Uncrossable divides. This is how many people see our world today. No matter what context people find themselves in, the divides seem to follow. Home. Internet. The Public Sphere. Even the Church. As the divides grow longer and deeper, we grow more distant from each other, more suspicious of each other, more singular in our viewpoints, and more alienated from awareness of the lives and concerns of others, perhaps even more alienated from caring for the lives and concerns of others. This is not just a phenomenon that will go away. This is an unhealthy condition. Division is neither good for humanity nor good for the soul.

In both Jewish and Christian theology, we associate the concept of “separation” or “division” with sin. Sin separates. Sin divides. Sin and separation make for soul sickness…