Productive Disagreement: How to have productive disagreements in an age of incivility and conflict

Disagreements are easy; productive disagreements require effort. But productive disagreements are the heartbeat of a healthy democracy, a healthy team, and even a healthy family. Dr. Rick Langer and Dr. Tim Muehlhoff of Biola University discuss productive disagreements and what they ask of our hearts as well as what they ask of our speech–both toward those on the other side and also toward our own in-group.

Rick Langer is a Professor of Biblical Studies and Theology at Biola University and serves as the Director of the Office of Faith and Learning and co-director of the Winsome Conviction Project. He specializes in the integration of faith and learning, and has also published in the areas of bioethics, theology, and philosophy. His recent books, Winsome Persuasion: Christian Influence in a Post-Christian World (2017) and Winsome Conviction: Disagreeing Without Dividing the Church (2020), deal with discourse in the public square and within the church. Both received an Award of Merit from Christianity Today’s Book Awards. The Call to Follow, his latest book, was released in fall of 2022 by Crossway. In 2020 he helped launch the Winsome Conviction Project at Biola University, to help depolarize our discourse, in the church, in Christian universities, and in the public square.

Prior to coming to Biola, he served for over twenty years as a pastor at Trinity Evangelical Free Church in Redlands, California. He has also served on the boards of several Christian organizations. He lives in Fullerton with his wife Shari. They have two married children and five grandchildren!

Dr. Tim Muehlhoff (Ph.D., University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill) is a professor of communication at Biola University in La Mirada, CA where he teaches classes on conflict resolution, rhetoric, gender, and engaging diverse perspectives. He is the co-director of the Winsome Conviction Project which seeks to reintroduce humility, civility, and compassion back into our public disagreements and co-host of the Winsome Conviction Podcast. His most recent book is End the Stalemate: Move from Cancel Culture to Meaningful Conversations (with Sean McDowell) and he’s the creator of an interactive website designed to help see current issues from different perspectives: Endthestalemate.com.

Tim has a black belt in Kung Fu and teaches de-escalation and self-defense strategies designed for managers, educators, medical professionals and domestic violence shelters.