Call for Applications: Summer Internship in Lived Theology 2025

Posted on by

Now Accepting Applications for Summer 2025

The Project on Lived Theology is now accepting applications for the 2025 Summer Internship in Lived Theology, a service-learning immersion that offers undergraduates an opportunity to think and to write theologically about human rights and social justice in the context of an in-the-field service internship. To download an application, click here.

The internship is open to UVA undergraduate students in any field of study. Selected participants spend the summer interning with the partnering institution of their choice. Each intern works directly with a UVA faculty member who acts as a theological mentor, offering guidance in reading, discussing, and writing about selected texts. Each intern also has a site mentor who shapes his/her work experience and may act as a conversation partner in the intern’s academic and theological exploration. Throughout the summer, interns blog for the Project on Lived Theology website; at the end of the internship, interns complete a final project and present their work at a public event.

The deadline for application submission is February 21, 2025.

For more information on the internship and to read blog posts and biographies from past interns, click here.

For online updates about the PLT Summer Internship, please use #PLTinterns, like us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter at @LivedTheology.

“The World Can Be Different: The Theological Vision of Dorothee Soelle” with Sarah K. Pinnock

Posted on by

On November 19, 2024, Professor Sarah Pinnock joined the UVA graduate seminar Theologies of Resistance and Reconciliation to talk about the life and thought of Dorothee Soelle. 

Dr. Sarah Pinnock is professor of contemporary religious thought at Trinity University in San Antonio, Texas. Sarah was born in New Orleans in 1968-67, where her father, a Baptist theologian and influential, evangelical thinker, Clark Pinnock, taught theology. When she was her family moved back to their native Canada, first to Vancouver, and later to Toronto. 

After undergraduate and M.A. studies at MacMaster University, Sarah began doctoral studies in philosophical theology at Yale University under the tutelage of Louis Dupree. During a research year in Germany, Sarah served as Dorothee Soelle’s assistant. 

Her research on Soelle and more broadly on Christian responses to the Holocaust, culminated in her doctoral dissertation, which led in turn to her first book, Beyond Theodicy, Christian Continental Thinkers Respond to the Holocaust.

Dr. Pinnock joined the faculty at Trinity University in 2000.  Her book The Theology of Dorothee Soelle is a stellar collaboration of essays  and the basis of her presentation this afternoon.

On the shape of Soelle’s thought, Pinnock writes: “Soelle’s mysticism and christology responds to critiques in modernity. God is not the explanation for scientific unknowns, or what Bonhoeffer calls ‘the God of the gaps.’ She also rejected the image of God as the ruler of history… Soelle proposed a nontheistic christology that opens up a vision of God in which God is dependent, and our actions represent God in the world. We are each unique contributors to the work of God in the world.”

Listen to the event here

Watch the event here

The Project on Lived Theology at the University of Virginia is a research initiative, whose mission is to study the social consequences of theological ideas for the sake of a more just and compassionate world.

Robert P. Jones on the Legacy of White Supremacy in American Christianity

Posted on by

The Project on Lived Theology presents a lecture with Robert P. Jones, New York Times Bestselling Author and Founder and President of the Public Religion Research Institute, titled “White Too Long: The Legacy of White Supremacy in American Christianity.” The lecture will take place on Tuesday, December 3, from 3:30-4:45 EST. It is a virtual presentation and can be viewed at the following link:

ZOOM LINK

The lecture is part of Professor Charles Marsh’s Theologies of Reconciliation and Resistance fall seminar. 

The Project on Lived Theology at the University of Virginia is a research initiative that studies the social consequences of theological ideas for the sake of a more just and compassionate world.

Lecture in Lived Theology with Sarah K. Pinnock

Posted on by

The Project on Lived Theology presents a lecture with Sarah K. Pinnock, Professor of Contemporary Religious Thought, Trinity University, titled “The World Can Be Different: The Theological Vision of Dorothee Soelle.” The lecture will take place on Tuesday, November 19, from 3:30-4:45 EST. It is a virtual presentation and can be viewed at the following link:

ZOOM LINK

The lecture is part of Professor Charles Marsh’s Theologies of Reconciliation and Resistance fall seminar. 

The Project on Lived Theology at the University of Virginia is a research initiative that studies the social consequences of theological ideas for the sake of a more just and compassionate world.

“Why Reinhold Niebuhr Matters” with Larry Rasmussen

Posted on by

On October 8, 2024, Dr. Larry Rasmussen joined a graduate seminar in the Department of Religious Studies at the University of Virginia called Theologies of Resistance and Reconciliation to speak to the class about the thought and life of Niebuhr. The course was rolled out twenty years as a graduate seminar on Dietrich Bonhoeffer and Martin Luther King. Jr. and has expanded over the years to include Reinhold Niebuhr and Dorothee Soelle. 

Dr. Larry Rasmussen is the Reinhold Niebuhr Professor Emeritus of Social Ethics at Union Theological Seminary in New York City. Rasmussen’s first book – his revised doctoral dissertation – was based on a fellowship year in Berlin in 1969 during which he conducted oral interviews wit Bonhoeffer’s students, fellow conspirators, family members, and allies in the Kirchenkampf. The landmark book, Dietrich Bonhoeffer: Reality and Resistance. Originally was published in 1972, and reissued by Westminster John Knox Press in 2005. Larry has also served as an editor and consultant to the Dietrich Bonhoeffer Works Translation Project. 

Professor Rasmussen is a lay theologian of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. His current work in Christian ethics includes analysis of power, methodological issues in Bible and ethics, and reflections on technology and ecology. His volume, Earth Community, Earth Ethics (Maryknoll: Orbis Books, 1996), won the prestigious Grawemeyer Award in Religion of 1997.  He served as a member of the Science, Ethics, and Religion Advisory Committee of the AAAS (American Association for the Advancement of Science) and was a recipient of a Henry Luce Fellowship in Theology, 1998-99, the Burnice Fjellman Award for Distinguished Christian Ministries in Higher Education, and the Joseph Sittler Award for Outstanding Leadership in Theological Education.  From 1990-2000 he served as co-moderator of the WCC unit, Justice, Peace, Creation.  He and Nyla live in Santa Fe, New Mexico.

Excerpt: “Pandemics that have deep roots and institutional legs like the pandemic of racism, take a long time to eradicate. Victories come in fits and start in context after being engaged anew over and again, not least because the poisonous virus develops new variant strains. This means you should celebrate victories when you can rest up, return to the struggle with vigor, and pass the torch when you must.”

Listen to the event here

Watch the event here

The Project on Lived Theology at the University of Virginia is a research initiative, whose mission is to study the social consequences of theological ideas for the sake of a more just and compassionate world.

Summer Internship Event with Elizabeth Rambo

Posted on by

Elizabeth Rambo, the 2024 PLT Summer Intern, shared reflections about her work and findings from the summer in a talk on September 26. Rambo interned part-time with D.C. nonprofits Bread for the City in the food and social services department, and with Catholic Charities of D.C. in the clinical services department. Through the PLT Summer Experience, she worked with mentor Dr. Susan Holman, professor of religion, global health and human rights at Valparaiso and Harvard Universities. Rambo’s recap talk covered both practical lessons as well as personal and theological reflections from the summer. Her experiences showed her how social determinants of health feed off of and amplify each other, how service work is vital but requires long-lasting policy to support it, and how important public health work isn’t always glamorous and exciting. 

Rambo also reflected on some of the personal takeaways she has continued to think about after the conclusion of the summer. Connecting to the concept of public health as a gift exchange, from Dr. Holman’s book Beloved, she described how there is a bounty of resources available in global health – they just have to be given and received. Learning from one another is a way to share each other’s gifts. She concluded with a reflection on how our efforts, especially in such complex, broad arenas like global health, don’t always immediately bear fruit. But she reiterated the comfort that God is working all things together for good, and that seeds are being sown even if we don’t see them grow right away.

“We have so much to give, and there are lots of people who genuinely care, and all of that is really hopeful. It also reminds me of an idea that I talked about with Dr. Holman: the idea of public health initiatives as a gift exchange. Instead of viewing patients as solely opportunities for profit, and instead of patronizing to them as helpless creatures who have nothing to offer, we can think of global health initiatives – and really any service in any realm – as chances to both give a service without expectation of anything in return, and looking for opportunities to receive, to learn something yourself from those you’re serving. We model this after the idea of grace, that we can’t repay but we can be inspired and changed by. Public health gift-giving is a two-way exchange, different people and communities walking along together, on equal footing. And this is the approach that really healthy faith-inspired service should take.”

Listen to the event here.

The Project on Lived Theology at the University of Virginia is a research initiative, whose mission is to study the social consequences of theological ideas for the sake of a more just and compassionate world.

Spring Seminar: Kingdom of God in America

Posted on by

PLT Director Charles Marsh is thrilled to teach “Kingdom of God in America” in the spring semester 2025 – the first time KOGA has been offered as an in-person class since the pandemic. The course explores the influence of theological ideas on social movements in twentieth and twenty-first century America. Our primary historical focus is the American Civil Rights Movement of the 1950’s and 60’s, but we will also spend time with the Social Gospel Movement, the Faith-Based Community Building Movement, and the new Christian Nationalism. Resources include theological books, novels, social criticism and historical documents, film and music, and guest lectures by former activists and participants. Requirements: two papers (5-7 pages in length), two exams, weekly reading summaries, and participation in discussion sections.

All interested undergraduate UVA students are invited to enroll: RELC 2850.

The Project on Lived Theology at the University of Virginia is a research initiative, whose mission is to study the social consequences of theological ideas for the sake of a more just and compassionate world.

Firmin DeBrabander on American Gun Violence

Posted on by

Friend of the project Firmin DeBrabander, Professor of Philosophy at the Maryland Institute College of Art and author of Do Guns Make Us Free, has written two essential articles on American gun violence that we are please to share:

If We Can’t Change American Gun Laws, We Should Change American Gun Culture

Our Epidemic of Mass Shootings Is Traumatizing a Generation and Threatening Democracy

The Project on Lived Theology at the University of Virginia is a research initiative that studies the social consequences of theological ideas for the sake of a more just and compassionate world.

Summer Fellowship Theological Reflection on Service

Posted on by

On Thursday, September 26th, Elizabeth Rambo will share stories from her summer service experience. The event will begin at 7:00 pm at The Bonhoeffer House in Charlottesville (1841 University Circle). The event is free, and the public is invited to attend. Light refreshments will be served.

The Summer Internship in Lived Theology is an immersion program designed to complement the numerous existing urban and rural service immersion programs flourishing nationally and globally by offering a unique opportunity to think and write theologically about service. Elizabeth spent her summer at the Bread for the City and Catholic Charities in Washington, DC, focussing on global health.

Read the intern blog here, and connect to the event on Facebook.

For updates about the PLT Summer Internship, click here. We also post updates online using #PLTinterns. To get these updates please like us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter at @LivedTheology. To sign up for the Lived Theology monthly newsletter, click here.