In Ordinary Faith in Polarized Times, Amy Carr and Christine Helmer apply a Lutheran lens to the contemporary situation of high conflict in politics, religion and culture wars. As proponents of ‘ordinary faith’ in Christ, Carr and Helmer encourage conversations between people who share a common Christian identity. They articulate a vision where Christians remain in relationship with one another despite holding polar opposite perspectives on controversial topics such as abortion and gender.
What do Carr and Helmer mean by ‘ordinary faith’? Articulating a Lutheran understanding, they mean that faith in Christ is given by God as a gift of grace. It is not something that one can produce in oneself. Rather, faith is Christ’s work within the individual. The authors assert that justification by faith frees people to pursue justice with humility – acknowledging that one could be wrong. One should engage in the messy work of trying to improve the common good without holding onto absolutism or clinging to an unattainable, morally pure vision of right and wrong. Justification by faith, they argue, is not the same as justification of one’s own beliefs.
For Carr and Helmer, ordinary faith entails ‘living into daily repentance of our temptations, myopia, and whatever draws us away from Christ-centered existence; and a daily rebirth into the remembrance of our baptism into Jesus’ own dying and rising’ (p. 9). Ordinary faith is sustained through God’s forgiveness and grace, the ‘touchstone realities amid life’s changing circumstance’ (p. 26). The ‘repetitions invoked in churches’ through liturgy, preaching and scripture are stabilising anchors (p. 26).
Carr and Helmer contrast ‘ordinary faith’ with the ‘extraordinary faith’ of heroic figures such as biblical prophets or Dietrich Bonhoeffer, who participated in a plot to assassinate Adolf Hitler. The authors mention the Protestant ‘icon’ of Martin Luther at the Diet of Worms (1521), as he followed his conscience and (according to apocryphal legend) announced ‘Here I stand’, resisting the forces of church and empire arrayed against him. People may be called upon to display extraordinary faith in extraordinary circumstances; however, as Carr and Helmer assert, Christians are tempted to valorise acts of heroic individualism at the expense of communal expressions of the faith. The authors argue that adopting a ‘Here I stand’ posture can heighten tension and widen the divide between Christians.
A more helpful icon, according to Carr and Helmer, is the lesser-known The Vineyard of the Lord, by Lucas Cranach the Younger. In this 1574 oil painting, Luther and other colleagues work together raking, hoeing, watering and tending the vineyard representing the church. For the authors, this image highlights that ‘the real work of justice is done in community’, alongside other Christians ‘likewise dedicated to the everyday work of justice-seeking’ (pp. 16-17). Helmer and Carr set forth a vision in which Christians listen to one another authentically, in order to hear their conversation partners’ perspectives, with openness to being changed.
Helmer and Carr dedicate a chapter to a relevant case study, the abortion debate, a topic that has become ‘the non-negotiable litmus test for Christian and political affiliation’ (pp. 105-6). The authors criticise those who hold that preservation of the life of the prenate (a not-yet-born individual) is a moral absolute. They express dismay that many pro-life individuals call their opponents ‘heretics’. For Helmer and Carr, the actual heretics are those who cut off connection with other Christians for thinking differently on some matter of justice. The authors, who believe that affirming legal access to abortion ‘is part of the common good of the Beloved Community’ (p. 108), call on self-identified pro-life advocates to listen to women’s stories, learn about pregnant women’s experiences and trust women’s ability to make moral decisions.
Though they write from an avowedly Lutheran stance, Carr and Helmer invite members of other denominations into the conversation. The authors identify themselves as leaning ‘toward the progressive side politically’, while holding theological commitments to ‘thinking with and from the creedal orthodox traditions in Christian thought’ (p. 30). They are proponents of women’s ordination and LGBTQIA rights. They argue that pregnant women should be moral agents in abortion decisions. They are critical of QAnon and those who deny the 2020 U.S. presidential election results. However, Carr and Helmer regard themselves as having ‘theological-ethical obligations to think with those with whom we disagree’ (p. 30). Thus, while advocating for racial justice, the authors recommend that progressive Christians should do more to understand and listen ‘to those with white working class and rural grievances’ (p. 174).
This book would be an excellent resource for seminary courses on theology, politics and social justice. Its main audience includes pastors and other church leaders. Though this thought-provoking volume would benefit individuals reading it on their own, this reviewer believes it would be read most fruitfully in conversation with others, such as in a classroom or a ministers’ book study group, in order to engage in the communal discernment advocated by the authors.
