Uncommon Ground: Living Faithfully in a World of Difference

Refreshing approach to various beliefs and opinions.

I bought both a hard copy and listened to it on Audible. As someone who is seeking to live faithfully in a world of difference in my workplace and community, this was an incredibly helpful book. I also can't help but think just how perfect this book is for our moment of national reckoning around race. NOW more than ever, folks need to read this book! I found myself weeping during Tom Lin's chapter, as I found resonance in my own experience growing up in an immigrant family, and I found myself incredibly inspired through that and so many other chapters as well. Other reviewers have critiqued the lack of specificity...for me, that was helpful, because everyone's context is so different. I was still able to take away what I needed. These are very thoughtful believers who come from very different walks of life, and it was a treat just to see the world from their view each chapter. Thank you, John Inazu and Tim Keller, for the rich contribution of this book to the Christian conversation about our place in the public sphere.

I am reading this book for our Sabbath school study. Great reading. Submissions are made by real people trying to live right in a wrong, so wrong world. Very applicable to real life.

In a world that is filled with Christian books on how to defeat culture or to escape from it this book is a breath of fresh air. In the 10 years that I have worked with young people one of the hardest concepts to get across to them is that their work matters. And even beyond that, how do we work with or partner with people who are different than me? How do we work together for a common good? That they have opportunities to engage the world around them. This book helps to give words to what that looks like. Not only is it filled with diverse writers, it doesn't give easy answers but ones of hope. I am grateful for this work and will share it with any college senior, young adult, and parishioner that I can. BUY THIS BOOK!

As someone familiar with previous writings from Keller and Inazu, I was eager to get this book--it did not disappoint. Both gentlemen are serious scholars, so one might have expected a weighty or dense theological treatise. Instead, they oriented the project around stories--individual stories that faithfully reflect personal versions of the grand Story of redemption, hope, beauty, truth, and justice. Rather than offering long lists of direct recommendations to other people (whose contexts will inevitably be different), these stories target the soul. As such, these stories offer vivid and practical insights to my particular context, but they do so indirectly, authentically, and inspirationally. As Keller has written elsewhere, no one changes his behavior because he's told he needs to change--he must be SHOWN. This book doesn't just tell us what authentic Christianity looks like in our polarized world, it shows us--and it does so exceptionally well. Highly recommended if you want to challenge your soul with diverse renderings of faithful living. Direct application to your life and specific recommendations for action will no doubt emerge, but they'll come from the inspiration of the Holy Spirit working through the power of Story.

After reading John Inazu's first book 'Confident Pluralism', I thought this might be a deeper foray into the legal/cultural difficulty of living faithfully in a pluralistic society. Instead, Inazu and Keller do something different. They challenge us to listen to stories of folks seeking to embody the principles of 'confident pluralism'. Does it offer easy answers? No. However, it does offer us a window into the rich ways that God can move us, transform us and position us for His purposes in communities where we might have deep disagreements. Overall, these stories of small and large acts of faithfulness to exemplify Christ's humility, patience and tolerance were deeply encouraging to person that constantly tries the patient of a God whose love he does not deserve. Very thankful to Inazu and Keller for organizing this. This is an important conversation in an acrimonious age where we falsely substitute information/vital statistics for people/real relationship.

Some essays I would rate as 5 stars, others as 2 stars. As a whole though, they push us to be willing to listen, honestly evaluate our presumptions, and remember that the gospel is the key to reconciliation.

It feels like the world is more and more divided and it's getting harder to stay the course and remain faithful to the Word of God all while wanting to remain humble, loving and assertive. I appreciated this book's thesis and it's variety of authors and different perspectives. Some chapters I connected with more than others, but all of it was worthwhile and appreciated. I cannot recommend this more.