“In all of this, we have the promise of the gospel, the presence of the spirit, and the people of God around us.”

How might Christians in particular embrace the challenge of confident pluralism? In the final session, Professor Inazu models how the civic aspirations of humility, patience, and tolerance map onto the Christian virtues of faith, hope, and love.  

Main Points

• The civic aspirations of humility, patience, and tolerance mirror the Christian virtues of faith, hope, and love.
• Christians can exercise humility because our faith is in ultimate things.
• Christians can be patient because our sense of time is informed by the eternalness of God.
• Christians should see tolerance as merely the starting point, because we are called to love as Jesus loves us. 

Content Questions

• Which of the civic aspirations of humility, patience, and tolerance is hardest for you to embrace?
• What about faith, hope, and love? Do you tend to struggle with the corresponding virtue?
• How can the members of your Christian community encourage each other to stay rooted in the Christian virtues that undergird the civic aspirations of confident pluralism?

Application Questions

• What’s next for your Christian community? How can you lead through exercising humility, patience, and tolerance in the issues your community struggles with. How can you apply the civic aspirations of confident pluralism to these issues? How might that affect the way those conversations go? Brainstorm some practical next steps within the cross section of the needs you see and the spaces in which you have influence.
• What’s next for the Church’s role in society? How can Christians lead through faith, hope, and love in the public square? How can you constructively participate in contentious public conversations as a Christian practicing confident pluralism?
• If you haven’t already, consider having an intentional discussion with someone from your community who disagrees with you on one of the divisive issues you have been considering (LGBT issues, immigration, race, abortion, etc.). Try to exercise the civic aspirations of confident pluralism as well as the Christian virtues of faith, hope, and love in that conversation.