Book review: Answering the Call, by John Ensor

The Merriam Webster dictionary defines “reticent” as inclined to be silent or uncommunicative in speech. It is this silence among Christian pro-lifers, often prompted by apathy, lack of knowledge, or fear of “rocking the boat,” that John Ensor addresses in his newly revised book, Answering the Call (Hendrickson Publishers). The book’s target audience is specifically Christians – who happen to make up the majority of the pro-life movement. In Answering the Call, John Ensor helps the Christian reader to understand why the pro-life movement is a decidedly Christian calling, and how failing to answer the call to stand up for the most innocent among us is a failure in Christian charity and an example of misguided Christian values.

No Christian is exempt from pro-life activism, Ensor believes, because abortion is the preeminent evil of modern times, and Christians are obligated to counteract evil with good. In the hierarchy of causes, he explains, abortion takes the first tier – before homelessness, hunger, and all other forms of violence – because abortion is a direct insult against a loving God who staunchly conveys through Scripture that it is the innocent who most deserve protection from violent acts like abortion. It is only in assigning abortion the priority it deserves as the most threatening evil of our time that all other efforts to address poverty, violence, disease, and the like will find their proper places in the life of Christian ministry.

Ensor calls on the Christian community to take a stand for life through prayer and through action. Although the book is very small, it is packed with anecdotes, history lessons, and plenty of Scripture passages to convey the Christian calling of the pro-life movement. The book is a great tool for kick-starting pro-life activism in a Christian who has not been exposed to it, or rekindling the pro-life fire in someone who has become reticent.