Dissertation Entitled Beloved Community in Multicultural Contexts: The Lived Theology of Pastor Miguel Balderas

On April 18th, PLT alum Kelly West Figueroa-Ray successfully defended her dissertation entitled Beloved Community in Multicultural Contexts: The Lived Theology of Pastor Miguel Balderas. This study is a hermeneutical ethnography that situates Pastor Miguel’s approach to multicultural ministry within the lived theological tradition of Beloved Community. This research combines ethnographic methods with a set of hermeneutical tools, traditionally used to analyze ancient scriptural commentary, to examine enacted theological expression, specifically preaching, liturgical choices, and leadership models.

When reflecting on the most important insight from this study, Kelly states:

“By imposing upon his congregation the scriptural values and characteristics of the Kingdom of God in light of the Pentecost experience of Acts 2, Pastor Miguel’s lived theology can be described as the insurgent multiculturalism of Beloved Community. Unlike other multicultural approaches within mainline Christian churches that encourage assimilation to the majority-white culture, Pastor Miguel’s approach encourages his congregants to move towards a congregation in which: 1) the leadership works as a team and reflects the diversity of the community’s demographic and 2) “se come la comida de todos” (everyone eats the food of everyone). This is not an International Day form of sharing, but rather a practice that becomes part of the fabric of community life. Through this organic approach to multicultural training, Pastor Miguel’s hope is that the long-term, majority-white, and English-speaking members could lead their congregation alongside non-English-speaking immigrants, with every person functioning as a full participant in the leadership process.”

This research contributes to the growing body of literature on multiracial congregations by offering a unique ethnographic perspective missing from the scholarship—an in-depth examination of a non-multicultural congregation’s approach to developing multicultural ministries. Hermeneutical ethnography as it is applied in this study also offers a new method for Christian ethnographers, anthropologists, and other scholars interested in how scripture and Christian tradition function in contemporary religious communities, a method that takes seriously the role of texts within the process of lived theological expression.

Kelly graduated last week and has also accepted a one-year faculty position at St. Olaf College in Northfield, Minnesota. She looks forward to offering courses that will explore contemporary scriptural hermeneutics and the lived theology of faith practitioners and Christian communities.

Fellow travelers are scholars, activists, and practitioners that embody the ideals and commitments of the Project on Lived Theology. We admire their work and are grateful to be walking alongside them in the development and dissemination of Lived Theology.

For more news from PLT fellow travelers, click here. To engage in the conversation on Facebook and Twitter, @LivedTheology, please use #PLTfellowTravelers. For more recommended resources from our fellow travelers, click here, #PLTfellowtravelers. To sign up for the Lived Theology monthly newsletter, click here.

Celebrating Koinonia Farm’s 75th Birthday

Two UVA students recently attended the Clarence Jordan Symposium at Koinonia Farm, an event focused on honoring Jordan by increasing peace, community, and racial justice in the world today. Megan Helbling and Isabella Hall traveled down together with the support of the Project on Lived Theology.

Isabella was curious about sustainable agriculture and the methodology, struggles, and successes of different intentional communities. Interested in exploring the role of the church in social reform and conciliatory communication, Megan learned about the legacy of housing and economic justice created by Koinonia affiliates. Both women were able to meet notable activists from mainstream Protestantism and heard notable Christian activists and thinkers, including Jonathan Wilson Hartgrove, Shane Claiborne, William Barber, and Ruby Sales.

Reflecting on the stories of Koinonia workers, Megan stated:

“While inspired by the life of Clarence Jordan, I am reticent to idolize him because the narrative of Koinonia often prioritizes Jordan’s biography over the women and African Americans who labored alongside him. Since the voices of those marginalized actors often go unheard, this conference unexpectedly was an opportunity to celebrate the folks who often aren’t honored in the usual telling of this history…The speaking style that most of the highlighted speakers adopted the form of storytelling, whether about their own intentional communities, their experiences in peace movements, or formative interactions with Jordan or Koinonia. Coming from the environment of UVA, this
gave us an opportunity to consider new ways of learning that are different from the academic lectures to which we’ve grown accustomed. Storytelling, we realized, is a much more relational and distinctly communal form of learning and sharing knowledge. It represents a more peaceful, less assertive style of instruction, as it doesn’t assume that all knowledge manifests itself into different lives, communities, or cultures the same way. Rather, it offers one isolated example of the ways that one person encountered different lessons or themes, and invites the listener to extrapolate their own meaning or application for the story into their own lives.”

Isabella was interested in comparing her experience living in the Perkins House at UVA to the experience of living at Koinonia Farms, as well as being able to reflect on the Civil Rights Movement through the people she met:

“Without a doubt, the people we encountered were my favorite piece about the Clarence Jordan Symposium. From Mennonite Pastors Sarah Thompson and Joanna Shenk, to our new friend Gabriel, a current Koinonia resident, and finally, founding Koinonia members themselves. Physically inhabiting the same spaces which served as battleground for ethnic and economic justice during the Freedom Movement was impactful. I couldn’t help but be reminded on Charles Marsh’s notion of the American South as Theological Drama and indeed, we had entered into enfleshed theological drama. For instance, the symposium was hosted at the very Methodist and Baptist Churches which excommunicated Jordan and his Koinonia flock years ago. The church doors which were once unconditionally closed to Black Americans now hosted a symposium committed to racial reconciliation and strategizing for combat against systemic racism. Attending the conference was important for both Megan and I in order to understand how our own justice- work and theological experiences are situated within a broader narrative, that is, the unfinished business of the Civil Rights Movement.”

For more information on Koinonia Farm, click here.

Fellow travelers are scholars, activists, and practitioners that embody the ideals and commitments of the Project on Lived Theology. We admire their work and are grateful to be walking alongside them in the development and dissemination of Lived Theology.

For more news from PLT fellow travelers, click here. To engage in the conversation on Facebook and Twitter, @LivedTheology, please use #PLTfellowTravelers. For more recommended resources from our fellow travelers, click here, #PLTfellowtravelers. To sign up for the Lived Theology monthly newsletter, click here.