About the Book

A public health and economic crisis provoked by Covid-19. A social crisis cracked open by the filmed murder of George Floyd. A leadership crisis laid bare as the gravity of a global pandemic met a country suffocating in political polarization and idolatry.

In the spring of 2020, Comment magazine created a publishing project to tap the resources of a Christian humanist tradition to respond collaboratively and imaginatively to these crises. Plough soon joined in the venture. So did seventeen other institutions. The web commons that resulted – Breaking Ground – became a one-of-a-kind space to probe society’s assumptions, interrogate our own hearts, and imagine what a better future might require.

This volume, written in real time during a year that revealed the depths of our society’s fissures, provides a wealth of reflections and proposals on what should come after. It is an anthology of different lenses of faith seeking to understand how best we can serve the broader society and renew our civilization.

Contributors include Anne Snyder, Susannah Black, Mark Noll, N. T. Wright, Gracy Olmstead, Doug Sikkema, Patrick Pierson, Jennifer Frey, J. L. Wall, Michael Wear, Dante Stewart, Joe Nail, Benya Kraus, Patrick Tomassi, Amy Julia Becker, Jeffrey Bilbro, Marilynne Robinson, Cherie Harder, Joel Halldorf, Irena Dragas Jansen, Katherine Boyle, L. M. Sacasas, Jake Meador, Joshua Bombino, Chelsea Langston Bombino, Aryana Petrosky Roberts, Stuart McAlpine, Heather C. Ohaneson, Oliver O’Donovan, W. Bradford Littlejohn, Anthony M. Barr, Michael Lamb, Shadi Hamid, Samuel Kimbriel, Christine Emba, Brandon McGinley, John Clair, Kurt Armstrong, Peter Wehner, Jonathan Haidt, Dhananjay Jagannathan, Phil Christman, Gregory Thompson, Duke Kwon, Carlo Lancellotti, Tara Isabella Burton, Charles C. Camosy, Joseph M. Keegin, Luke Bretherton, Tobias Cremer, and Elayne Allen.

Book Trailer

Tablet of Contents

SUMMER (June – August 2020)

Founding Vision – Anne Snyder
From Ashes – Susannah Black
What Kind of Turning Point? – Mark Noll
God and the Pandemic – N. T. Wright
Wendell Berry’s Wisdom in a Time of Pandemic – Gracy Olmstead
The Atmosphere – Doug Sikkema
Verse Lines When the Streets Are on Fire – James Matthew Wilson
Christianity and the Social Question – Patrick Pierson
Political Wisdom and the Limits of Expertise – Jennifer Frey
The Habits of Exile – J. L. Wall
A Politics Worse than Death – Michael Wear
Alright – Dante Stewart
When Place Becomes Paramount – Joe Nail, Benya Kraus

AUTUMN (September – November 2020)

Portland: On the Ground – Patrick Tomassi
Is God Anti-Racist? – Amy Julia Becker
Going Dark – Jeffrey Bilbro
Story, Culture, and the Common Good – Marilynne Robinson, Cherie Harder
A Tale of Two Evangelicalisms – Joel Halldorf
Observations of a New Citizen – Irena Dragas Jansen
Exodus – Katherine Boyle
The Skill of Hospitality – L. M. Sacasas
Politics Strike Back – Jake Meador
God Has Heard – Joshua Bombino, Chelsea Langston Bombino

WINTER (December 2020 – February 2021)

Praying Through the Political Divides in the Family – Aryana Petrosky Roberts
Good Grief – Stuart McAlpine
Preparing for Death: Philosophy, Meet Theology – Heather C. Ohaneson
Politics and Political Service – Oliver O’Donovan
Justice in a Time Out of Joint – W. Bradford Littlejohn
What Is Policing For, and How Do We Reform It? – Anthony M. Barr
Biden’s Augustinian Call for Concord – Michael Lamb
What Is Unity? – Shadi Hamid, Samuel Kimbriel, Christine Emba
Relativism Is Out. Truth Is In. – Brandon McGinley
Taking It Outside – John Clair
Words and Flesh: Pastoring in a Post-truth World – Kurt Armstrong
Arguments for the Sake of Heaven – Peter Wehner, Jonathan Haidt

SPRING (March – May 2021)

Courage, Citizenship, and the Limits of Autonomy – Dhananjay Jagannathan
How to Be White – Phil Christman
The Call to Own – Gregory Thompson, Duke Kwon
The Turning Point – Carlo Lancellotti
On Good Parties – Tara Isabella Burton
The Horror of Nursing Homes – Charles C. Camosy
Be Not Afraid– Joseph M. Keegin
Recovering Democratic Politics – Luke Bretherton
Democracy after God – Tobias Cremer
The Small Magazine Project – Elayne Allen
Breaking Ground – Susannah Black
Beholding Ground – Anne Snyder

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