Joerg Rieger is Distinguished Professor of Theology and holds the Cal Turner Chancellor's Chair in Wesleyan Studies in the Divinity School and the Graduate Program of Religion at Vanderbilt University. He is also the Founding Director of the Wendland-Cook Program in Religion and Justice at Vanderbilt. Previously, he was the Wendland-Cook Professor of Constructive Theology at Perkins School of Theology, SMU. For more than two decades Rieger has worked to bring together theology and the struggles for justice and liberation that mark our age. His work addresses the relation of theology to public life, using tools from cultural studies, critical theory, and religious studies, and reflecting on the misuse of power in religion, politics, and economics. His main interest is in movements and developments that bring about change and the positive contributions of religion. Known for his prolific and visionary writing, his books include Jesus vs. Caesar (2018), No Religion but Social Religion (2018), Unified We Are a Force (with Rosemarie Henkel-Rieger, 2016), Faith on the Road (2015), Religion, Theology, and Class (2013), Occupy Religion: Theology of the Multitude (with Kwok Pui-lan, 2012), Grace under Pressure (2011), Traveling (2011), Globalization and Theology (2010), No Rising Tide: Theology, Economics, and the Future (2009, Spanish transl.), Christ and Empire: From Paul to Postcolonial Times (2007, German and Portuguese transl.); Opting for the Margins: Postmodernity and Liberation in Christian Theology (ed., 2003); God and the Excluded: Visions and Blindspots in Contemporary Theology (2001); and Remember the Poor: The Challenge to Theology in the Twenty-First Century (1998, Portuguese transl.). He is co-author, with Brazilian theologian Jung Mo Sung and Argentinian theologian Nestor Miguez, of Beyond the Spirit of Empire: New Perspectives in Politics and Religion (2009). Rieger has lectured throughout the U.S., as well as internationally, including presentations in South Africa, Zimbabwe, Germany, Switzerland, Austria, the Netherlands, Belgium, England, Russia, Brazil, Argentina, Mexico, Costa Rica, Cambodia, the Philippines, Thailand, China, India, and Israel/Palestine. Terra Schwerin Rowe (PhD in Theological and Philosophical Studies, Drew University; STM, Lutheran Theological Seminary at Philadelphia; MA in Diaconal Ministry, Wartburg Theological Seminary) is Assistant Professor of Religion and Ecology at the University of North Texas. Her work--including Toward a Better Worldliness: Economy, Ecology, and the Protestant Tradition (Fortress, 2017), conference presentations, and journal articles--focuses on critical analyses and constructive reinterpretations of Protestant theologies from the perspective of feminist and environmental concerns.
"""Wonderful to see these explorations of religion and ecology continue in contemporary keys even as we have questionable evaluations of multispecies and human thriving above the now inevitable 2 degree C rise. Here authors contemplate issues of ecological justice, re-enchantment, animism, extractive economics, and ways of resisting new forms of racialized colonialism and capitalism. While oriented towards Christian perspectives, the discussions bring insights across the wider dialogue of religions in our imperiled world."" --John Grim, Co-Director, Yale Forum on Religion and Ecology In the extractive exploitation of the earth and its workers, the role of production--not merely consumption--has often been missed. This crucial volume unveils how religion, when not colluding in ecological destruction, can motivate the still possible liberation of land and labor. --Catherine Keller, George T. Cobb Professor of Constructive Theology, Drew Theological School; author of Facing Apocalypse: Climate, Democracy and Other Last Chances Religious traditions will have to decide who they will be and where they stand in this strange new world of our own making. Collaborations like this one are immeasurably helpful for that. Kudos to the editors and authors! --Larry Rasmussen, Reinhold Niebuhr Professor Emeritus of Social Ethics, Union Theological Seminary"