Book Review

Becoming Bridges: The Spirit and Practice of Diversity
by Gary Commins/Cowley Publications, 2007

Reviewed by John L. Kater

Books about diversity are no longer a rarity; but Gary Commins’ book is an unusual treasure for a number of reasons. First, unlike many books that address racism or homophobia or sexism or distinctions of class or religious pluralism, Commins considers that an adequate treatment of the subject requires we pay attention simultaneously to all the ways in which human beings are different. The point is not to address one or the other form of difference, but to recognize that our world divides people in many ways, all of which are capable of lending themselves to discrimination.

Another valuable aspect of this book is its insistence that while attention to diversity calls us to make significant changes – in the way we relate to one another and the ways in which our institutions are structured – the reality of diversity is not just about practicalities; it is ultimately about our spirituality. In other words, the ways we approach diversity reveals something fundamental about how we understand and relate to God as well as each other; hence its subtitle, “The Spirit and Practice of Diversity.” Indeed, each chapter concludes with an invitation to undertake a “spiritual exercise” that helps us heighten our awareness; “spiritual counsel,” a series of quotations, often from the scriptures, that help focus the issues raised by the text; and finally a “spiritual practice” designed to keep the issues before us after we have closed the book and put it aside.

Commins acknowledges that like all religious traditions, Christianity can be used to foster an attitude of superiority and defensiveness towards human differences. But he argues that at its best, our faith encourages “the capacity for openness, respect, empathy, and compassion” (p. 7). The heart of the biblical message about diversity is that we all stand as equals before God, and growth in Christian faith means learning to see, think and act in the light of that good news.

Both his own personal experience and his years of pastoral ministry have convinced Commins that such spirit and practice do not come easily. The examples he cites throughout the volume are often drawn from the memory of his own work as a parish priest in congregations that were committed to honoring diversity but often hesitant about how to proceed and where differences of opinion, taste and spirituality created difficulties. Indeed, learning how he and the congregations addressed those difficulties provides the reader with a sense that, though difficult, differences can be transcended and truly welcoming congregations can actually come into being. In his attention to the opportunity for individual and congregational growth towards God, he places the enterprise of learning to affirm diversity squarely within the Anglican ethical tradition.

The last section of Becoming Bridges is entitled “Hope In Community,” and this is indeed a hopeful book. There is almost none of the chiding tone, the eat-your-vegetables-they’re-good –for-you attitude that sometimes accompanies studies of diversity; rather, the book is a celebration of the possibility, and the unexpected blessing, of living in community with those radically different from us.

Gary Commins is a fine writer, and nearly every page of this book contains sentences or paragraphs that are worth careful reading and savoring, not only for what he says but for how he says it. This book is written from the perspective of someone whose own background and experience place him on the privileged side of every equation, but who has learned to see with others’ eyes and feel with others’ hearts. Those of us who, like him, approach the issues of diversity from a position of privilege are the primary audience he has in mind; but after all, we are the ones for whom affirming the blessings of diversity may come hardest. I expect to return to this book often, to be reminded of how grand is the vision of a church and a human race that truly embraces every one of us and to remind myself how hopeful that vision is.

Reviewed by John L. Kater, Emeritus Professor of Ministry Development, Church Divinity School of the Pacific, Berkeley, CA.