Convictional Civility Engaging the Culture in the 21st Century, Essays in Honor of David S. Dockery

Jesus calls his followers to be salt and light in a fallen world. Through the ages, believers have grappled with what form Christian cultural engagement should take. Various Christian thinkers have advocated models of engagement, and some recent models have used the discourse of the battlefield to speak of “winning the culture war.” In a post-Constantinian, post-Christian culture, how are believers to live in the world without being of the world? 

Throughout his ministry, David S. Dockery has persistently advocated “convictional civility” as a vision for contemporary engagement—in which witness is more important that winning, and fidelity is more effective than fighting. In this volume, respected Christian leaders honor him by presenting these essays that explore convictional civility as a lifestyle of bearing witness for Christ and of contributing to the common good. From the pulpit to the public square and from the campus to the courtroom, followers of Christ are to demonstrate Christian virtues through winsome civility and Christian values through wholehearted conviction.

C. Ben Mitchell is Graves Professor of Moral Philosophy at Union University.
 
Carla D. Sanderson is executive vice president for Strategic Initiatives and provost at Union University.
 
Gregory Alan Thornbury is president of The King’s College in New York.

Foreword by Carla D. Sanderson
Chapter 1: “David Samuel Dockery:  Evangelical-Calminian Baptist and the Doctrine of the Bible” by James Leo Garrett Jr.
Chapter 2: “With David Dockery Amongst Baptists and Evangelicals” by Timothy George
Chapter 3: “Toward Convictional Civility” by Millard J. Erickson
Chapter 4: “What God Hath Joined Together:  Proclamation and Witness as Twin Pillars in the Ministry of the Apostle Paul, Acts 20:17-38” by Robert Smith
Chapter 5: “Leadership Lessons from David S. Dockery:  Conviction and Courage” by Gene Fant
Chapter 6: “Higher Education’s Role in Developing a Civil Society” by Hunter Baker
Chapter 7: “Imaging God through Union with Christ: What We Can Learn from an Augustinian and Barthian Interpretation of Colossians 2:6-7 for the future of Convictional Civility” by Autumn Alcott Ridenour
Chapter 8: “Baptists, Conscience, and Convictional Civility in Health Care” by C. Ben Mitchell
Chapter 9: “Convictional Clarity” by R. Albert Mohler
Afterword by Gregory A. Thornbury