THE LAST THING that Ben Lowe could be accused of is “slacktivism,” which, as he describes in his latest book, Doing Good Without Giving Up, happens when we complain and point fingers about justice issues while being slow to take constructive action to address the situation.
From running for Congress at age 25 to helping to ignite a grassroots student environmental movement, Lowe’s track record for tackling complex and thorny problems where others would throw up their hands is remarkable. Even more remarkable is that after nearly a decade of such work, Lowe retains a gracious hope and steadfast sense of calling, despite being told by other Christians that he was being deceived by the devil, weathering bouts of burnout and depression, and continually facing entrenched systemic problems. This is why I trust him when he writes to encourage those of us whose hearts are heavy for the injustices in the world but often find ourselves stuck in the initial “slacktivist” inertia or dragged down later by opposition, burnout, and cynicism.
In Doing Good, Lowe outlines a sustainable impetus for social action and offers practices to sustain ongoing activism. We cannot be motivated by the desire to see dramatic change, he says, because this only “points people to ourselves and idolizes the change we seek.” It also ultimately lacks staying power. Instead, Lowe calls us to pursue faithfulness in our social action, which “points people to Christ ... and is ultimately the best—if not only—way to bring about the change God seeks.” Staying faithful, which the second half of the book covers, requires a continual reorientation to Christ as center through such practices as repentance, Sabbath, contemplation, and community.
Doing Good is practical and balanced. Rather than promote airy ideals, Lowe peppers flesh-and-blood examples and specific action steps throughout every section. To bring down to earth Walter Brueggemann’s definition of prophecy as “offering an alternative perception of reality,” for instance, he tells how he and his neighbors mobilized to prevent the displacement by a village redevelopment plan of many vulnerable families in their low-income apartment complex. They acted prophetically, showing village leaders that their neighborhood was not just a potential site for more tax revenue but a web of life- and hope-giving relationships.
Lowe’s graciousness with those at different points than him on the political and theological spectrum is impressive. Though it would be easy in such a book to bemoan religious conservatives for their role in recent political stymies around justice issues, he instead commends the good many of them have done in practically caring for the poor, incarcerated, homeless, and more. On the topic of opposition, Lowe encourages listening and reflection, reminding us that “those who oppose us are likely not completely wrong, and we are rarely completely right.” This kind of unassuming and even-handed approach is a cup of cold water in our current desert of political polarization.
While gracious, Lowe is not afraid to call out evil. My favorite line of the book is his indictment of the fear-mongers of our generation who seek to keep us chained to comfort and complacency instead of living out God’s kingdom on earth. They feed us a steady diet of fear—“fear of terrorists, Muslims, socialists, immigrants, homosexuals, the poor, and the list goes on.” In response, Lowe writes, “Shame on those who stoke our fears to prey and profit off of us!”
Doing Good is a refreshing rejoinder to our culture of fear, sounding instead a call for faithful social action grounded in a love that casts out all fears.
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