Book Review: Uncommon Unity by Richard Lints

Uncommon Unity by Richard Lints is a deep reflection on the nature of diversity and unity in society and the church. This wide-ranging book incorporates insights from theology, anthropology, sociology, ecclesiology, history, missiology, and linguistics.

Part 1 (chapters 1-4) addresses the cultural and contextual influences that have shaped how “we understand and deal with difference” (xix). Part 2 (chapters 5-8) presents biblical resources for thinking about how unity and difference relate to each other. Part 3 (chapters 9-10) explores the category of wisdom as the way to engage with unity and difference.

In chapter 1 Lints points to the creation story in Genesis as the model and promise of unity- in-diversity:

The two were created for a relationship of unity-in-diversity, which was effectively destroyed by the pursuit of their own self-interest. The template of a unity-in-diversity at the end of Genesis 2 would, however, remain as a promissory note, not simply for marriages but for a broad array of relationships across redemptive history, awaiting its fulfillment in the gospel and experienced in fits and starts in the life of the church. The trajectory of that narrative remains true today. (26)

Chapter 2 explains how democracy along with its inclusion narrative has shaped the Western World’s view of unity and diversity. Although equality of all was affirmed by America’s founding fathers, it was denied to many. Lints delves into the history of exclusion of women, slaves, Native Americans, and others. Hence, “the history of American democracy can be told as an inclusion narrative or an exclusion narrative” (121).

Chapter 3 narrates the effects of disestablishment, or separation of church and state, in America due to the freedom-of-religion clause in the Bill of Rights. But the “moral shadow of cultural Christendom” continued until the cultural revolutions of the 1960s and early 1970s. These revolution led to the advance of secularity. Lints continues by explaining late secular modernity in comparison with the gospel’s inclusion narrative. Near the end of this chapter, Lints says:

One of the great challenges facing Christians at this cultural moment is recognizing the gospel’s inclusion narrative as distinct from democracy’s inclusion narrative, but with many overlapping concerns. Christianity should play a critical role in the moral functioning of a liberal democracy, but we must be careful not to conflate Christianity and democracy. For a people to commit themselves to fully looking after the welfare of all—including the marginalized, the weak, and the powerless—we need grounds for believing in the universal dignity and sacredness of humankind. Christians in our late secular modernity must recognize that the gospel provides the resources necessary for this task. (79)

Chapter 4 explains how technology has placed us closer to “difference” than ever before. Additionally, living in a global village makes us think of religion as “thin,” like any other cultural difference. Although we yearn for unity, when “diversity is interpreted in light of the pluralist impulse, any attempt to speak of community as a unity appears hopeless” (100). The key for Christians is to learn the difference between the earthly city and the heavenly city in line with Augustine’s precedent.

Chapter 5 explores the idea that our personal identities are both fixed and flexible. We are influenced by outside forces, such as family, culture, and technology, yet we have a fixed core because we are made in God’s image.

Chapter 6 uses three biblical models of unity and diversity: Scripture, marriage, and the Trinity. In Scripture we have the one voice of God speaking to us in a diversity of genres. This includes the acceptance of four Gospels instead of one to narrate the story of Jesus. Marriage gives us a concrete example of unity-in-diversity. And the Trinity provides the ultimate example of unity-in-diversity because the Father, Son, and Spirit are one God united in the mission of saving humanity.

Chapter 7 traces the history of unity and diversity as it relates to the church. Lints writes,

there is little historical correlation between the organizational unity of the church and its vitality, its fidelity to the Great Tradition, or to its missionary calling. The house-church movement in China and the African Independent Churches are two notable modern examples that manifest little organizational unity but great missional energy and a desire to be faithful to the Great Tradition in their own cultural settings. (152)

Prior to the fourth century, the organizational structure of the church was “only loosely configured” with bishops who were connected to each other informally. The glue that held them together was the apostolic tradition.

In the fourth century, the Emperor Constantine “engineered a state-sponsored unity of the church that became more permanent in the West under the Emperor Theodosius in 380, and this effectively lasted for nearly a millennium” (155-56). Church unity was established by church councils which were called by emperors. The state’s support of Christianity became known as the Constantinian Option. When the Western Roman Empire fell, cultural authority moved to the east with the rise of the Byzantine Empire, until its end in 1453. During this time, “the unity of the church was often a function of the changing whims from emperor to emperor” (157).

Despite the church’s connection to political power, Lints notes:

Rodney Stark has argued again and again that the cultural and political establishment of the church historically led to its decline, even if it also manifested organizational unity on the surface. The environment in which the church thrives is always the missionary context where the claims of Christianity engage the claims of diverse religions or diverse cultural settings unprotected by political authority. Whenever the church was given a noncompete clause, so to speak, it lost its vitality” (157-58).

With the Protestant Reformation different conceptions of church unity arose. Churches were caught in the middle of state-sponsored unity and confessional unity. Lints writes:

Clergy stood with a foot often on both sides of that divide—their income derived from taxes and wealthy benefactors, but their credentials coming from their church superiors in accord with an ecclesial confession. (159)

He adds, “The migration from an imperial church with a strong, monarch-like pope to a cluster of nationally established churches did not happen smoothly” (159). While Rome affirmed the Constantinian Option, Protestants viewed this kind of authority as unhealthy and easily abused. As a result, Protestants emphasized a theological unity and the hope that there would one day be an eschatological unity.

After the Reformation, different Protestant groups established different models of church government, influenced by the nation in which they were developed. Although separation of church and state did not happen until after the American Revolution, formal political toleration of different church traditions began to emerge after the Peace of Westphalia in 1648.

With the move to America, European ecclesial traditions were preserved to some extent, but they were also transformed. “The religious traditions of Europe were transformed into distinctive denominational structures once they were established on American soil” (165). Although Protestant churches were only loosely connected to each other, they were united “by a common Protestant zeal for the spread of the gospel” (167).

Throughout the nineteenth century Protestant churches rarely viewed themselves as the “one true church” in the vein of Roman Catholics and Eastern Orthodox. This gave them a “built-in structure for dissent.” In the twentieth century, various forces emerged, such as viewing America as a Christian nation and major denominations dividing “along sociopolitical lines.”

Lints concludes this important chapter with a reflection on the strangeness of ecclesial unity:

The unity of the church is centered on Christ . . . This unity is real and genuine and not simply invisible. But neither is it captured by any earthly historical condition—until such time as history is consummated and God puts everything right. (174)

This means that ecclesial unity should not be identified with “any particular organizational unity” because “The church exists on earth, but it also and primarily exists on the plane of eternity” (174). Hence, the title of the book, uncommon unity.

In chapter 8, Lints argues that the unity of the church “arises from its mission” (179). Mission, however, leads to a diversity of approaches so diversity is not necessarily a sign of disunity. Lints then explains contextualization and the dangers of over-adapting or under-adapting to the surrounding culture. The church takes on different forms in different places. For example, megachurches in South Korea and house churches in China emerged in the twentieth century. But it’s important to remember that “the church’s tangible organizational structure and cultural form is not the source of its identity, though it must have a concrete form by which Christians show forth the reality of the Triune God in their midst” (180). Fundamentally, the church is “defined in relation to God” (180). Lints opines: “We must be partisans of the gospel in such a way that it restrains the partisan commitments to ourselves. We must choose to limit our freedoms for the sake of the gospel” (202).

Chapter 9 examines biblical modes of community.

On this side of paradise, every human experience will also be partially corrupted and intertwined with the socially constructed networks of brokenness in which their communities are located. The fallen condition is individual and communal. (225)

What can churches do?

The gospel requires that we “bump into” the differences we have with each other . . . A chief challenge facing deeply polarized ecclesial communities is to read the Scriptures “with one another” and “against each other” (231). This requires showing “genuine theological hospitality” to each other. This “may not settle the conflicts . . . but it will more nearly reflect the gospel we confess” (232).

Chapter 10 highlights the nature and necessity of wisdom. Wisdom is essential to navigating polarizing differences in both the public square and the church. Lints concludes, “It is wisdom that sees through the brokenness and the differences to an underlying unity while also not minimizing them. Wisdom discerns the differences that enrich the unity and the differences that undermine the unity” (253).

Weaknesses

• This is not light reading. Some of Lints’s sentences are long, unity-in-diversity is an abstract concept, and many fields of learning are incorporated.
• Lints does an excellent job of talking about our unity in mission, but I wish he would have said more about our unity in Christ—how it can be found in this world and how it transcends this world.
• A list of summary points or application points would have been helpful at the end of each chapter.

 Strengths

• This book addresses an important topic. The unity of the church is something Christians should pursue, but many are content to remain in their denominational bubbles. Lints explains that some level of difference is okay and even necessary in order to contextualize the gospel. Diversity does not necessarily mean disunity. Also, Lints helpfully differentiates between different types of unity. Are we talking about organizational unity, liturgical unity, political unity, theological unity, state-sponsored unity, missional unity?
• Chapter 7 was especially interesting for me. Understanding the concept of unity throughout the church’s history is vital. Lints does a great job of highlighting the church’s relation to political power through two millennia.
• This book contains powerful ideas worthy of reflection. For example, Christian unity arises from our common mission, the church has declined when connected to political power, and the church’s organizational structure is not the source of its unity.

If you are interested in Christian theology, sociology, and history, you will enjoy this book.