Breaking Ground

“Breaking Ground” by Anne Synder and Susannah Black is true to its name. Its founding vision is highly significant in these deeply disoriented times, when life’s familiar rhythms fade away into a future of bleak oblivion. Change of such immense scope and magnitude has created a spectrum of moral opportunity in every society with a dynamic ecosystem of thinkers with the wisdom to discern it and the humility to accept it, and doers with the courage and determination to do something about it productively. This is an urgent clarion call for the fragmented body of Christ to unite together in humility and selfless service to humanity. The Church with all her scars, made resilient by long-standing struggle, is called to lead in service, sacrifice and solidarity. Particularly insightful moral leadership is the urgent need of the hour, in these extremely distressing times. Although the pandemic is a layered crisis that unfolds in stages, it also provides opportunities for brand new beginnings from the ashes of the past.
Even in these extremely difficult times, hope is born anew in our hearts. God’s people are called to do whatever they can to help humankind rebuild themselves in their respective communities. A creative lens shines upon Christian social thought to illuminate it and provide inspiration to the world at large. As Christians filled with Christ’s love, let us orient our hope and direct our steps into a founding vision for the future, by selflessly seeking and striving to imbue weary people with fresh hope, to renew the world in an age of crisis. In the scary face of the pandemic and all its myriad consequences, layers of life as we knew it earlier, have been painfully peeled away, to reveal frightening landscapes. This is the staggering reality of the world today. Faith, hope and love overpowers despair, even in the pandemic. We have a moral call, a selfless duty to live in honest fellowship with our fellow human beings, by seeking to live in justice and equity. Be seeing eyes and listening ears to people around you. Bear their burdens in love. Do the little you can to alleviate the distress of people. Even one drop of rain in the ocean makes a huge difference. Never underestimate your God-given power to do good to the world around you.
Share true communion with each other in your hearts, even in social distancing. There is always a way to reach out to others in distress, to shine your light into their dark corner. We are an integral part of each other’s lives, a social community of all the communities in this world. “No man is an island.” We need to give a wise response to these unprecedented times. We must take responsibility for this moment, to be a blessing to others. “Breaking Ground” does exactly that, in its own way. I highly recommend this groundbreaking book to all readers who wish to reach out a helping hand of fellowship to others and make an impact in today’s pandemic world.

One of the great things about Plough's books is they tend to be international, and that really helps here. You get a mix of perspectives on American culture in 2020, the history of evangelical culture and politics, from perspectives that go inside and outside of American evangelical culture. The result is refreshing and interesting even at the moments where you may disagree with the authors.

These essays are really directed more at public officials than the ordinary reader, I think. They mostly concern how governments handled the virus, and what should be the Christian approach to dealing with it. I liked the more spiritually oriented ones which didn't concentrate so much on public policy, such as James Matthew Wilson's beautiful article about contemplation, and the art of poetry, in which he analyses three poems. I will certainly look up his books! Jennifer Frey's contribution in which she criticises the hjypocrisy of experts, and writes about the importance of trust was also extremely interesting.

I received this free ebook from NetGalley in return for an honest review.

The summer of 2020 came in the depths of the pandemic, punctuated by the police-involved death of George Floyd, painfully caught live on camera, resulting in massive demonstrations and disorder in many cities. Two magazine editors, Anne Snyder of Comment, a Canadian-based magazine, and Susannah Black, at the Bruderhof sponsored publication, Plough Quarterly came together to invite a number of Christian thinkers engaged in public square discourse to write articles that attempted to analyze what was happening in our society, draw upon the past, and think imaginatively about the future, renewal, and the role followers of Christ might play in fostering a hopeful future drawing together a fragmented body of Christ and wider society.

The collection brings together an impressive list of thinkers whose essays were written over the four seasons beginning in the summer of 2020 through the spring of 2021. Some of the better known contributors include Mark Noll, N.T. Wright, Marilynne Robinson, Michael Wear, Jeffrey Bilbro, Doug Sikkema, Amy Julia Becker, Oliver O’Donovan, Peter Wehner, and Jonathan Haidt. All told, there are nearly fifty essays in this collection.

The discussion ranges from Mark Noll’s analysis of epidemics past to essays exploring the breakdown of public trust to an interview between Cherie Harder of The Trinity Forum and Marilynne Robinson ranging from Calvin to the common good. Michael Wear, an adviser in the Obama White House surveys our political landscape and profiles Joseph Lowery, one of the last survivors of the Civil Rights movement, who walked with King under the shadow of death, and our call to walk with Jesus even as we engage all the perils of the political in this time. Oliver O’Donovan explores politics and political service.

The essays talk about the importance of place, the local, and the spiritual practices that sustain us. Amy Julia Becker talks about how congregations like hers may fight racism at the local level. Anthony M Barr contributed some of the clearest thinking on the nature of policing and police reform that could be a starting point for many local conversations. Irena Dragas Jansen offers one of the more interesting essays describing what our country looks like through the eyes of a new citizen. Katherine Boyle, an entrepreneur describes the death of Silicon Valley–the eco-disasters, the hopelessness that claims more lives than COVID, the failure of the tech world to save us, and yet the way of being it has promoted as Silicon Valley becomes everywhere.

Aryana Petrosky Roberts describes coming home to the political conflicts in her own family, the inability to hear one another and the breakthrough of praying together, inviting Jesus into the political mess. Stuart McAlpine takes us deeper into prayer, into the prayers of repentance and lament we desperately need to engage and are so hard for us. Michael Lamb explores the implications of Joe Biden’s call for an Augustinian Concord in his inaugural address.

The book includes interview transcripts, some of the best from interviews with Cherie Harder of The Trinity Forum, one of the organizations that joined the Breaking Ground project. One of the very best of these was with Jonathan Haidt and Peter Wehner on “Arguments of the Sake of Heaven.” They explore our contemporary epistemic crisis and polarization, recall the passion of the Inklings for truth that led to vociferous argument, and what is required to foster good arguments in our public squares. Duke Kwon and Gregory Thompson combine to contribute an essay on the call of the American church to own its own responsibility for our nation’s racial history–our love of gain and our failure to make recompense for slavery’s injuries. Charles C. Camosy explores the horror of our nursing homes which the pandemic revealed and the challenge of an ethic of life that includes dignified elder care.

Amid the serious and important conversations, Tara Isabella Burton’s “On Good Parties” comes as a ray of light. Tara loves parties and sees good ones as “a practice for living.” They teach us how to love well and see ourselves as part of a community, they celebrate events in our real lives and the appreciation of one another. She made me look forward to good parties once again.

Even with all that I’ve written here, I’ve but skimmed the surface of all the good and imaginative thinking in this collection. I’m impressed with the wide array of people from police officers to theologians who contribute to this collection. But isn’t this what is needed in our communities across the land–for a coming together of a wide array of people who care about the rents in our social fabric who talk and listen and pray and think and imagine what could be?
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Disclosure of Material Connection: I received a complimentary review copy of this book from the publisher via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. The opinions I have expressed are my own.

I got busy and let this volume fall by the wayside. What a mistake! This collection features an impressively wide assortment of authors reflecting on virtually every facet of the world that was 2020. Still relevant and interesting at the end of 2022. Well worth a read.

ARC provided