Occupy Religion introduces readers to the growing role of religion in the Occupy Movement and asks provocative questions about how people of faith can work for social justice. From the temperance movement to the Civil Rights movement, churches have played key roles in important social movements, and Occupy Religion shows this role is no less critical today.

In this groundbreaking volume, theologians and scholars of religion criticize and refine new materialist views, to advance debate about the role of religious experience in social and political change.

The 'preferential option for the poor' - the idea that the poor and helpless have a claim to special consideration from society - has been one of the most significant developments in twentieth-century Christian theology. Arising out of liberation theology, the option for the poor (and other people at the margins of society) has provided major new impulses for biblical studies, systematic theology, church history, ecclesial practice, and the academic study of religion. Recently, however, options for the margins have been challenged by postmodern shifts in intellectual, social, political, and economic realities that often replace preferential options with other emphases, such as general concerns for pluralism, otherness, and difference. The essays in this volume show how some forms of postmodern thought and theology can mask patterns of oppression and provide an excuse for deafness to voices from the margins. The authors, writing from a wide variety of national, ethnic, and theological perspectives, seek to revive the preferential option for the poor for the postmodern world, showing how options for the margins can engage postmodernity in new ways and break new ground in religious, theological, and ethical, as well as social, political, and economic thinking. The essays seek to connect philosophical and theological arguments to the concrete realities of the postmodern world and to uncover new sources of energy in the life and death struggles of people across the globe.

Theologies on the Move: Religion, Migration, and Pilgrimage in the World of Neoliberal Capital speaks to the reality that many religions have developed in motion, with people exploring new boundaries, migrating, and being displaced. Consequently, major religious traditions form as they come into contact with other religions and cultures, typically in situations of struggle and pressure. Due to neoliberal capitalism, more people are on the move today than ever before. Most are driven by necessity (migration due to violence, poverty, and perceived poverty); others, by religious quests that are often fueled by experiences of tension (pilgrimage). The chapters in this volume explore the complexity of these situations, examining in detail how theology and religion shape up in various contexts "on the move" and investigating specific problems and tensions in order to suggest solutions, alternatives, and new possibilities.

'This rich and interdisciplinary book presents a powerful up-to-date critique of the spirit of Empire, using critical insights from post-Marxist, postmodern, and postcolonial theories. Written by authors who have engaged liberation Christianity from three different geographical locales, this text provides resources and visions for those who believe that annother world and an alternative spirit that resists Empire are possible. I highly recommend this creative theological reading of transcendence, subjectivity, and democracy in the political present.' --Kwok Pui-lan, author of Postcolonial Imagination and Feminist Theology In the current situation of empire, subjectivity and desire are shaped in new ways, often unconsciously. The analysis of these mechanisms is geared to identifying alternative possibilities for the formation of subjectivity and desire, pointing beyond the structures of empire. If there is a notion of transcendence that operates in the current embodiments of empire, empire cannot be understood without religious categories. Contemporary manifestations of Empire insist on the ideals of the republic and of democracy. How do the religious connotations of these notions shift and how can religious reflection help us develop new perspectives on political ethics? Joerg Rieger is Professor of Systematic Theology at Perkins School of Theology, Southern Methodist University, Dallas, Texas. Jung Mo Sung is Professor of Religion and Culture at the Methodist University of Sao Paulo. Nestor Miguez is Professor of Biblical Studies at Institutio Superior Evangelico de Estudios Teleogicos in Buenos Aires, Argentina.

Even though economic downturns are still followed by upturns, fewer people benefit from them. As a result, economic crisis is an everyday reality that permanently affects all levels of our lives. The logic of downturn, developed in this book, helps make sense of what is going on, as the economy shapes us more deeply than we had ever realized, not only our finances and our work, but also our relationships, our thinking, and even our hopes and desires. Religion is one arena shaped by economics and thus part of the problem but, as Joerg Rieger shows, it might also hold one of the keys for providing alternatives, since it points to energies for transformation and justice. Rieger's hopeful perspective unfolds in stark contrast to an economy and a religion that thrive on mounting inequality and differences of class.

Distinguished theologians assess the achievements and legacies of thirty-one theological giants in light of Christianity's engagement with imperial power, conquest, colonization, and post colonial themes. This is a textbook anthology suitable for classroom use.

Although we loathe admitting it, Christians have often, through crusade, conquest, and commerce, used the name and power of Christ to promote and justify political, economic, and even military gain. Rieger's ambitious and faith-filled project chips away at the colonial legacy of Christology to find the authentic Christ - or rather the many authentic depictions of Christ in history and theology that survive our self-serving domestications. Against the seeming inevitability of globalized unfairness, Rieger holds up a "stumbling block" that confounds even empire.

The late Frederick Herzog, long-time professor of systematic theology at Duke Divinity School, frequently challenged his peers to expand the boundaries of the field by doing theology "from the belly of the whale." In brief, he never stopped reminding the church and theologians that they should listen to those who had been left out of their influential ranks: the marginalized, African Americans, Native Americans, women, and the poorest of the poor in Latin America. This reminder is the thread that holds together Herzog's work, made available here for the first time in a single volume.

What are the prospects for liberation theology and the social change it espouses? What can liberation theologies learn from each other? Writing from a variety of social locations--the African American community, the feminist struggle, and tensions within Europe, North America, and Latin America--these exciting and enlightening thinkers reflect on the vastly changed context of and challenges to liberation. Yet they find common concerns and cause. They espouse religious reflection that attends closely to those pushed to the margins (even though on the surface things seem to be improving), to shifting structures of oppression, and especially to global economic structures as they affect specific locales. For all those interested in the survival and growth of justice-oriented religious commitment, this volume signals concrete and exciting new directions for thought and action. Participants include: John B. Cobb, Jr., Claremont School of Theology Gustavo Gutierrez, Instituto Bartalome de Las Casas, Rimac, Peru M. Douglas Meeks, Wesley Theological Seminary Jurgen Moltmann, University of Tubingen Joerg M. Rieger, Perkins School of Theology Susan Brooks Thistlethwaite, Chicago Theological Seminary Gayraud S. Wilmore, Interdenominational Theological Center, Atlanta

Theologies on the Move: Religion, Migration, and Pilgrimage in the World of Neoliberal Capital speaks to the reality that many religions have developed in motion, with people exploring new boundaries, migrating, and being displaced. Consequently, major religious traditions form as they come into contact with other religions and cultures, typically in situations of struggle and pressure. Due to neoliberal capitalism, more people are on the move today than ever before. Most are driven by necessity (migration due to violence, poverty, and perceived poverty); others, by religious quests that are often fueled by experiences of tension (pilgrimage). The chapters in this volume explore the complexity of these situations, examining in detail how theology and religion shape up in various contexts "on the move" and investigating specific problems and tensions in order to suggest solutions, alternatives, and new possibilities.

While work in theology and religious studies by scholars in Latin America and by Latino/a scholars in the United States has made substantial contributions to the current scholarship in the field, there are few projects where scholars from these various contexts are working together. Across Borders: Latin Perspectives in the Americas Reshaping Religion, Theology, and Life is unique, as it brings leading scholars from both worlds into the conversation. The chapters of this book deal with the complexities of solidarity, the intersections of the popular and the religious, the example of Afro-Cubanisms, the meaning of popular liberation struggles, Hispanic identity formation at the U.S. border, and the unique promise of studying religion and theology in the tensions between North and South in the Americas.

Occupy Religion introduces readers to the growing role of religion in the Occupy Movement and asks provocative questions about how people of faith can work for social justice. From the temperance movement to the Civil Rights movement, churches have played key roles in important social movements, and Occupy Religion shows this role is no less critical today.

Theology is fracturing along tension lines once hidden by the great modern consensus that reigned from Schleiermacher's day till our own. Now, all of it is in dispute: its starting point, its self-awareness, its claim to truth, its method and interaction with other disciplines and institutions in church, academy, and society.

Rieger offers an enlightening way to understand the chief strands or options in theology today and a valuable proposal for resituating theology around the crucial issue of inclusion. He sees four competing vectors at work in today's Christian theology: Theology of Identity (liberal theology, represented by Schleiermacher and founded in the self), Theology of Difference (dialectical theology, represented by Barth and founded in the Wholly Other), Theology and the Postmodern (postcritical theology, represented by Lindbeck and founded on the text), and Theology and the Underside (liberation theology, represented by Gutierrez and others and founded in the interests of the other person).

Further, Rieger goes on to propose that each of these is in some way exclusionary and elitist; the mass of humanity and the globe's most pressing problems do not invade this cathedral, and in some ways the market itself has replaced God. Religious thought can remain viable only when it is grounded in an openness that reaches beyond the global market and postmodern squabbles, critiques its own complicity in the situation, and resituates itself in express commitment to those left out of today's "gated community".