Grounding 1: Theology and Social Praxis

Meets Tuesdays, 6-8 PM Central Time. The work of compassion, justice, and collective liberation is integral to religious leadership in the 21st century, and for many progressive and liberal religious leaders, it is holy work. We live in a world beset by numerous moral, social, political, and spiritual challenges—a world of radical economic inequality, racial inequities, climate and environmental injustices, social acceleration, and post-truth political polarization. What role can progressive religious leaders play in relation to these challenges? What leverage do religious leaders and communities have in relation to these issues? What imaginative, theoretical, and methodological tools can aid religious workers as they seek to lead people and communities through these challenges? How and in what ways does the holy, or the divine, or God, manifest itself in and through religious social engagement? Guided by these orienting questions, this course will introduce students to ways of thinking, being, and leading that will empower them to build upon their unique gifts to creatively engage the peril and promise of the present world.
Required MDiv 1st-year course .