Melissa Florer-Bixler is a writer and pastor with degrees from Duke University and Princeton Theological Seminary. Her ministry at Raleigh Mennonite Church has been featured in The Atlantic and Sojourners.

With "How to Have an Enemy: Righteous Anger and the Work of Peace," Florer-Bixler calls us into living more like Jesus did by naming and confronting our enemies as an essential part to loving them.

Florer-Bixler becomes the latest contemporary theological writer whose work I've largely followed through social media before I've first set my eyes on their writings. While I had a strong sense that my own theological views were in line with those of Florer-Bixler, partly because of that social media presence and partly because we share a history in historic peace churches (mine being Church of the Brethren), the truth is that I'm not sure I was prepared for the power of Florer-Bixler's theology and the words she lays down in "How to Have an Enemy."

The foundation of "How to Have an Enemy" lies in the central question "Does Jesus' call to love our enemies mean that we should remain silent in the face of injustice?"

There are a myriad of ways to approach this question whether it be through the lens of racism or the church's long-standing discrimination against the LGBTQ community or the church's failure to address violence in its midst or in a myriad of other ways.

It's a personal question. It's a universal question. It's a vital question.

For Florer-Bixler, it begins with the acknowledgement that, yes, indeed Jesus does call us to love our enemies. It's a seemingly lofty call that Florer-Bixler richly humanizes. As Florer-Bixler explains, to even begin to love our enemies, we first have to acknowledge their existence, understand who they are, and recognize the ways they are acting in opposition to God's good news.

In "How to Have an Enemy," Florer-Bixler examines closely what the Bible says about enemies - —who they are, what they do, and how Jesus and his followers responded to them.

It's what Florer-Bixler does next that makes "How to Have an Enemy" such a powerful book. Florer-Bixler's resulting theology is one that allows us to name our enemies, honoring our histories and cycles and traumas, as a form of truth-telling about ourselves, our communities, and the histories in which our lives are embedded.

It is through doing this that we can begin to grapple with the power of the acts of destruction perpetuated by our enemies, whether a single incident or a seemingly insurmountable cycle, and invite them to lay down their enmity in an effort to open the path for healing, reconciliation, and unity.

Florer-Bixler doesn't simplify the journey. Not at all. She doesn't pretend that there's a magic wander that will cure all of our hurts and societal ills. Instead, she creates a path for unity by writing of a community that stands in the gap with one another and truly bears one another burdens while moving toward healing, reconciliation, and unity.

Florer-Bixler identifies clearly that Jesus did, indeed, have enemies and so will we. It's how we have enemies that allows us to live more like Jesus as we seek to live and love another way.

"How to Have an Enemy: Righteous Anger and the Work of Peace" is written with a rhythm of life and passion and it felt at times as if I was in the pulpit listening to Florer-Bixler preach these words. At times, I found myself having to read them over because what Florer-Bixler writes so accessibly is actually so incredibly rich and profound. It does help, I would say, to have some foundation of biblical understanding and a theological background as Florer-Bixler weaves into the tapestry of her writing biblical stories and testimonies and an abundance of Scripture. However, she writes so beautifully that I found myself caught up in her use of language and her ability to make complex theological concepts quite understandable.

If I had any minor concern with "How to Have an Enemy," it would be the lack of mention of the disability community when she so often refers to those communities hurt by the church and hurt by society. I found multiple places within the text where such a reference easily fit and it seems a lacking of the book that those with disabilities are set aside here.

However, this is a fairly minor quibble given the richness of the text and the challenging issues that Florer-Bixler does choose to address. Let's face it. You can't address them all.

Destined to be one of my favorite Christian writings of 2021 I'm sure, "How to Have an Enemy: Righteous Anger and the Work of Peace" does, indeed, affirm that my own theology is very much aligned with that of Florer-Bixler and I marvel at her ability to intelligently and compassionately tackle a difficult subject with understanding and grace.