SAR Snapshot: Can We Learn to Disagree?
SAR Snapshot: Can We Learn to Disagree?
Just a few days until all of your preorders are fulfilled!
My new book, Learning to Disagree, releases in just over a week. I hope you’ll pick up a copy or buy the audiobook (read by yours truly). And if you live nearby to one of my upcoming speaking events (more below), I hope you’ll come say hello.
About the Book
Learning to Disagree follows a year in my life as a law professor. Its story-based format canvasses a range of challenging issues including critical race theory, religion and patriotism, campus protests, and clashes over religious freedom. The anecdotes, characters, and ideas are meant to help readers engage more charitably and thoughtfully with people whose beliefs and viewpoints they may find unfamiliar, off-putting, or even dangerous.
Too much of our disagreement today has become unhealthy and even destructive. Our surrounding culture has moved from thinking the other side is wrong to thinking the other side is evil. This is a dangerous shift. Wrong holds out the possibility of persuasion, but evil leads us either to disengage or win at all costs. We need to reorient the ways we interact and engage with one another, and my hope is that this book can help start us down that path.
April 8th Book Event at Washington University
For those of you in the St. Louis area, Washington University School of Law and the John C. Danforth Center on Religion and Politics are hosting an event at the law school on the evening of April 8. We’ll begin with an overview by the book’s illustrator, John Hendrix, the Kenneth E. Hudson Professor of Art at Washington University’s Sam Fox School of Design and Visual Arts.
Following John’s remarks, we’ll have a panel discussion moderated by Peter Boumgarden, Director of the Koch Family Center for Family Enterprise at Washington University’s Olin School of Business. The panel will include:
Jennifer Duncan – Professor of Pediatrics, Critical Care Medicine, Director of Pediatric Fellow Core Curriculum, and Director of Wellness for Graduate Medical Education at Washington University’s School of Medicine.
Penina Acayo Laker – Assistant Professor at Washington University’s Sam Fox School of Design and Visual Arts.
Frank Lovett – Professor of Political Science, Professor of Philosophy (by courtesy), Director of Undergraduate Studies in Political Science, and Director of Legal Studies at Washington University.
I’ll follow the panel with some off-the-cuff reflections, and then we’ll have a reception next door.
Please join us! You’ll have plenty of time to catch the eclipse earlier that day, and we’ll finish in time for you to watch the Final Four. More details and RSVP info here.
Other Upcoming Speaking
If I don’t see you in St. Louis, I hope to catch you at one of these other upcoming events:
University of Texas (April 3) (event info)
Bethel University (IN) (April 9)
University of Notre Dame (April 10) (event info)
Church of the Savior CRC (South Bend) (April 10)
University of Illinois (April 11) (event info)
Berry College (April 14) (event info)
University of Florida (April 17)
Christ Presbyterian Church (Edina) (April 21) (event info)
University of Minnesota (April 22) (event info)
University of St. Thomas (MN) (April 22) (event info)
Christ Church (Lake Forest) (April 28) (event info)
University of Chicago (April 29) (event info)
Intown Community Church (April 30) (event info)
Cliff Temple Baptist Church (Dallas) (May 6) (event info)
Trinity Forum (Nashville) (May 8) (event info)
Restoration Anglican (Arlington, VA) (May 15) (event info)
Bonds of Affection Summit (Washington, DC) (May 16) (event info)
Redeemer Center for Faith & Work (New York City) (May 21) (event info)
Virtues and Vocations (Notre Dame) (June 4) (event info)
Blacknall Presbyterian Church (Durham) (July 9)
University of Notre Dame Religious Liberty Summit (July 10)
I look forward to connecting with many of you in the weeks to come.
My Recent New York City Trip
I’m wary of making this post too much about my book, so I’ll close with a note about my spring break trip to New York City with my daughters, Lauren and Hana. Enjoy this reel of all the normal NYC things we did:
And thanks to Lauren for taking on my social media and making things I could never make!
Good one, John. Your daughters had a wonderful time.