Christianity Today Book of the Year award of Merit

We generally assume that those sitting around us in church share our beliefs. But when our personal convictions are contested by fellow Christians, everything changes. We feel attacked from behind. When other Christians doubt or deny our convictions, we don't experience it as a mere difference of opinion, but as a violation of an unspoken agreement.

Tim Muehlhoff and Rick Langer offer aguide to help Christians navigate disagreements with one another. In today's polarized context, Christians often have committed, biblical rationales for very different positions. How do we discern between core biblical convictions and secondary issues? How do we cultivate better understanding and compassion for those we disagree with? Muehlhoff and Langer provide lessons from conflict theory and church history on how to avoid the dangers of groupthink and how to negotiate differing biblical convictions to avoid church splits and repair interpersonal ruptures.

Christian unity is possible. Discover how we can navigate differences by speaking in both truth and love.



Richard Langer (PhD, University of California, Riverside) is professor of biblical and theological studies at Talbot School of Theology and director of the Office for the Integration of Faith and Learning at Biola University.Together with Tim Muehlhoff, he is the coauthor of Winsome Persuasion, which received a 2018 Christianity Today book award in apologetics/evangelism. In addition to teaching and writing, they are codirectors of The Winsome Conviction Project, which seeksto introduce civility and compassion into our discussion of differences.







Tim Muehlhoff (PhD, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill) is professor of communication at Biola University in La Mirada, California, where he teaches classes in family communication, interpersonal communication, persuasion, and gender. Tim is senior director of the Winsome Conviction Project. His books include I Beg to Differ, Eyes to See, and Winsome Persuasion.



Introduction: Christian Unity in the Argument Culture



Section I: Biblical Foundations

1. Historical Prelude: Roger Williams

2. Disputable Matters: The Forgotten Middle Ground

3. The Conviction Spectrum



Section II: Communicating Convictions

4. Does Division Have to Be Divisive?

5. Crosscultural Interlude: Of Tattoos and Adultery

6. How Unity Is Threatened

7. Perception Is Reality

8. Fellowship Groups or Echo Chambers?



Section III: Putting It All Together

9. Power and Civility in a Broken Society

10. Healing Joint Pain in the Body of Christ

11. Conviction Mapping

12. Guidelines for Hard Conversations

13. Historical Postlude: Convictions in Nazi Germany



Conclusion

Acknowledgments

Notes

Name Index

Subject Index