Faithful Presence on Uncommon Ground
This new essay collection from Keller and Inazu advocates for—and ably defends—a posture of faithful presence as the best response of the Christian to the world today.
Review by Josh Alexakos
Uncommon Ground, a collection of essays edited by John Inazu and Tim Keller, rests on the same wisdom as that behind a particular moment in J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings. In The Fellowship of the Ring, Frodo, the meek yet brave hobbit who has the terrible burden of bearing the ring, expresses to Gandalf, the wise and powerful wizard, a feeling of despair over the seemingly hopeless nature of the events surrounding them and the task ahead: “‘I wish it need not have happened in my time.” Gandalf’s response is as simple as it is profound: “‘So do I,’ said Gandalf, ‘and so do all who live to see such times. But that is not for them to decide. All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given us.’”
Many Christians in the West can empathize with Frodo’s sentiment, as increasingly polarized viewpoints tear apart communities and isolate individuals. And so, much as Gandalf provides advice and encouragement to Frodo, in Uncommon Ground Keller and Inazu bring together a number of voices to give guidance on how we might respond to “the time that is given us.”
The book is based on three “embodied practices” originally identified by Inazu in his book Confident Pluralism: humility, patience, and tolerance. These are practices that Inazu and Keller believe to be derivative of the Christian virtues of faith, hope, and love, and thus to reflect faithful implementation of these virtues in our world today. The model of living to which these practices apply may be described as thought, word, and deed.
These three acts of living in the world define the three parts of the book: “Framing Our Engagement,” “Communicating Our Engagement,” and “Embodying Our Engagement.” Each part contains four essays; there is one each from Inazu and Keller, and ten from outside contributors who range from musical artists to doctors to theologians to entrepreneurs. The brilliance of the book lies in the distinct nature of each essay—each contributor discusses his or her own experiences of faithfully applying the practices of humility, patience, and tolerance. There is very little repetition, because each person speaks from a different place and role. The wisdom is not top down, but bottom up, as the lived experience of the contributors define the essays. The reader follows each story through the failures and setbacks, eventually arriving at the triumph that comes from reliance on God’s grace and the faithful efforts of the storyteller.
Indeed, there are often moments where one can’t help but feel that these essayists would have been justified in giving up. And yet they never do, and the stories all end triumphantly—not because of the brilliance of the people telling their stories, but because of their reliance on God, the body of Christ, and the wisdom of those gone before them.
In moments like this, two choices exist: give in to despair, or lean further into the grace of God.
A particularly good example of this is Tom Lin’s chapter, “The Adventurer.” In it, he tells how he and his wife’s efforts as missionaries in Mongolia were plagued by struggles including a language barrier, constant power outages, robbery, and much more. The confidence (and maybe pride) with which they had come to the country was quickly lost.
In moments like this, two choices exist: give in to despair, or lean further into the grace of God. Lin summarizes it brilliantly:
Should we despair? Or might God be inviting us to travel off the grid, to an adventure that exposes us to the risks and possibly to transformation? Perhaps he desires for us to see the changes around us as opportunities that allow the church to grow in courage, faithfulness, and resilience. Perhaps he calls us to mature in faith that reflects confidence and trust in the triune God.
Lin and his wife leaned into faith and began to see small victories. They built relationships with Mongolians and relied on them to understand the culture they inhabited and hoped to evangelize. They recognized their need for interdependence: they had gifts and abilities to bring to Mongolia, but the people of Mongolia also had gifts and abilities that proved indispensable to the Lins. Lin’s essay is paradigmatic of the stories Uncommon Ground, as it encapsulates the themes of failure, faith, and triumph that define the collection. It also gives insight from within and without Western Christianity, and so provides strong points of critique and hope for growth.
The other essays, while unique in other respects, similarly reflect the ways in which each person learned and became more reliant on God. The experience humbled each contributor, and allowed for partnerships with individuals and groups who may not be Christians, but who desire to do good for their place and people. The wisdom gained from such encounters is invaluable, and would benefit all Christians who seek “the welfare of the city where I have sent you into exile” (Jeremiah 29:7, ESV).
In the end, success, for the Christian, is not a metric we have the power to define.
Despite this breadth of wisdom, the book is narrow in another sense: it prescribes only one response to the situation in which Christians in the West find themselves. Best described as “faithful presence,” this response—defined and fleshed out by James Davison Hunter in his book To Change the World—prioritizes inhabiting culture and working within it to create a vision of Christianity that exists counter to the dominant cultural narrative. This means enacting the practices Inazu and Keller describe in thought, word, and deed within the cultural institutions and broader context. While the reviewer finds this to be the best course of action, some Christians contend that postures of withdrawal or defense are better suited to our current moment. The specifics of those strategies would take books to outline and rebut, but a quick word in response is warranted.
The strength of faithful presence against those models is clearly outlined in Uncommon Ground. The stories it contains show that this posture is not only possible, but has valuable strengths through its adaptability to specific places and peoples. Alternative models would need to show that they can not only function as means of interacting with the world, but help us to thrive—as the twelve contributors in Uncommon Ground demonstrate that faithful presence can do. At the moment, at least, faithful presence seems to have made a strong case for itself in Uncommon Ground.
In the end, success, for the Christian, is not a metric we have the power to define. This truth should lead us to rejoice, as we rely on God’s providential hand to turn our meager seeds into flourishing gardens. Inazu and Keller are profoundly aware of this, writing, “As we think of how to live faithfully in a world of difference, we realize that God does not leave us alone to do so.” Uncommon Ground is defined by this truth, as every story in the book shows that God can do wonders with people as regular as we are. Indeed, we go forth with confidence born not only of God’s presence with us, but also because, unlike Frodo and Gandalf, we know the end of the story. And we know that this story “begins and ends in joy.”
Josh Alexakos lives and works outside of Boston, MA.
Uncommon Ground: Living Faithfully in a World of Difference was published by Thomas Nelson on April 14, 2020. Fare Forward appreciates their contribution of a copy for our reviewer. You can purchase the book on the publisher’s website here.
