Conversations about labor and work remind us that at a time when 99 percent of us have to work for a living, the exploitation of labor ultimately benefits the few rather than the many, despite the complexities involved. The potential for solidarity emerges not based on wishful thinking or hopeful dreams but is based on a realization that the current arrangements in which we live do not fully benefit most of humanity, nor do they benefit the planet.
Read MoreThe COVID-19 pandemic has thrown new light on the nature of inequality as a global problem and highlighted the importance of essential work. This has implications for reassessing what really matters in people’s lives, related to what systematic and constructive theologians, following Paul Tillich, have called matters of “ultimate concern.” What do such reassessments mean for rethinking the role and function of religion, with a view towards what religion can contribute to the formation of feasible alternatives? The article concludes by spelling out some vital lessons for the work of theology and related fields.
Read MoreIt is commonly argued that we are living in the geological age of the Anthropocene. This is the age when humanity is considered to be the dominant force that shapes the planet, just as other forces shaped the planet in earlier times, like glacial ice shaping the Pleistocene (between 2.5 million and 11,000 years ago) and warmer conditions shaping the Holocene, during which the human species first emerged.
What the concept of the Anthropocene neglects, however, is that not all human activities have equal impact on the planet. 71 percent of all carbon emissions, for instance, which are the major factor in global warming, are linked to only 100 corporations. Thus, instead of Anthropocene, it has been suggested that we find ourselves in the Capitalocene, the geological age when the interests of big money are shaping the planet.
Read MoreLiving into democratic traditions takes time, sometimes centuries. In the United States, universal suffrage was only achieved after almost two centuries, and democracy continues to be under attack. Likewise, the egalitarian traditions of the Jesus movement, which held that the last shall be the first and that those who want to be great should be the servants of all, have had to contend with hierarchical tendencies.
What might have kept democratic and egalitarian spirits alive in the midst of opposition and pushback, and what accounts for the ongoing development of these spirits? In US politics, many assume that it is the intellectual legacy of the founding fathers; in religion, liberal theology and its proponents are cherished for similar reasons. Yet intellectual traditions and ideas alone are hardly sufficient to transform the world, as most teachers and preachers find out at some point in their careers, and the liberal traditions have their own myopias when it comes to minorities and working people.
Read MoreThe conversation about reparations for slavery entered a new stage earlier in 2021, with the U.S. House Judiciary Committee voting for the creation of a commission to address the matter.
The bill, H.R. 40, has been introduced every Congress since 1989 by Reps. Sheila Jackson Lee and John Conyers, until his death in 2019. But this year marks the first time that its request to study and develop reparation proposals for African Americans has cleared the committee stage.
Calls to redress the lasting impact of slavery and racial discrimination have been amplified recently following further evidence of the impact of systemic racism – both through the disproportionate effect of COVID-19 on the Black community and the deaths of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor and others at the hands of U.S. police.
Read MoreWondering about connections between Christianity and socialism must appear odd to most people raised in the United States. There are many taken-for-granted assumptions about socialism and about Christianity that make this an unlikely if not incongruous pairing. In addition, both terms evoke strong reactions among many, both positive and negative. Nevertheless, while putting socialism and Christianity in conversation does not seem to make much sense to some, there is growing interest from others based on new embodiments of socialism and Christianity. What is going on here, and how might things be developed?
Read MoreWhen Christmas was turned into the celebration of consumption, a few things got lost along the way. No surprise here. Well-meaning responses, from blaming consumers to campaigns to “keep Christ in Christmas,” have not been able to reclaim what was lost. Perhaps returning to some of the peculiarities of the Christmas story might be of help here.
Read MoreA long but forgotten history of worker cooperatives, often embodied in minority communities (as described by other contributors in this series of Interventions), confirms the tremendous potential for the transformation of the world.
Read More“You can fool all the people some of the time and some of the people all the time, but you cannot fool all the people all the time” (attributed to Abraham Lincoln).
It is hard to deny that the majority of Americans, at some point or another, have been fooled in regard to what determines our lives. One example is the nature of inequality. Another is the question about what really matters in our day-to-day lives. And a third is the role and function of religion (make sure you read to the end, as this is where it all comes together). As we sort through these issues, it will become clear how we can stop being fooled and begin to take back power and influence over our lives, our work, and our religion. Meanwhile, much of the world is watching in disbelief about what is happening in the US, closing borders to Americans, with moods shifting from irritation about the US to pity for it.
Read MoreThe traumas associated with global pandemics may be once-in-a-lifetime events for some, but they have the potential of nudging all of us to see the world in new ways and to change it. While no one knows for sure how bad things will get with COVID-19, let’s acknowledge for the moment that they are not great: In early April of 2020, tens of thousands have died around the globe due to the novel coronavirus, the United States are headed towards an unemployment rate of more than 30 percent according to the Fed, and the stock market is down about a third of its value. Already on March 13, President Trump was forced to declare a national emergency, changing course from his earlier attempts to downplay the situation.
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