Claiming the Courageous Middle: Daring to Live and Work Together for a More Hopeful Future

Today’s political and cultural polarization has led to suspicion and animosity in our churches, our workplaces, and even our families. It has also led to a false sense that our options are limited to choosing a side. But there is a better way.

Shirley Mullen invites readers to claim the powerful, redemptive potential of the courageous middle. Far from being a place of bland averaging, moral cowardice, wobbling indecisiveness, or lazy indifference, the courageous middle is a place where thoughtful individuals work with urgency to foster attentive rather than dismissive listening in order to garner what is true and praiseworthy even from those with whom they disagree. Their Christian faith, which makes it impossible for them to align themselves fully with one side or the other, uniquely equips them to call their communities to imagine a more hopeful, grace-filled future.

This book offers a Christian theological framework for the work of ＂middle space＂ drawn from the Old and New Testaments. It also includes practical advice on how to prepare for this work, examples of those who have called their communities to alternatives beyond binary options, and discussion questions.

Shirley A. Mullen (PhD, University of Wales; PhD, University of Minnesota) is president emerita of Houghton University in Houghton, New York, where she served as president for 15 years. She spent four decades at the forefront of Christian higher education as a professor, administrator, and president. She continues to encourage the next generation of leaders through speaking and mentoring. Mullen also serves on the boards of the Council for Christian Colleges and Universities (CCCU), Fuller Theological Seminary, the National Association of Evangelicals, and First Amendment Partnerships.