Love Over Fear has come at a pivotal time within American Christianity. The church is divided because we have created enemies with one another. Liberal/Conservative, Republican/Democrat, Black/White Citizen/Immigrant Pro-life/Pro-choice are labels we have used to make enemies or monsters of others. The church has allowed itself to become a part of the problem within our culture rather then a a called out community which offers a better way. Like the author (Dan White Jr.) I too have seen in my experiences where Christians have divided themselves and have made enemies of other Christians because of the labels they identify with. What I appreciate about Dan’s book is that he writes not from an ivory tower of academia but as a practitioner in the local church. His whole purpose for writing this book was because of families in his church who had different political leanings who could no longer worship and serve with other families because of their leanings.
Dan does a great job of not simply coming up with practical steps in how to deal with differences but shows us through Jesus life and ministry how to deal with differences. We have come to believe that most issues and problems that we face that separate us only have to choices. Dan shows us that Jesus rose above the two choice model and gave us a third way to deal with differences. For anyone who is serious to put into action Jesus words about loving your enemies(or simply those who you disagree with) this is a great book. If the church is to be relevant in the 21st century we must learn the ways of Jesus.