If Two Heads Are Better Than One What about More Than Thirty?

Several weeks ago my wife and I were riding in the car discussing the books that we had recently read when my wife made the observation that she believed it was foolish and even a bit arrogant not to spend a good chunk of our time reading.  She stated that a book is an amazing gift; that a writer has done all of this research on a topic and then we get to be the beneficiary of this research in a compact package.  I, of course, agree with this.  Shortly after this conversation “A Land Full of God” arrived in the mail.  With this book we get to be the beneficiary of the research and life experiences of not just one writer, but more than thirty.  Paradoxically, while nearly all of the writers are Christian diversity abounds in “A Land Full of God.”  “Some are Catholics, most are Protestant, several self-identify as evangelicals.  Some profess to be Christian Zionists and others are more ardent advocates of the Palestinians.  The authors are theologians, historians, world politicians, Middle East experts, religious leaders, and pastors of local congregations.”  Moreover, these writers come from multiple continents and countries adding to the diversity.

Besides the contributors being Christian each contributor has their own unique connection to the Holy Land and a passion to see a peaceful resolution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.  Aziz Abu Sarah writes in the preface:

We do not know of a mass movement with people like Rev. Dr. Mae Elise Cannon who are able to try and border-cross between different groups and break down barriers while seeking to help others to also cross that border.  Instead, we see people strengthening each side of the border, building up taller and stronger walls of division.

By definition, American Christians are already engaged in the conflict of the Holy Land because they have so much at stake in the land.  The question is, how can Americans most helpfully engage?

Sarah’s observation is sadly too often true.  However, what you will find in “A Land Full of God” is essays more focused on seeking to understand the other side and in the process breaking down walls rather than building them.

One of the most helpful ways for Americans, particularly the Christian Church in America, to engage is to listen.  Famous peacemaker and Notre Dame Professor John Paul Lederach writes in his “The Moral Imagination:"

Stillness is the prerequisite to observation and the development of a capacity to see what exists.  Seeing what exists is the prerequisite of transcendent imagination…The paradox is this: Stillness is not inactivity.  It is the presence of disciplined activity without movement.  Stillness is activism with a twist.  It is the platform that generates authenticity of engagement, for it is the state that makes true listening and seeing possible.

Here we have more than thirty narratives— thirty opportunities to be still, thirty opportunities to observe, thirty opportunities to see what exists, thirty opportunities to authentically engage, thirty opportunities to imagine, thirty opportunities to listen.  This is a book I will highly recommend to friends and peers.