A Vision for Good
An uneven collection of essays nevertheless offers a glimpse at a vision for public Christian intellectualism.
Review by Samuel D. James
Contemporary Christianity does not lack for scholarship, as any survey of our many seminaries, theological associations, or groundbreaking books would attest. What we do lack is a vibrant public intellectualism, a coherent expression of whole-life belief and practice from voices that are respected and sought out for guidance. This absence makes every conscious effort to cultivate a Christian intellectual presence doubly worthy of note. Thus, Public Intellectuals and the Common Good is a sincere attempt at theological engagement with intellectual leadership itself, and offers compelling reminders of how evergreen the gospel is. Unfortunately, the essays struggle to cohere, and one is left with the frustrating sense that a distinctively Christian vision of human flourishing is missing.
Theologian Miroslav Volf gets the volume off to a promising start in his opening essay. Christian intellectual leadership is necessary now more than ever, Volf argues, due to the fracturing and increasingly consumeristic, self-absorbed public square. That leadership consists of three tasks: correctly interpreting the (rapidly changing) world, articulating a Christian vision of the good life for individuals and societies, and then working on actionable steps toward realization of that vision. Christian intellectuals need to realize that their mandate comes from “God’s call to be improvisors of Christ” and “the love of the neighbor—which is also love of the marginalized, the strangers, even love of the enemies.” The goal, according to Volf, is for Christian intellectuals to lead out on pressing theological, ethical, political, environmental, and other issues “from a genuinely Christian perspective while highlighting convictions and using vocabulary with which non-Christians resonate.”
Volf’s essay merits anticipation for the rest of the contributors. One of the book’s best chapters is Katelyn Beaty’s reflection on the role that journalism can play in providing the public with the ethical discipline of truth-telling, particularly truth-telling that effects positive change. Beaty draws out how a Christian doctrine of sin provides both justification for and effectiveness of journalism: Human beings are sinners who need accountability and the insight of observers. Likewise, Notre Dame professor Emmanuel Katongole contributes a powerful meditation on his journey as a Christian scholar, and how the gospel of reconciliation gave shape and urgency to his sense of intellectual duty and God’s calling on his life. Each of these essays offers both a personal and theoretical vision for how intellectual disciplines and public advocacy can be vehicles by which Christian truth captivates minds and blesses even unbelievers.
There are passages throughout the book that suggest a groundbreaking manifesto on Christian public intellectualism.
At the same time, Public Intellectuals and the Common Good suffers from a lack of overall coherence. It is difficult for multi-contributor volumes to avoid this pitfall. One problem in this particular volume is a divided instinct: partly toward a broadly Reformed articulation of Christianity (seen somewhat in Volf’s opening chapter) and partly toward a “least common denominator” Christianity that blends to a non-specific degree with mainstream religious pluralism. Heather Templeton Dill’s piece seems particularly confused on this point. Dill offers a comparison between King Abdullah II, Rabbi Jonathan Sacks, and Christian philosopher Alvin Plantinga, highlighting all of these intellectuals for their humble commitments to neighborliness and humanitarian common good. But the essay reads awkwardly for a book that is about Christian intellectualism, and seems not to advance the concern for a Christian vision for the common good as opposed to, say, a modern, capitalistic, westernized Islamic vision of the common good.
This instinct toward a least common denominator Christianity also shows up in the book’s reluctance to deal headlong with pressing controversies. Volf’s chapter, which is otherwise quite good, does not mention whatsoever the challenges facing Christian intellectuals who articulate a traditional vision of human sexuality, even though unified opposition to historic Christian teaching within western news media and many political parties is a massive issue for public witness in the twenty-first century. Similarly, Linda Livingstone’s essay on “cultivating Christian intellectuals” focuses exclusively on the advantages and benefits of major universities, and declines to say anything about the well-known progressive hegemony in higher education. No amount of humility, winsomeness, or commitment to pluralistic common good will make these challenges go away, and many aspiring Christian intellectuals will find their public ambitions severely diminished if they attempt to navigate these centers of cultural leadership with traditional Christian beliefs intact.
The editors of Public Intellectuals and the Common Good have undertaken a worthy project. There are passages throughout the book that suggest a groundbreaking manifesto on Christian public intellectualism. But it’s not clear that all the contributors have a realistic sense of what a distinctly Christian intellectual contribution entails. A groundbreaking work will likely not be the kind of book that glamorizes a neoliberal political project, but a vision of the common good rooted in far more ancient ideas. For the taste of such a vision one gets in this book, I thank the editors and contributors. For the full meal, I can only wait.
Samuel D. James is associate acquisitions editor at Crossway Books and publishes Insights, a regular newsletter on Christianity, ideas, and culture.
Public Intellectuals and the Common Good: Christian Thinking for Human Flourishing was published by InterVarsity Press on January 26, 2021. We appreciate their provision of a review copy, and you can purchase your own copy on their website here.
