QUESTION: Isn’t your emphasis on “love” really just syrupy sentimentalism? The whole “Love Wins” thing sounds great, but in the real world, I don’t see it working. RESPONSE: To reduce love to syrupy sentimentalism, as I suppose many do, drains love of its gritty power. "True grit" is not defined by gun-slinging cowboys or the actors who played them. "True grit" looks like cross-shaped love. When I say that love is gritty, I’m talking about the type of resilience it takes to engage this hard world, so corrupted by injustice and cruelty. When systems of oppression grind away at our humanity, it is normal—even ...