Michael Kinnamon has just published a new book, one tailor fitted for our time: The Witness of Religion in an Age of Fear (Westminster John Knox, 2017). He begins his book with a description of how fear drives cultures - their mood, their choices, and their rhetoric. This is fear derived from circumstance and fear employed in intentional ways. The remainder of the book presents responses to fear from the great religious traditions. How many times in the Bible do we hear the words, "Fear not?"
As one who well knows the Middle East, its history, religions and struggles, Kinnamon presents a case study from the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. And he concludes with particular recommendations for religious communities as they become the antidote to fear in their own times and places.
He begins his book with two quotes that shape all else that is to come. They represent, in my mind, the core of his message:
"The enemy is fear. We think it is hate; but it is fear."
Mahatma Gandhi
"Do not be afraid. We live in a time when this biblical refrain cannot be repeated too often ... Among all the things the church has to say to the world today, this may be the most important."
Scott Bader-Saye
