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

by Robin W. Lovin, Adam Hamilton (Foreword)

A trusted senior statesman in Christian ethics and ministry addresses the crisis of political polarization threatening the existence of the church.   Polarization and political gridlock have been the norm in the United States for decades. As that reality seeps into every aspect of our society, churches find themselves not only affected, but often at the very center of the conflict. Rather than remaining places of inclusive community and generous dialogue, our sanctuaries have too often become ground zero of the culture wars.  What can pastors do to restore the church’s witness to the unity of all things in God—especially when it feels like members of the congregation would rather position the church’s identity firmly on one side of the political spectrum or the other? And how can church leaders maintain peace while speaking the truth on important social issues—without either alienating parishioners who disagree or resorting to inane bothsiderism?  Widely respected pastor and ethicist Robin Lovin offers sage counsel in this helpful book, arguing that to resist the trend of polarization in our church we must rediscover how the gospel teaches us to understand ourselves, our neighbors, and the purpose of politics. In part one, Lovin provides an overview of the situation in which we find ourselves, showing how polarization developed over recent decades and how, in both our society and our churches, we have adapted to division as the norm. In part two, he considers how Christians can shape a different response by learning to listen—to the Word of God, to the world, and to those who are not usually heard. With questions for discussion and reflection aligned with the content of each chapter,  What Do We Do When Nobody Is Listening?  provides an accessible roadmap for navigating out of the morass of polarization into a brighter future of church unity, during election seasons and beyond.

Genres: Social Justice, Politics

176 pages, Paperback

Published June 28, 2022

Reviews

[Robert D. Cornwall · Rating 5 out of 5]

I am a retired pastor who has been actively engaged in the public square for much of my ministry. As such I've witnessed the growing polarization of our society. There are many reasons for that polarization that goes back to my own childhood, but which seems to be getting more severe in recent decades. The polarization that divides us politically also divides the churches from one another, and even local churches experience it. The question is, as the church, how do we navigate this reality? That's especially true as the title of Robin Lovin's book asks: "What do we do when nobody is listening?" Although there are very loud voices claiming to represent Jesus demanding to be heard, is anybody really listening? Or, is it more likely that the church itself has been co-opted by the political realities? For those charged with religious leadership such as pastors like me, how do we lead the church in this polarized society, as the subtitle of the book suggests?

"What Do We Do When Nobody Is Listening?" is the contribution of United Methodist minister and Christian ethicist Robin W. Lovin. Lovin has served as the William H. Scheide Senior Fellow in Theology at the Center of Theological Inquiry in Princeton, NJ as well as the Cary Maguire University Professor of Ethics at SMU and dean of SMU's Perkins School of Theology. He is the author of a number of books dealing with Christian ethics. He brings that expertise to this conversation.

The book divides into two parts. Part One sets the context and Part Two offers suggestions for a way forward. Part 1, titled "Divisions" states the problem in two chapters. Chapter 1 is titled Polarization, and in this chapter Lovin does an excellent job laying out the problem of polarization, helping us understand how we got to where we are at this point in time. This chapter focuses on the political and cultural divides. He notes that our political system, which is breaking down, was designed to moderate our conflicts. Disagreements existed/exist, but we found ways of working to find a partial answer/solution that involved compromises. But in this new reality, no compromises are allowed. We've divided ourselves into teams, and we will brook no dissent. This reality is known as reasonable pluralism. While by the late twentieth century our politics had become fragmented, no we are polarized, though how we label these poles is not clear. The goal however is to put the other side out of business. What we're left with is politics without solutions, that can be expressed through logos on a T-Shirt.

So, what of the church? Well, the church has been caught up in the mix of American politics. Thus, today, Lovin notes that "the prevailing strategy today seems to aim at consolidating the base toward one end of the political spectrum and identifying everyone else as the opposition" (p, 35). Does that sound familiar to you? It sure does to me. So in chapter 2, Lovin explores how churches are adapting to this reality. The question facing the church is whether we've adapted to the changes or have we been exploited by the purveyors of the two poles? As he explores these questions, he brings into view the response of the Confessing Church and especially Dietrich Bonhoeffer, who figures prominently in this book. During the 1930s, as Hitler came to power, Bonhoeffer and others like him sought to take up space in the changing society. They did this by creating an alternative to the prevailing winds. It was an act of resistance. There are other ways of resisting, which we see happening and perhaps participate in. Conservative Christians have resisted by stressing religious freedom (at least a freedom that benefits their position). Others have resisted through withdrawal from society. So the question is, how do we take up space? Part of that is by pursuing the penultimate, but making that the ultimate, which is what is happening in our polarized society. The goal here, for the church, is to determine what are concrete goods that can be achieved and pursue them. This involves ethical reflection and formation so that people can discern what are those concrete goods that can be pursued.

If Part 1 lays out the problem and suggests some possible ways forward, Part 2 focuses on specific ways of responding. These are described under the heading of "Listening." Lovin discerns that one of the reasons we see so much polarization is that we don't listen. Listening as Lovin understands it here is not just openness to an argument but involves understanding. Thus, "it involves a readiness to go beyond first impressions and surface differences to discern connections between people and experiences across time and distance. Listening is acquiring a way to think about things that seem too large to grasp, or too small to be worth a name" (p. 79).

So, when it comes to listening, Lovin speaks of three forms of listening. The first is listening to the Word, which is the Word of God. We need to reconnect with our foundations. This means letting faith, hope, and love have their say to our lives. This Word forms us in ways that allow us to take the next step of listening. Thus, we move to listening to the world. Again we need to be formed so that in our divided society we not only find ways of cooperating but allow us to discern the penultimate goods that need our attention. This requires being formed by faith, hope, and love. This involves more than talk or embracing the right terms. It requires finding people who will join with us in creating the penultimate good. Finally, in chapter 5, we are asked to listen to those who are not being heard. When we divide into two opposing parties who are unwilling to speak to each other or work with each other, there will be those who do not get heard. He notes that those who need most to be heard tend to speak softly if they speak at all. Thus, "unless we are attuned to respond to them as a response to God's action on us, we will not be able to find a new way beyond the divisions that are now set so firmly in place."

The conclusion to this relatively brief book, which is designed to be used in congregational conversation (see the study guide that is appended to the book), Lovin returns to the concept of "taking up space in a divided society." Here he offers a few concluding suggestions for a forward that makes it possible to take up space in a divided context. As he points out "faith is not just a set of ideas they believe. Their lives are formed by it, and the world is changed by their presence in it" (p. 146). He begins by noting the importance of inclusiveness, where all are welcome. This isn't just the base. He writes that the "church takes up space that helps preserve the shrinking middle ground where people do not already have all the answers." pp. 148-149). The next element of taking up space may be problematic for some, but it makes sense. That is "elusiveness." While there is a place for a bold witness, in our divided society, there is the danger of simply defining ourselves into one of the two camps. Sometimes we need to be hard to pin down, so we can listen to each other. It's easy to wear our T-Shirt to a rally or wave a flag signaling our place on the issues of the day. No need to talk or listen -- the logo says it all. The next piece is effectiveness. That means working to accomplish concrete goods and not merely signal our virtue! That, Lovin suggests, might "draw a more interesting mix of people than starting with a slogan" (p. 151). When we do this, there is the possibility of producing a change in our society, that would be the concrete goods that benefit all. That would seem to be a goal worth pursuing. The path to this goal involves finding ways of taking up space through our presence in the world, not through slogans and signaling, but working together for the common good.