At a time when protest often seems to be the last recourse for those longing for a better world and a more sustainable faith, the Solidarity Circles of the Wendland-Cook Program in Religion and Justice at Vanderbilt University are designed to expand horizons by constructing and building alternatives. Our approach is wholistic from the outset.
Read More
The choice seems clear: we are either gathered by the grace of Jesus or pulled apart by the power of Caesar.
Read More
While there is concern that religion and politics have entered into relationships that are too close, we should be even more concerned about the relation between religion and economics. Here are three questions to consider.
Read More
What might we learn if we understand Jesus’ death and resurrection in the context of terrorism?
Read More
Since poverty and wealth are not only matters of money but also of power, it is time to move from charity and advocacy to what I am calling "deep solidarity."
Read More
Rather than asking how much authority the Bible should have in an ideal world, a better question would be what role the Bible actually plays in people's lives.
Read More
Joerg Rieger and Peter Laarman unpack structural poverty and to address religion’s stake in the dramatic growth of economic inequality in American society.
Read More
Unlike in the Roman Empire, many of our images of Mammon resemble our images of God. Instead of Caesar’s image that was imprinted on Roman coins, US Dollar bills bear an image of the Trinity and the words “In God We Trust.”
Read More
Some people of faith are too timid when it comes to conflict, some are too eager to embrace it, and for whatever remains we have conflict resolution. This conclusion, however, is mistaken.
Read More
Good news to the poor and freedom for the oppressed requires a more holistic response. This is what we are calling deep solidarity.
Read More
The future of the poor, of racial and sexual minorities, of working people (to which 99 percent of us belong), and of the environment, is never entirely in the hands of individuals, no matter how powerful they may be at the moment.
Read More
A nagging problem remains that those who talk about stratification and the poverty line are unable or unwilling to address: What about the relationship between the classes?
Read More
As we are being bombarded with enticements that reach all the way into religious worlds, how can religious communities and their theologies escape being shaped by the neoliberal capitalist economy?
Read More
As people of faith, we need to learn again what it means to follow the prophet Jeremiah's example of refusing to say "'Peace, peace,' when there is no peace."
Read More
Deep solidarity is not a matter of the relatively privileged trying to help the underprivileged and to solve their problems; rather, it is a matter of understanding that nothing will change unless we are addressing the problems of the world together.
Read More