Amy Low, ‘93 Westmont College and author of the book, “The Brave In-Between - Notes from the Last Room” (2024).
I've been reading through you beautiful and important book. Thank you for sending it.
There's so much to discuss. You name the complexity -- you name the wonder if it all -- with such care and grace. Thank you for bringing both an invitation and better language to the cultural divides that sadly seem to be codified more by fear than hope.
So how to live into it all? I wonder if there's a way we can bring back the spirit of the dynamic dissent in our public square. How truth can live alongside grace and untidy outcomes. How Paul and Esther and Jesus lived truths AND creatively kept the soul along their path as the brightest light. Maybe Pascal put it all in motion but your book can help reignite it again?
Jon Stuckey, VP for Advancement, Messiah University:
I just finished your book Claiming the Courageous Middle and found it to be quite compelling. Ironically, I am here in Santa Barbara for a gathering of CCCU Vice Presidents for Advancement, and your book was the perfect companion on the plane!
I felt a need to send a note of thanks to you – so forgive my presumption that you might be open to hearing my story and why I found your book so meaningful.
As a son and brother of two historians who have been teaching history at Malone University for a combined 50 plus years, I am deeply grateful for the “middle” framework my father and mother encouraged in us as children. I strayed a bit from the family tradition of history into that of sociology. Therefore, C Wright Mills’ “sociological imagination” blended with the encouraging words in 1 Corinthians 13 “now we see dimly” have undergirded my commitment to the middle space. I have noted to colleagues that the middle can actually be a crowded place because you are pulling in all voices to be heard and valued. It is in the echo chambers of the extremes that there is less messiness for sure.
Two other aspects contributed to my middle sensibilities. First, my father was Mennonite and being at Messiah – another one of those middle spaces – has felt like a link to my heritage for the 24 years I have been there. Second, my father had a sabbatical at Hong Kong Baptist College in 1979-80. While initially a grumpy 15-year-old for having to leave both friends and the familiar, I look back on that year as being transformational in my Christian worldview and helping me to live within the complexities of differing views.
The certitude that comes from any polar viewpoint is – at its core – a fear of being wrong. I am grateful for those in my life who have prevented that fear of being wrong from turning into something unrecognizable alongside the Gospel and Life of Jesus.
The middle space is hard. Yet, your book reminded me again of why it is so important. Perhaps I can buy you a cup of coffee for further discussion one of these days!
Cory Johnson ’24 – Houghton University
Your explanation of the "courageous middle" put words to so many of the ethical and political quandaries in which I found myself trying to balance my conservative upbringing and a desire to engage in open, thought-provoking conversation. At the same time, especially with the biblical examples, you broadened my concept of what the courageous middle entails--not just engaging in conversation but intentionally placing oneself in situations to use the middle position to lead others toward the common good, like Joseph and Esther. And, of course, I appreciated the diplomatic metaphors throughout, since I'll be joining the Foreign Service in a couple of years.
Through this, I was able to reflect on my time at Houghton and appreciate all the good that came amid the conflict--most significantly, the person I am today, going into grad school (Johns Hopkins!) and eventually the Foreign Service confidently as a Christian. In the last few weeks, several other interns in DC have remarked on my openness about Christianity and simultaneous willingness to engage with our very religiously diverse cohort.
All that to say: thank you. I am immensely grateful for your leadership and your book, and I will certainly be recommending it to the peers and young Houghton alumni in my network who are fellow adventurers on the path of the courageous middle.
Mary Hubbard Given, Director of Alumni at both Westmont College and Fuller Seminary
I very much enjoyed reading your book! I was touched and encouraged by your personal story. I was struck by the similarities in our upbringings and would love to compare notes. I don’t recall talking much about that part of our lives but certainly the way my parents (particularly my dad) raised me seemed very counter to the Christian culture of that time. I recall being the only girl in Page my freshman year who did not believe in a pre-tribulation rapture. I also was not raised with the constraints experienced by my cousins and many Christian friends.
We hope to encourage others to read it and participate in a discussion group. Your questions at the end of each section are interesting and helpful! If this happens it would be lovely to plan one of our conversations when you’re in town and able to join us!
Kirby Runyon
The "good problem" your book has with me is that it's so thought provoking--and I can relate to much of it--that I will read a few pages, begin pondering what I'm reading, and then it's time to go do something else (or maybe that's my adult ADD talking)!
When I think about what the thesis of your book represents, it's Wisdom--like the kind talked about in Ecclesiastes. The wisdom to be "quick to listen, slow to speak, and slow to become angry." (James 1:19).
In a similar vein, I've become a fan of listening prayer. Asking the Holy Spirit open-ended questions, and waiting for an answer. Sometimes that answer is immediate and pops into my head as a thought that "doesn't feel like my own." Sometimes the Spirit seems to answer through events, books, or other people. Writing the prayers in my journal and recording the perceived answer (if any answer is heard), tends to slow me down enough to listen. I would counsel Christians seeking the courageous middle to similarly ask the Spirit who proceeds from the Father and the Son what Wisdom would say in a given circumstance.