Pluralization and polarization are two defining features of Western culture. Pluralization refers to the coexistence of diverse viewpoints, practices, and beliefs among people with various backgrounds, customs, and ethnicities. Polarization manifests itself today in the “us versus them” attitude that sharply divides people over their many differences. Put together, pluralization and polarization result in the fragmentation and division we see all around us. To put it another way, the modern American cultural ethos is this: Differences divide.
The destructive mixture of pluralization and polarization has also permeated Christian communities and churches. Is Christian unity even possible in a world of pluralization, polarization, division, and fragmentation? If so, how is it possible, and what does it look like? Should all differences divide us? Can we be different yet united as followers of Christ? Dr. Richard Lints, the senior distinguished professor of theology at Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary, tackles these tough questions in his 2022 publication Uncommon Unity: Wisdom for the Church in an Age of Division. In this book, Lints approaches the topic of unity by first discussing differences: “To think more carefully about the unity of the church, we must first reflect on the nature of difference as it stands in relation to the theological constructs of unity” (xviii). Lints’ goal is to examine difference and unity while showing how the gospel story helps Christians best understand “unity-in-difference” (7). I have read resources that explore unity, but I do not remember many resources that examine the nature of differences. Lints’s approach to Christian unity is insightful because it takes into account the anatomy of difference.
Uncommon Unity (UU) has three main sections. In the first section, Lints discusses the various facets of Western culture that contribute to our differences. For example, differences arise from the modern emphasis on personal choice in a consumer culture. In a culture where we are all consumers and personal choice is king, differences abound. Lints notes that “mass culture in the West transformed us into a global consumer culture. It created the illusion of heightened individuality while implicitly demanding conformity” (22). For another example, in our modern political situation, although we have freedoms, democracy has influenced how we think about differences. Lints explains how our modern democracy has exacerbated gender and racial differences through inclusion and exclusion. The first section of UU also provides insight into how religion and secularity have led to various differences and variances in our culture.
The second part of UU includes biblical insight for thinking about differences and unity. Specifically, Lints argues from Genesis that people are meant to exist together in community, even though we are all different. Because we are made in God’s image, Lints argues, all people have sacred dignity and value.1 Lints also draws on Christian truths about the Trinity, marriage, and the flow of redemptive history to explain a biblical model of what he calls “unity-in-diversity” (7). He grounds his arguments in Scripture and its logic, providing a framework that accounts for differences without undermining unity. The second part of this book also gives a few examples from church history about unity-in-diversity. For example, Lints mentions the period after the Reformation in Europe, when churches had to coexist in the same area despite not being unified (163). In the last chapter of this section, Lints explores what he calls “missional unity” (179).
The third and final section of UU explains how the biblical category of wisdom helps Christians navigate toward unity-in-diversity. Christians do have different cultural backgrounds, ethnicities, and opinions. We live in different areas, have different habits and customs, enjoy different hobbies, and differ in political, social, and economic viewpoints. If you stop to think about it, Christians in our culture are extremely different. Wisdom, Lints argues, helps us contextualize our Christian lives in ways that help us find unity-in-diversity. We do not all have to become the same in every way. Christians can exist in unity even if we have different political views, ethnic customs, income levels, and educational backgrounds. But biblical wisdom offers a Christian way to enjoy both diversity and unity simultaneously with respect and love. “Biblical wisdom is not interested in self-promotion but in the flourishing of relationships in which one is embedded” (239).
Lints’s discussion of wisdom is especially helpful. From experience, I know that it is impossible and undesirable to make all Christians have the same beliefs, opinions, and views about everything under the sun. To do so would be cultish! But biblical wisdom, as we find in Proverbs and other parts of Scripture, helps Christians walk together hand-in-hand even though they have significant differences. Because Christians share the same faith, Lord, Spirit, and Word, God-given wisdom is the way forward in unity and love without forcing uniformity and homogeneity. “The way we deal with diversity inside the church ought to be squarely rooted in the logic of the gospel” (147). Diversity is not a naughty word. Properly understood, from a biblical perspective, diversity in the church is a beautiful thing. There are many members in the one body, all who have been given different gifts to serve one another in love. And these members of Christ’s body consist of people from different tribes, languages, people groups, and nations. Diverse indeed!
In some ways, UU is difficult to review because it covers so much ground. Lints spends time explaining concepts such as consumerism, personal identity, pluralism, diversity, slavery, contextualization, ecclesiology, community, politics, marriage, and missions. It is clear that Lints has studied, pondered, and read extensively about diversity and unity, as well as related topics. While he explores other viewpoints, Lints keeps returning to the teaching of Scripture and the gospel to explain how Christians who differ can be unified. At the beginning, he shares his goal: “The main thing I want to do in this book is to view the gospel story as the interpretive lens through which we best understand the telos of creation as a rich, deep, and complex unity-in-difference” (7). Because UU covers a broad scope of topics, it is a rich resource for helping Christians understand differences and unity.
There are many other insightful parts of this book that I could mention here. But to do so would result in an overly lengthy review. Instead of going into great details, I will share a few of my favorite quotes from UU. This will also help readers get a picture of Lints’s helpful contribution to the topic of Christian unity-in-diversity.
“Utopian political projects, whether on the Right or the Left, always founder on the rock of reality. Human nature is fragile and flawed, and human communities will always manifest those flaws and that fragility” (11).
“America has always been a nation of immigrants that nonetheless has a long history of suspicion toward immigrants” (43).
“In a world where God has created everyone with a sacred dignity, there are no grounds for claiming superiority of some over others” (75).
“When cultures seek to establish the city of God on earth, they inevitably confuse the immanent with the transcendent goals of life and thus develop their own idolatries. The result is always a dystopia rather than a utopia” (77).
“The political lens has wrongly become the interpretive lens for reading Scripture. …The lurking idol of our time is equating loyalty to the gospel with loyalty to a political party” (119).
“How we treat each other across racial divides goes a long way toward illustrating how we understand the God who created this diversity” (145).
We do indeed live in a highly pluralized and polarized cultural context. People today fight about everything from health practices to immigration procedures to tax policies. The Christian faith, however, offers a better way. Because of who Christ is and what he has done for us, the ethos of his church is not “differences divide.” As Lints explains in UU, the gospel is the source and pattern for Christian unity-in-diversity. Scripture gives us wisdom to navigate our cultural situation together in unity. Unity does not mean all Christians have to become identical clones. But it does mean we have to show love to each other as humble servants, following the pattern of Christ (145). This book will be beneficial to any Christian seeking deep insight into the nature of difference, diversity, and unity from a biblical perspective. Centered on the gospel, UU helped me think more deeply about these important topics and gave me more biblical categories for thinking about diversity and Christian unity.
To be sure, although we pray for and strive for Christian unity here, we will not fully enjoy it until the age to come. “The church’s unity has already been accomplished in Christ’s life, death, and resurrection, yet is still waiting to be fully accomplished” (174).
© Shane Lems. All rights reserved.
Notes
- For more on this topic, see Richard Lints, Identity and Idolatry: The Image of God and Its Inversion, vol. 36 of New Studies in Biblical Theology (IVP Academic, 2015).
©Shane Lems. All Rights Reserved.
Richard Lints, Uncommon Unity: Wisdom for the Church in an Age of Division (Lexham Press, 2022).
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Shane Lems
Shane Lems is a graduate of Westminster Seminary California and has a DMin from RTS Orlando. He has been a church planter and pastor in the URCNA. Since 2013 he’s been serving as pastor of Covenant Presbyterian Church (OPC) in Hammond, WI. He is married and has four children. Shane has written numerous articles for Modern Reformation, New Horizons, and other publications. He is also the author of Doctrines of Grace: Student Edition and manages a book blog, The Reformed Reader.
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