Twelve Jesus-Haunted Misfits, Malcontents, and Dreamers in Pursuit of Justice
 
We are excited to announce the release or our newest book, People Get Ready. The book is available on January 10 and can be pre-ordered now.

From the Publisher: “Narrated by some of the most galvanizing voices of the current moment, this collection of succinct and evocative biographies tells the stories of twelve modern apostles who lived the gospel mission and unsettles what we think we know about Christianity’s role in American politics.”
 
“As the spiritual successor to Can I Get a Witness?, People Get Ready presents a diverse cast of twentieth-century ‘saints’ who bore witness to their faith with unapologetic advocacy for the marginalized. From novelists to musicians to scientists, these courageous men and women rose to the challenges of their times. Just so, readers will reflect on their legacies in light of the challenges of today.”

“The 12 people profiled in this fascinating collection of were indeed, as the title suggests, ready to pursue justice often against great odds. All are well served by the authors, who do not hesitate to point out flaws while celebrating their subjects’ contributions.” –Booklist

“The sharp biographical sketches affirm that faith can fuel progressive action and illuminate complexities. The stories will inspire and discomfit.” –Publishers Weekly

“I hope to take up later the subject of ‘example’ and its place in the New Testament,” Bonhoeffer wrote in one of his last letters to Eberhard. It is our hope that People Get Ready contributes towards this unfinished project.

Contributors: Jacqueline A. Bussie, Carolyn Renée Dupont, Mark R. Gornik, Jane Hong, Ann Hostetler, M. Therese Lysaught, Charles Marsh, Mallory McDuff, Ansley L. Quiros, Daniel P. Rhodes, Peter Slade, Jemar Tisby, Shea Tuttle, and Lauren F. Winner.

The book is a product of The Project on Lived Theology’s 2019/20 SILT.

Pre-order your copy 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.

PLT Director Charles Marsh unpacks different ways of understanding anxiety and depression from the lens of religion for his latest article in Religion & Politics.

“In those hours against unspeakable tragedy, I understood, once again, that the strongest antidote to fear is the knowledge that we are not alone.”

Read the article 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.

This Trinity Forum Reading features Bonhoeffer’s essay “After Ten Years,” in which he takes an unflinching look at the tension between public responsibility and private virtue. Bonhoeffer wrote “After Ten Years” just months before his arrest by the Gestapo. Intended in part to encourage his friends with an account of their time together, “After Ten Years” also answers questions about his own reasoning in deciding to participate in a plot to assassinate Hitler.

Writing to his close friends after years of discouraging and seemingly fruitless resistance to the Nazi regime, growing chaos and danger, and the demoralizing complicity and cowardice of the German church, Bonhoeffer wrestles with the question: in the midst of the deep exhaustion, distorting fear, and disorienting moral confusion that attends resistance to evil, who stands fast? With a provocative and insightful introduction by scholar Charles Marsh, and a new (previously unpublished) translation of Bonhoeffer’s poem “Who Am I?” this Reading delves into the call of moral responsibility, the necessity of community, and the meaning of peace.

Readings are shipping now.

The essay is introduced with a Foreword by Charles Marsh, who is a Commonwealth Professor of Religious Studies and director of the Project on Lived Theology at the University of Virginia. He is the author of numerous books, including God’s Long Summer: Stories of Faith and Civil Rights, which won the 1998 Grawemeyer Award in Religion, and Strange Glory: A Life of Dietrich Bonhoeffer, a PEN award finalist.

You can order your copy today 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.

The Project on Lived Theology is delighted to partner with Theological Horizons for the 2023 Scoper Lecture. On March 28, 2023, renowned attorney Bryan Stevenson will speak in conversation with UVA President Jim Ryan. The event is titled “Act Justly, Love Mercy: Exploring the Heart of Equal Justice.” Stevenson will speak from his personal experience on the spiritual sources that empower his lifelong commitment to transformative acts of just mercy.

This will be a “live only” in-person and digitally streamed event. For more information, visit the Theological Horizons event page.

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.

On September 7, 2022, Duke University theologian and clinical psychiatrist Warren Kinghorn presented a talk titled Theological Reflections on the Practice of Clinical Psychiatry as part of a fall seminar taught by Professor Charles Marsh. The seminar, “Anxiety in Religious and Theological Perspective,” considered particular theological thinkers on anxiety, such as Augustine and Kierkegaard.

Professor Kinghorn’s talk discussed a spiritual approach to mental illness and the use of psychiatric medication. Kinghorn described the increase in mental illness prevalence among college-aged people, as well as “common but perhaps misleading” notions held by medical practitioners about clinical anxiety: individualist anxiety, self-symptom dualism, self-body dualism, technicism, and the mechanization of the human being. Kinghorn also explored Christian affirmations of the capabilities of the human being and offers a take on psychiatric medicine informed by Thomas Aquinas.

Listen to the lecture.

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.

“The new evangelization calls for followers of Christ who are unconditionally pro-life: who will proclaim, celebrate and serve the Gospel of life in every situation.”

“A sign of hope is the increasing recognition that the dignity of human life must never be taken away, even in the case of someone who has done great evil…”

“I renew the appeal I made . . . for a consensus to end the death penalty, which is both cruel and unnecessary. —Pope John Paul II Papal Mass, St. Louis, Missouri, January 27, 1999

You can find the complete release 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.

Charles’ seminar on anxiety and religion met on the Wednesday after the tragic shootings at UVA. One of the things the class did was create a playlist of songs that carried them through the next few weeks.

Anxiety 3559 Playlist – University of Virginia

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.

The arc of justice… Campaigns focusing on gun reform achieved victory in several races across the country.

Read the article 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.

BrieAnna Frank is a reporter for USA Today who’s covered numerous mass shootings. She’s also a first-year grad student in our Religious Studies Department. Her editor asked her to write from the first person about the University of Virginia mass shootings in Charlottesville. She delivered this gem by mid-afternoon.

We know he told his friend Hans Hildebrandt that only the Catholic Center Party had half a chance of defeating Hitler. While there is no easy parallel to U.S. politics, the core convictions of the Zentrum do not seem to lend themselves to the GOP.

The Catholic Center Party adhered to a strict separation of church and state, to belief in strong government and the welfare state, and to the facilitation of nonpartisan policy.

The Catholic Center attracted aristocrats, priests, bourgeoisie, peasants, and workers. While its membership was majority Catholic, the party remained interconfessional and committed to the democratic ideals of the Weimar Constitution. When the Nazis came into power the Zentrum was forced to dissolve itself as one of the last bürgerliche parties, not, alas before signing the Enabling Act and thus proving Bonhoeffer’s argument against Hildebrandt to have been naïve.

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.