[…She asks] \u201cWhere and how do I want my establishment to inject itself into secular controversies?\u201d\u009d<\/p>\n
The essay is well worth reading in full, in part because it shows how L\u2019Engle embodied a deeply articulate and vigorous faith, one that was characterized by liberality and generosity in the best senses. \u201cIt is impossible to listen to the Gospel week after week and turn my back on the social issues confronting me today,\u201d\u009d she writes. \u201cBut what I hope for is guidance, not legislation.\u201d\u009d<\/p>\n
She goes on to discuss a host of difficult issues, including abortion, divorce, euthanasia, genetic manipulation, and slavery, and her conclusions about the official church\u2019s role are not in every case ones that I agree with myself. She tends to have a more mystical view of how the \u201cGospel\u201d\u009d will necessarily inform the individual believer\u2019s conscience than do I. If she is a conservative, then she is certainly at least what might be called a \u201cliberal conservative\u201d\u009d in Peter Lawler\u2019s parlance.<\/p>\n
But she certainly is right to point to the necessary task of each individual believer to work for the good within their own spheres of influence regardless of whether the church holds an \u201cofficial position\u201d\u009d on any particular issue.<\/p>\n