandon its historic commitment to equality and civil liberties? Can a nation so divided come together again?
These questions cut to the core of the beliefs articulated by Christian communities. How can we as people of faith reconcile the call to participate in God's ongoing struggle for justice while not losing our souls to hatred? How can we love our enemies in this time? Scott Black Johnston believes that there is a way to pursue this difficult work and that people of faith can light the way. He encourages us to recommit to our highest principles--our virtues--and to turn hearts poisoned by cynicism into instruments of love.
From his pulpit in midtown Manhattan, just one block from Trump Tower, Johnston has a unique perspective on the ideological discord tearing at the nation's fabric. From there, he raises a moral voice that beckons us to become better neighbors, better citizens, better human beings. He calls for the church to model robust advocacy for justice, without denying the full humanity of those on the other side of the argument.
This provocative book brings the wisdom of Scripture into conversation with such diverse minds as Emily Dickinson, Ta-Nehisi Coates, Ayn Rand, and Mister Rogers. Johnston's prose is by turns erudite and poignant, yet always insightful. He offers not just words of hope but a prescribed course of action for individuals and communities alike, as we look to mend our souls and restore our civic life.
These questions cut to the core of the beliefs articulated by Christian communities. How can we as people of faith reconcile the call to participate in God's ongoing struggle for justice while not losing our souls to hatred? How can we love our enemies in this time? Scott Black Johnston believes that there is a way to pursue this difficult work and that people of faith can light the way. He encourages us to recommit to our highest principles--our virtues--and to turn hearts poisoned by cynicism into instruments of love.
From his pulpit in midtown Manhattan, just one block from Trump Tower, Johnston has a unique perspective on the ideological discord tearing at the nation's fabric. From there, he raises a moral voice that beckons us to become better neighbors, better citizens, better human beings. He calls for the church to model robust advocacy for justice, without denying the full humanity of those on the other side of the argument.
This provocative book brings the wisdom of Scripture into conversation with such diverse minds as Emily Dickinson, Ta-Nehisi Coates, Ayn Rand, and Mister Rogers. Johnston's prose is by turns erudite and poignant, yet always insightful. He offers not just words of hope but a prescribed course of action for individuals and communities alike, as we look to mend our souls and restore our civic life.
219 pages, Kindle Edition
Published September 20, 2022
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
March 13, 2023
Living as we do in a time of great polarization it's easier to say we love our enemies even as we strive for God's justice (the message of the subtitle of Scott Black Johnsont's Elusive Grace. We are so divided that you are either with me or against me. There are no other options. Or is that true? Might divine grace, though elusive, provide a foundation for not just finding common cause, which might be difficult, but we might reduce the cultural temperature.
Scott Black Johnson is a Presbyterian minister and former professor of preaching (homiletics). As pastor of a congregation, he understands that the divides we see present in society are present in our churches, even in as prominent a church as the one he serves. Johnson serves as the pastor of Fifth Avenue Presbyterian Church, just a stone's throw from Trump Tower. He learned the hard way the depth of our divides when he and another PCUSA pastor, the pastor of the congregation where Trump was baptized as an infant. When the two churches heard that they visited with Trump before his inauguration and prayed with him (this was in 2016), there was anger and disappointment among the people. It's understandable. I wonder if I could do that. Nevertheless, how do we exhibit grace in the world as Christians?
The thread that runs through the book is what Johnson calls the Great Awokening, a take on the Great Awakenings. Thus, "our society is again engaged in impassioned conversations that aim to identify and unpack our corporate moral failings, individuals are being challenged to be moral agents, pushing back against systemic wrongs." (p. 5). Of course, not everyone agrees as to what the moral failings are, and this awakening, unlike earlier ones isn't rooted in the churches (spiritual communities) but secular ones. The question he poses for us is whether the churches can tap into this movement and provide it with a spiritual core. As we engage. of we engage. can we be both "agents of change and voices of healing" (p. 5)?
Johnston divides the book into three studies. The first focuses on reclaiming virtue by focusing on seven heavenly virtues: temperance, Justice, Prudence, Courage, Faith, hope, and love, with the last being the "Sine Qua Non." Study two focuses on "Retraining Our Hearts" by learning to love God, Jesus, mercy, truth, neighbor, enemy, and the good. This serves as a reminder that not all loves are equal. Some forms are unhealthy, and include bad habits (here he taps into the work of James K. A. Smith. The call here is to focus our attention on the things God loves. Study 3 is titled "Regarding the Church." Chapters look at "peace, unity, and purity"; The "Word Proclaimed;" Called to a Larger Vision" and finally a "Space for Transcendence."
Study 3 is directed to the churches, more specifically the white Mainline Protestant Churches (like his Presbyterian and my Disciples denominations) that once served as "the primary mediators of this country's moral conversations." (p. 107). While that is no longer true, how might our churches bear witness to a different moral vision? So, here the question has to do with the way the churches might respond to the "Great Awokening."
In the book's epilogue, Johnston speaks of "Courage for the Called." When it comes to who God typically sends into the world, people like Samuel, David, Esther, and Mary Magdalene, God isn't looking for Olympic gold medalists, by "anyone with a heart for this hurting world. In this God's call is persistent." (p. 135). The hope that Johnston has for his church and the rest of the churches is that we will have the courage to answer the call.
To help us explore these virtues and callings, a study guide for congregational study is provided. It should prove to be a helpful resource for churches that seek to be agents of justice and voices of healing.
Scott Black Johnson is a Presbyterian minister and former professor of preaching (homiletics). As pastor of a congregation, he understands that the divides we see present in society are present in our churches, even in as prominent a church as the one he serves. Johnson serves as the pastor of Fifth Avenue Presbyterian Church, just a stone's throw from Trump Tower. He learned the hard way the depth of our divides when he and another PCUSA pastor, the pastor of the congregation where Trump was baptized as an infant. When the two churches heard that they visited with Trump before his inauguration and prayed with him (this was in 2016), there was anger and disappointment among the people. It's understandable. I wonder if I could do that. Nevertheless, how do we exhibit grace in the world as Christians?
The thread that runs through the book is what Johnson calls the Great Awokening, a take on the Great Awakenings. Thus, "our society is again engaged in impassioned conversations that aim to identify and unpack our corporate moral failings, individuals are being challenged to be moral agents, pushing back against systemic wrongs." (p. 5). Of course, not everyone agrees as to what the moral failings are, and this awakening, unlike earlier ones isn't rooted in the churches (spiritual communities) but secular ones. The question he poses for us is whether the churches can tap into this movement and provide it with a spiritual core. As we engage. of we engage. can we be both "agents of change and voices of healing" (p. 5)?
Johnston divides the book into three studies. The first focuses on reclaiming virtue by focusing on seven heavenly virtues: temperance, Justice, Prudence, Courage, Faith, hope, and love, with the last being the "Sine Qua Non." Study two focuses on "Retraining Our Hearts" by learning to love God, Jesus, mercy, truth, neighbor, enemy, and the good. This serves as a reminder that not all loves are equal. Some forms are unhealthy, and include bad habits (here he taps into the work of James K. A. Smith. The call here is to focus our attention on the things God loves. Study 3 is titled "Regarding the Church." Chapters look at "peace, unity, and purity"; The "Word Proclaimed;" Called to a Larger Vision" and finally a "Space for Transcendence."
Study 3 is directed to the churches, more specifically the white Mainline Protestant Churches (like his Presbyterian and my Disciples denominations) that once served as "the primary mediators of this country's moral conversations." (p. 107). While that is no longer true, how might our churches bear witness to a different moral vision? So, here the question has to do with the way the churches might respond to the "Great Awokening."
In the book's epilogue, Johnston speaks of "Courage for the Called." When it comes to who God typically sends into the world, people like Samuel, David, Esther, and Mary Magdalene, God isn't looking for Olympic gold medalists, by "anyone with a heart for this hurting world. In this God's call is persistent." (p. 135). The hope that Johnston has for his church and the rest of the churches is that we will have the courage to answer the call.
To help us explore these virtues and callings, a study guide for congregational study is provided. It should prove to be a helpful resource for churches that seek to be agents of justice and voices of healing.
March 2, 2024
Johnston uses cultural, literary, and Biblical references to develop his thesis that there’s a way for the church to lead the culture back from the divides they’ve created to work for the good of all while serving God’s justice. It’s well written and has questions in the back which lends itself to good discussions for adult groups.
September 23, 2024
Our church studied Study 2 together, but Study 1 was what I think I needed to read.
October 12, 2023
Read and discussed this with my Book Group at church. With the issues and controversy in our world today, remembering the importance of virtues and "a good-faith attempt to join a conversation and bring about change" is hard. But hard doesn't mean we don't have to try.
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews