A few years ago, I taught an adult education class called “Theology of Mammon.” My church did not need a money-management seminar or a stewardship series.
"I was challenged by the readings, and I was lonely. I didn’t have colleagues engaged in this learning project." You pinpoint here the experience I've also had for years. My work, which culminated in the book "Caring for Souls in a Neoliberal Age," followed deep reads into how today's capitalism is eroding human well-being and the planet. This, in turn, was fueled initially by my efforts to understand the changes in suffering I had seen in my psychotherapy patients over the course of three decades. But my pastoral theology colleagues in the academy, while displaying immense concern for a variety of social justice issues, had little to no interest in criticizing capitalism.
But what I most wish to comment on at the moment is your efforts to address the money question. And tackling Goodchild's "Theology of Money" and its sequel? Wow! Those are dense books, and a challenging subject! This is also generally ignored by both academic theologians and pastors. Well, we might think about money during stewardship campaigns, and exhortations about charitable giving. But to focus on money in itself as a moral issue and theological problem. Nope! I've had to seek community outside the churches to find support in this effort, such as in the Alliance for Just Money, and the American Monetary Institute. I've discovered a greater hearing there than among theological schools and churches. They're even interested in what a pastor and theologian has to say about this! Anyway, I'm very interested in where your own forays into the money issue have led you. For that matter, it would be great fun to compare notes!
Thanks for this, if only for articulating thoughts that drag me down from time to time. I'm busy planning volunteer appreciating events and parceling out a small discretionary fund. I feel like a pretty poor non profit manager. The books I order to read for my theological growth are partially read or unread. I know it would be better for my parish to focus some time on learning and growing. The idea of a DMin does appeal, just for the focused time on learning. But also seems deeply wasteful and just stupid. But at least I feel less lonely.
Yes, and I'll just add that this has very little to do with you. The institutional and capitalist structures of survival are handed to us as expectations, and there needs to be institutional reckoning to shift gears -- not pastors sacrificing their careers to angry boards and vestries. The fact that you have been handed the incredibly difficult job of theological formation in the midst of severe economic pressures the national church doesn't want to deal with is just another indication of your commitment and investment in this thing called church. Keep on, dear Rebecca.
In the middle of a theology PhD right now, and this post touches on all of the meta-questions i'm always asking about this profession (vocation!?).
Have you read Natalie Wigg-Stevenson's book on Ethnographic Theology? She presses pretty incisively into the question of theological production in the church she teaches sunday school classes. Anyway. Thank you so much for your reflections here.
I’m a Lutheran pastor, serving in ministry for many years. Rightly or wrongly, I teach that Martin Luther organized the Small Catechism so that parents could teach their children the principles of faith. In kind, he wrote a Large Catechism for pastors to teach parents. The legend of Luther suggests that much of Luther’s thinking and theologizing happened at table talk: evenings spent debating faith with faculty and students at the local pub.
Recently, in contrast to the very real and painful lament of this article, a colleague of mine serving a nearby Methodist community invited me to have a table talk discussion on the presence of white evangelical nationalism in our town. Just the two of us. It’s a start.
Oof. I feel this in my bones, albeit from a different vantage point. Thank you ❤️
Oh, I RESONATE with this. I think we can do something about it. I would love to figure out community learning.
I don't have suggestions, either, but I feel the same longing to not be lonely in my learning. Thank you for saying it so truly.
"I was challenged by the readings, and I was lonely. I didn’t have colleagues engaged in this learning project." You pinpoint here the experience I've also had for years. My work, which culminated in the book "Caring for Souls in a Neoliberal Age," followed deep reads into how today's capitalism is eroding human well-being and the planet. This, in turn, was fueled initially by my efforts to understand the changes in suffering I had seen in my psychotherapy patients over the course of three decades. But my pastoral theology colleagues in the academy, while displaying immense concern for a variety of social justice issues, had little to no interest in criticizing capitalism.
But what I most wish to comment on at the moment is your efforts to address the money question. And tackling Goodchild's "Theology of Money" and its sequel? Wow! Those are dense books, and a challenging subject! This is also generally ignored by both academic theologians and pastors. Well, we might think about money during stewardship campaigns, and exhortations about charitable giving. But to focus on money in itself as a moral issue and theological problem. Nope! I've had to seek community outside the churches to find support in this effort, such as in the Alliance for Just Money, and the American Monetary Institute. I've discovered a greater hearing there than among theological schools and churches. They're even interested in what a pastor and theologian has to say about this! Anyway, I'm very interested in where your own forays into the money issue have led you. For that matter, it would be great fun to compare notes!
Your writing is a gift. Thank you, as always.
Thanks for this, if only for articulating thoughts that drag me down from time to time. I'm busy planning volunteer appreciating events and parceling out a small discretionary fund. I feel like a pretty poor non profit manager. The books I order to read for my theological growth are partially read or unread. I know it would be better for my parish to focus some time on learning and growing. The idea of a DMin does appeal, just for the focused time on learning. But also seems deeply wasteful and just stupid. But at least I feel less lonely.
Yes, and I'll just add that this has very little to do with you. The institutional and capitalist structures of survival are handed to us as expectations, and there needs to be institutional reckoning to shift gears -- not pastors sacrificing their careers to angry boards and vestries. The fact that you have been handed the incredibly difficult job of theological formation in the midst of severe economic pressures the national church doesn't want to deal with is just another indication of your commitment and investment in this thing called church. Keep on, dear Rebecca.
In the middle of a theology PhD right now, and this post touches on all of the meta-questions i'm always asking about this profession (vocation!?).
Have you read Natalie Wigg-Stevenson's book on Ethnographic Theology? She presses pretty incisively into the question of theological production in the church she teaches sunday school classes. Anyway. Thank you so much for your reflections here.
I haven't, but I will! Thanks for the rec!
I’m a Lutheran pastor, serving in ministry for many years. Rightly or wrongly, I teach that Martin Luther organized the Small Catechism so that parents could teach their children the principles of faith. In kind, he wrote a Large Catechism for pastors to teach parents. The legend of Luther suggests that much of Luther’s thinking and theologizing happened at table talk: evenings spent debating faith with faculty and students at the local pub.
Recently, in contrast to the very real and painful lament of this article, a colleague of mine serving a nearby Methodist community invited me to have a table talk discussion on the presence of white evangelical nationalism in our town. Just the two of us. It’s a start.
Thank you Pr Melissa for this reflection.