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Reviewed by Rev. Patricia Farris, Senior Minister, Santa Monica First United Methodist Church Christians in the Public Square: Faith that Transforms Politics, by Ellen Ott Marshall Abingdon Press 2008 Marshall’s underlying premise is that people of faith must bring their religion to bear on political matters, because faith cannot be cut off from the public issues of life and also because the heart of the Christian faith is a social gospel, a call to respond to the people and needs of the world. Christians should seek public policies that are consonant with religious commitments, she maintains, given the social message at the heart of the gospel. Christians cannot embody Christ’s message without attending to the public policies and social institutions that govern people’s lives. For Marshall, the interplay of faith and politics is not a “whether” question but a “how” question—and she answers the “how” by asserting unconditional love, moral ambiguity, and theological humility. While these may not be politically effective in a narrow sense, she maintains, they are politically effective in the broader sense of carrying the potential for transformation in political life. This is especially critical given the context she addresses: a public square in which people are currently using religion as they vie for political power. Marshall explores understandings of agape through the lens of nonviolence, the nonviolence of fist, tongue, or heart that characterizes the work and teaching of Gandhi and Martin Luther King, Jr. This is a love that risks not being reciprocated, an unconditional love that makes no distinction between enemy and friend. For Christians, this is the love of seeking Christ in everyone we meet, as Marshall’s rector said: “even when he is in deep, deep disguise.” The stance of ambiguity in moral thinking is necessary and unavoidable because of the multiple sources of information available to us, commitments we hold that are frequently in tension with one another, and the reality that humans are relational beings trying to live out commitments that impact the lives of others. It is, nevertheless, what makes real transformation of the political realm possible. Her playful yet profoundly serious recommendation of establishing “pounce-free zones,” settings in which people can wrestle with their different perspectives and with the tensions internal to their own positions, in congregations and other settings, is alone worth the price of the book. In Marshall’s definition, theological humility admits the limitations of knowledge and the partiality of perspective, deliberately practices hermeneutics, and remains transparent about faith commitments and accountable to other sources of knowledge. Who knew that hermeneutics could be so much fun? Anyone who has engaged in or been witness to dueling Scripture matches will be enlightened and encouraged by this chapter. This is ultimately a book about transformation—the transformation of the individual and community who commit to careful thinking, study and critical inquiry; the transformation of the public square into a pounce-free zone where deeply held positions can be put forth and debated with respect and care; and transformed disciples who embody love and risk doing things in a new way. It is a message of discipline, spiritual practice and hope that has much to offer to the renewal of our common life and indeed, our own souls. 
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