Love Your Neighbor
How Psychology Can Enliven Faith and Transform Community
- Christian Living
- Publisher: Eerdmans
- Published: 2026
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Publisher's Description
Discover how science can shed new light on one of Scripture’s greatest commands—and transform your community one relationship at a time. The biblical call to “love your neighbor” echoes through centuries, yet remains one of Christianity’s most profound—and challenging—practices. In this innovative synthesis of practical theology and psychological science, professors Katherine M. Douglass and Brittany M. Tausen bring ancient wisdom from Scripture and cutting-edge research into a conversation that can revolutionize how you build meaningful connections. Pulling from their respective areas of expertise, Douglass and Tausen illuminate the psychological pathways and spiritual practices that activate neighbor love. Through engaging stories and evidence-based insights, they reveal why human connection often falters—and provide actionable strategies to overcome these barriers. Each chapter pairs illuminating research with practical exercises that readers can implement immediately, creating ripples of connection that extend far beyond their immediate circles. Love Your Neighbor doesn't just explain the biblical command—it empowers you to live it. Ideal for personal growth, small groups, or community-wide initiatives, this essential resource will help you love better and cultivate more Christlike ways of living in community.
Endorsements (9)
“This book shimmers with practical wisdom for loving our neighbors better. It invites readers to reflect on everyday life and discern concrete steps for faithful action. It doesn’t just call us to love—it shows us how.”
“Written for what Martin Luther King called ‘the fierce urgency of now,’ Love Your Neighbor is a master class on integrating the inner work of spirituality with the empirical work of science for the sake of coming together in a divided world. Timely, nuanced, refreshingly practical, and blessedly compelling, Love Your Neighbor is your church’s very next read.”
“This book is needed now more than ever. In a world dominated by divisive political rhetoric, rampant greed, and uncertainty about the future, we need voices like Douglass and Tausen to take us back to the heart of the gospel. Whatever your politics, no matter your theological tradition, whether you’re new to Christianity or you don’t remember a time in your life when Jesus didn’t matter, this book is for you. The authors will provoke, challenge, encourage, and affirm you as they stretch your imagination toward greater love for all people, even—no, wait, especially—those who are most difficult to love.”
“In this thoughtful and readable book, Douglass and Tausen provide both a richly researched and highly practical account of the struggle to live as good neighbors in an increasingly polarized world. The authors offer not only a diagnosis but a remedy— to seek the ‘transforming of our minds’ so that we may think and act in a more Christlike way with the people we meet and live alongside. This is contemporary writing on discipleship at its best, combining scientific insights with biblical scholarship to offer real-life, down-to-earth advice.”
“In sports, discipline and practice create results. This book shows how the same is true in faith—its exercises train us to love others with consistency and compassion.”
“Douglass and Tausen’s integration of social psychology and practical theology is unique and compelling. Personally honest and scientifically grounded, the book weaves together stories, data, and Scripture that stir both the mind and spirit, awakening a sense of curiosity and wonder about what’s possible in our neighbor-loving when we understand the challenges and engage the tools we’ve been given. While the world is full of barriers to community care, this book removes those barriers, making room for deep faith transformation and more tender ways of seeing and loving our neighbors.”
“Douglass and Tausen offer much-needed spiritual medicine for the twin epidemic of loneliness and polarizing contempt tearing through society today. Psychological principles considered theologically combined with theological convictions fleshed out psychologically propel the reader to take a risk of love toward one’s neighbors.”
“Theology and psychology have been adrift from each other for far too long. Douglass and Tausen are well qualified to remedy this problem, and they do so in an invitational manner. They reunite psychology and theology in practical ways that will impact readers’ relationships with their neighbors and with themselves.”
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