By Lois and Harvey Seifert

Educational Ministries, Inc., 1991, $9.95

Any writer willing to tackle Christian disagreement is brave indeed. Like all human endeavors, the Christian church has kept itself occupied with disagreement since its founding. The disagreements are made even more intractable because participants are often fully convinced that it is the Bible and ultimately God who is on their side.

In When Christians Disagree, Lois and Harvey Seifert have created a guide to the civil debate of some of the most divisive issues in the church and in the broader society.

The authors tackle issues as thorny as abortion and homosexuality with openness and evenhandedness. The result is a guide that can lead individuals and groups into potentially productive thought and dialogue.

The authors start by framing the issue that is up for discussion, list a series of biblical passages for discussion, add contemporary research or opinions and then provide questions and worksheets to help the group tackle the conversation. Perhaps, as the authors believe, the pro and con discussion will lead to some reconciliation of opposing positions and that the debaters will give up some of their dogma and moderate their opinions.

But it is the process which the Seiferts use, and not the premise of the power of reasoned debate, that could use a closer evaluation.

Around the country, community-wide citizen dialogue is attempting, with encouraging results, to bring diverse groups of people together around issues dividing communities. These dialogues (as opposed to debates) have power because they start with a discussion of personal experience and present multiple viewpoints, rather than two diametrically opposed positions. Finally, these dialogues seek to find ways for the participants to act together on their areas of common ground, rather than finding intellectual agreement on the positions.

The personal experiences create appreciative understanding among the participants; the multiple viewpoints are a reminder that seldom are there just two ways of approaching a problem or issue of debate; and in the end it is most important that we decide how to live with and how to treat each other in the midst of our disagreement.

We may not agree on homosexual marriage but perhaps we can take steps to invite homosexuals into our gatherings as friends. We may never agree on abortion, but perhaps together we can provide care for unwanted children who live in our community.

When Christians Disagree is a wonderful start down a road needed not only in the church but also outside of its walls. If Christians can learn to act lovingly together in spite of disagreements perhaps those same skills can be turned to community-wide dialogues outside of the church to foster reconciliation in our communities. If the Seiferts’ book does that for us, it is well worth the effort to read it and to use it.

[ISBN Number 1-877871-20-6]

Available from Educational Ministries, Inc., (520) 771-8601, <www.educationalministries.com>