Foreword by Richard Mouw
Editors’ Preface
Acknowledgments

Chapter 1: Called to be Salt and light—An Overview

Dr. Stephen V. Monsma, Henry Institute, Calvin College 
"Under the dialogue model, one starts with trust and respect, moves to an understanding of what motivations and perspectives underlie the differing positions, and from there finds areas of common ground and larger areas of agreement.”

Monsma argues that Christians are called to be agents for God’s redemptive purposes in today’s predominantly secular culture, thereby rejecting the option of withdrawing from culture. But, he rejects a confrontational approach to engagement with culture, except under extraordinary circumstances. Instead, he proposes a dialogue model that starts with getting to know the persons who disagree with you.

Chapter 2: “Getting into the Loaf”: Engaging the Secular Academy

Dr. James Waller, Auschwitz Institute for Peace and Reconciliation
“Engagement with ideas in the secular academy is, of necessity, engagement with others (real people) who carry those ideas. In that engagement, I try to practice (not always successfully) a relational humility that leaves open spaces for me, and others, to tear down the barriers of ‘us’ and ‘them’ that, too often, hinder effective engagement.”

Waller has proposed a theory as to “why ordinary people sometimes do extraordinary evil” that is deeply informed by his Christian faith perspective. He reports that his theory has gained a respectful hearing within an elite group of mostly secular Holocaust and Genocide scholars, largely because he has sought to exemplify intellectual, worldview, and relational humility in his personal engagement with these scholars.

Chapter 3: Personalism in Politics: Finding Common Ground in the Legislature

Dr. Paul DeWeese, former member, Michigan House of Representatives
“I frequently worked alongside African-American clergy in Lansing. . . . I made a commitment to listen, to understand their perspectives on the issues that were important to their communities. As I listened, I came to understand better the ways in which I benefited from ‘white privilege.’”

Appalled by the influence of special interest groups and the hyper-partisanship of contemporary politics, DeWeese sought to exemplify a “personalism in politics,” which included seeking common ground with members of the opposing party concerning legislative initiatives that would foster basic human dignity. He found that getting to know members of the other party on a personal level helped him to build bridges across both racial and partisan divides.

Chapter 4: Fostering Environmental Responsibility Among Watermen of Chesapeake Bay: A Faith and Action Research Approach 

Dr. Susan Emmerich, CEO, Emmerich Environmental Consulting
“The conflict stemmed from the differences in worldview and language between the two groups. . . . The two groups talked past each other, each not listening to or understanding the other, or sometimes not respecting their neighbor’s worldview. . . . [A broader view of ‘neighbor’] led to individual Tangiermen asking forgiveness from CBF (Chesapeake Bay Foundation) staff for ostracizing them and to CBF staff asking for forgiveness for their mistakes.”

In contrast to the detached approach of the scientists who addressed the environmental problems in Chesapeake Bay, Emmerich moved in with the families of the watermen of Tangiers Island who fished the Bay. By getting to know them personally, she slowly developed the trust needed to dialogue with them and to persuade them to address the environmental problems they were partly responsible for creating.

Chapter 5: Roundtable Conversation: Hospitality in the Academy

Rev. David Thom, faculty ministry at Harvard and MIT
“Persons in our college and university communities who do not share our Christian faith commitment do not typically flock to the lectures on the Christian message that we sponsor. We then too easily console ourselves with the mistaken notion that when Christian thought has been made available in the written word or through open-invitation lectures that our work as Christians is done."

In his case study, Dave Thom describes bringing together hundreds of scholars, about fifty at a time, where Christian scholars are outnumbered by non-Christian scholars, for evenings of dinner and dialogue among faculty at Harvard and MIT and in the Amherst-based Five-College area. Roundtables have met more than thirty times to explore the intersection of contemporary academic thought and Christian thought on issues related to science, art, and religion. Here Thom describes the origins of The Roundtable and assesses their accomplishments.

Chapter 6: Changing the Culture, One Film at a Time

Mr. Jack Hafer, Independent Film Maker 
“The content, tone, and style of the film can build a mutual trust between filmmakers who are mutually involved in the Great Conversation. . . . I make films that I think deal with the human condition and thereby invite people of all persuasions to find themselves in them in some way.”

By describing two of his film projects, the feature film To End All War and the documentary Wall of Separation, Hafer illustrates how he attempts to influence the secular culture by using film as a means for dialogue with that culture. He also relates the challenges of operating in the highly secular film culture and how he has worked to overcome those challenges.

Chapter 7: Christian/Jewish/Muslim Relations

Dr. Marvin Wilson, Gordon College 
“If agreement on everything is a necessity for dialogue, then there can be no dialogue. The main prerequisite for dialogue is to come to the table with the right to self-definition, and to grant that same right to others around the table. . . . Dialogue will not work if we must be ‘right’ on every issue. We have to listen in relation to every issue—and listen with a teachable spirit. . . . If the sole purpose of talking is to get an ‘opponent’ to concede rather than to see and understand another perspective, then we are not engaging in dialogue.

Appalled by the high degree of ignorance, misconceptions, suspicion and mistrust that existed between the Jewish and Evangelical Christian communities, Wilson has devoted over forty-five years to building bridges between these two faith communities by means of a dialogue that avoids stereotypes and demonization and seeks greater mutual understanding and learning from one another. After describing the dynamics of this career-long process, he argues for the need to further expand the conversation into a “trialogue” that will engage Muslim perspectives.

Chapter 8: Conversations on Homosexuality as a Quest to Love Enemy Prejudices

Dr. Michael A. King, President, Cascadia Publishing House LLC
“I have come to summarize genuine conversation as involving a mutual quest for treasure in our own and the other’s viewpoint. . . . The first move is ‘to make as clear as I can why I hold this position (prejudice) and why you might find in it treasure to value in your own quest for truth.’ The second key move is to grow in my own understandings by incorporating as much of the other’s perspective as I can without losing the integrity of my own convictions.’”

Drawing on a model of “genuine conversation” inspired by Hans Georg-Gadamer, King reports on his experiences orchestrating conversations about homosexuality within the Mennonite Christian community, and beyond, and evaluates what happens when the quest is not for victory but for mutual learning. By noting both successes and failures, he highlights the potentialities and well as the limits of nurturing genuine conversation, especially when dealing with issues as controversial as that of homosexuality.

Chapter 9: A Restorative Alternative to an Adversarial Criminal Justice System

Ms. Tammy Krause, Outreach Specialist, Federal Public Defender
“I spent the majority of the lunch meeting answering the families’ questions and listening to their skepticism and concerns. At times such as this, it is important to listen to the apprehension without an answer or argument. People need to be heard and to feel valued for what they have to say. . . . When you journey alongside persons faithfully and witness their dark moments of pain and suffering, there will be a time that you will find yourself present as they find their voices, as they sing the song which never stops, and you know you are in a very holy place.”

Drawing on principles of restorative justice, Krause describes her arduous attempts to enable the families of victims in capital murder cases to gain a voice in the legal proceedings. Focusing on developing trust in an adversarial system characterized primarily by mistrust, she cites a case example to illustrate how honesty, integrity, trust, and respect can change the judicial course for those most deeply impacted in capital cases.

Chapter 10: Dialogue: Of Success, Failure, and Promise

Dr. Harold Heie, Center for Christian Studies, Gordon College
“It is a deep expression of my love for another when I create a welcoming space for her to express disagreement, when I take the trouble to get to know her sufficiently to understand her position by empathetically putting myself in her shoes, and when I seek treasures in her point of view, hoping that she also finds treasures in my point of view.”

Heie first summarizes the numerous ways in which the various case studies reported on in this volume exemplify the three aspects of a “dialogue model for engagement with culture” presented by Monsma in his introductory essay. He then notes the limitations of this dialogue model and proposes that Christians wishing to uncover “mutual treasures” through genuine conversation with those with whom they disagree must exhibit healthy doses of humility, patience, and love.

The Index