Interventions is a space for students, scholars, clergy, and activists to write and collaborate on practical and theological approaches to issues of economy, ecology, religion, and justice.
The Age of the Capitalocene
On April 10th at Vanderbilt Divinity School the Wendland-Cook Program welcomed Dr. Jung Mo Sung for a lecture titled, “The Age of the Capitalocene and the Theological Critique of Idolatory,” and featured responses by Dr. Joerg Rieger and Dr. Phillis Sheppard. This forum presents an abbreviated version of Dr. Sung’s lectures and the responses by Dr. Rieger and Dr. Sheppard. Jung Mo Sung is one of the most prominent Latin American Liberation Theologians of the third generation. Born in Korea, raised in Brazil, and active around the globe, his work is deeply engaged in contemporary struggles for liberation, pushing the work of liberation theology forward. Sung’s work addresses the silences of the liberation traditions in the past and engages the intersectionalities of exploitation and oppression of our age.
Take Back the Land
November 2023
This forum focuses on the distinct story of Rochdale and Delta Cooperative Farms (later named Providence Farms) in Mississippi, founded by social gospel movement leaders in the 1930s and 40s. The distinct political and economic vision here was inspired by cooperative economics and political democracy. The uniqueness of this project was its focus on cooperatives as a way to build economic power against racial and plantation capitalism in the south.
THEOLOGY IN THE CAPITALOCENE
April 2024
People organize to protect and fight for what they hold sacred. Organizing works by building relational power grounded in values and relationships. Issue wins are vital - building radically democratic power is at the heart of organizing, but the first step to building political and economic power is building radically democratic relationships. Because of the crucial role of sacred value in organizing, some organizing practices are religious practices. These are the central claims of Aaron Stauffer’s new book, Listening to the Spirit: The Radical Social Gospel, Sacred Values, and Broad-based Community Organizing.
Social Gospel in the South
October 2023
This project aims to research the Social Gospel legacy of Vanderbilt Divinity School in the early decades of the twentieth century and to tell that story to a broad audience. Although the Social Gospel movement has attracted growing attention in recent years, the Vanderbilt story is largely unknown and untold. Vanderbilt Divinity’s designation as “school of the prophets” derives from this period, as it was an important intellectual and educational hub.
In this first forum, we turn to historians and labor organizers in order to set the stage for future conversations to come.
Resource Library
Check out our resource library — the sortable one-stop shop for all things Wendland-Cook Program. Here we have all of our Interventions Forums, Statements, Blogs, Webinars, Interviews, Toolkits, and more. Check it out!