Lived Theology and the Freedom Struggle in Americus, Georgia, 1942–1976

In God With Us, author Ansley Quiros examines the theological struggle over racial justice through the story of one southern town–Americus, Georgia–where ordinary Americans sought and confronted racial change in the twentieth century. Many people forget that the struggle over civil rights was not just about lunch counters, waiting rooms, or even access to the vote; it was also about Christian theology, and we can still feel its impacts today.

Since both activists and segregationists ardently claimed that God was on their side, racial issues were imbued with religious meanings from multiple theological traditions. Southerners resisted, pursued, and questioned racial change within every Christian framework they could think of, including the major white Protestant denominations, the mass meetings in black churches, and in Christian expressions of interracialism. Documenting the passion and virulence of this struggle, this book offers insight into how midcentury battles over theology and race affected the rise of the Religious Right and indeed continue to resonate deeply in American life.

Reviews and endorsements of the publication include:

“Both a compelling read and a valuable resource, God with Us is well-researched, well-written, and voluminously documented. The intersections it describes—between Koininia Farm and the surrounding community, between the SNCC and SCLC and the freedom movements in Americus and Albany, between non-violent direct action and random murder, between Clarence Jordan and Martin Luther King, Jr., —make this book a signal contribution to our understanding of the lived theologies that animated both the civil rights movement and those who rejected it.”—The Journal of Southern Religion

“This outstanding book tells a new story of the civil rights movement in southwest Georgia, inflecting the national and regional conversation with local flare. Quiros allows us to see how the bright light moments of the movement played out in ordinary lives.”—Doug Thompson, Mercer University

“I grew up around Americus, and Quiros has captured something I remember well: a community in flux and the tension between neighbors over issues of race and religion. The people and scenes are vivid and the story well told. Additionally, it captures something dear to me–the power found in Christian theology.”—President Jimmy Carter

For more information on the publication, 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 of “On the Lived Theology Reading List,” click here. To engage in the conversation on Facebook and Twitter, @LivedTheology, please use #LivedTheologyReads. For more recommended resources from our fellow travelers, click here, #PLTfellowtravelers. To sign up for the Lived Theology monthly newsletter, click here.

Native American Religious Freedom beyond the First Amendment

In Defend the Sacred: Native American Religious Freedom beyond the First Amendment, author Michael McNally explores how Native Americans have repeatedly asserted legal rights to religious freedom to protect their sacred places, practices, objects, knowledge, and ancestral remains. Unfortunately, these claims have met with little success in court because Native American communal traditions don’t fit easily into modern Western definitions of religion; in response, Native peoples have creatively turned to other legal means to safeguard what matters to them.

In addition to continuing to invoke religious freedom, Native peoples have resourcefully used the languages of cultural resources under environmental and historic preservation law; of sovereignty under treaty-based federal Indian law; and, increasingly, of Indigenous rights under international human rights law in order to protect what is theirs. This book attempts to showcase the story of Native American advocates and their struggle to protect their liberties by discussing the innovative strategies they use in order to do so.

Reviews and endorsements of the publication include:

“This book tells the story of Native Peoples’ urgent and complex struggle for religious and cultural freedoms. Michael McNally stands witness to our urgency about protecting sacred places, defending ancestors, and continuing traditional ways, especially those in danger of desecration and harm. He traces and makes understandable the complex legal barriers that impede our free exercise of traditional religions and the maze of laws we stitch together for current protections and future possibilities. I urge activists, advocates, allies, policymakers, judges, lawyers, and traditional practitioners to read this book.”—Suzan Shown Harjo (Cheyenne & Hodulgee Muscogee), President, The Morning Star Institute

“Defend the Sacred is a pathbreaking work of scholarship that sets a new standard and has the potential to impact public debates around Native American religious freedom.”—Tisa Wenger, Yale University

“Defend the Sacred is a very readable history of the collisions between the U.S. Constitution and Native American religious freedom. McNally demonstrates in compelling fashion that U.S. law protects other Americans better than it protects Native Americans, even when it comes to America’s most fundamental values.”—Kevin K. Washburn, Dean, University of Iowa College of Law

For more information on the publication, 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 of “On the Lived Theology Reading List,” click here. To engage in the conversation on Facebook and Twitter, @LivedTheology, please use #LivedTheologyReads. For more recommended resources from our fellow travelers, click here, #PLTfellowtravelers. To sign up for the Lived Theology monthly newsletter, click here.

Politics, Television, and Popular Culture in the 1970s and Beyond

In The Rise and Fall of the Religious Left, L. Benjamin Rolsky challenges the idea of an American culture war between the religious right and the secular left by examining the rise of the religious left through the story of television writer and producer Norman Lear. While Protestant conservatives have been cast as the instigators of such warfare, Rolsky examines the ways in which American liberalism has helped shape cultural conflict since the 1970s, especially through the realm of pop culture.

Lear was not necessarily known as a political figure in his time, but was spurred to found the liberal advocacy group People for the American Way in response to the rise of the religious right. Rolsky shows how prime-time television, which included works created by Lear, became a focus of political dispute and demonstrates how Lear’s emergence as an interfaith activist catalyzed ecumenical Protestants, Catholics, and Jews who were determined to push back against conservatism’s ascent. He offers engaged readings of Lear’s iconic sitcoms and published writings, considering them as an expression of what he calls the spiritual politics of the religious left. By using Lear and his shows as an example, Rolsky is able to examine the foundational roles played by popular culture, television, and media in America’s religious history.

Reviews and endorsements of the publication include:

“Rolsky demonstrates how Norman Lear, the renowned television producer of classic shows like All in the Family, offers a window into the evolution of the religious left in the 1970s and its complex relationship with the moral majority. A fascinating and intriguing history of the intersection between popular culture, religion, and American politics.”—Julian E. Zelizer, coauthor of Fault Lines: A History of the United States Since 1974

“Benjamin Rolsky intends to prod and provoke, and he does so through his sophisticated analysis of the effect of Lear’s work. This is a strong, important, and innovative work. The framing of Lear within the ‘politics of religious liberalism,’ the explanation of the creation and workings of a mainstream Protestantism that saw itself as a sort of caretaker of the nation, and the challenging and intellectually complex thesis pursued here all highly recommend this as an important work that should draw attention, discussion, and debate.”—Paul Harvey, author of Christianity and Race in the American South: A History

“For some who have taken a hiatus from politics and religion, The Rise and Fall of the Religious Left Politics, Television, and Popular Culture in the 1970s and Beyond by L. Benjamin Rolsky is a must read; a companion to the inevitable upheaval that is on the horizon. If there is one political book that you should read in 2020…it’s this one.”—Eraina Davis, Chicago Now

For more information on the publication, 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 of “On the Lived Theology Reading List,” click here. To engage in the conversation on Facebook and Twitter, @LivedTheology, please use #LivedTheologyReads. For more recommended resources from our fellow travelers, click here, #PLTfellowtravelers. To sign up for the Lived Theology monthly newsletter, click here.

An Exploration of a Groundbreaking Man

The Oxford Handbook of Dietrich Bonhoeffer is an invaluable resource for those wishing to learn more about the German theologian, pastor, and resistance conspirator Dietrich Bonhoeffer and his writings. He made many contributions to different areas of theology in his lifetime, and this book helps to categorize them while also discussing the benefits and drawback of each.

The book is divided into five sections: 1) a biography, 2) a discussion of Bonhoeffer’s theology, 3) a discussion of his ethics, 4) applications of his theory in modern life, and 5) essays on resources for the contemporary study of Bonhoeffer. Each section is not just a description, but an in-depth exploration of his philosophy and his life. Featuring contributions from leading Bonhoeffer scholars, historians, theologians, and ethicists, this book surveys, assesses, and presents the field of research and debates of Bonhoeffer and his legacy, as well as of previous Bonhoeffer scholarship.

For more information on the publication, click here.

A full list of contributors includes: Victoria J. Barnett, Keith Clements, John de Gruchy, Michael P. DeJonge, Gary Dorrien, Peter Frick, Clifford Green, Tom Greggs, Barry Harvey, Stephen R. Haynes, Stefan Heuser, Matthew D. Hockenos, Christopher R. J. Holmes, Matthew D. Kirkpatrick, Mark Knight, Nico Koopman, Mark Lindsay, David J. Lose, Robin Lovin, Gerald McKenny, Jennifer M. McBride, Michael Mawson, Rachel Muers, Andreas Pangritz, Stephen J. Plant, Matthew Puffer, Christiane Tietz, Hans G. Ulrich, Reggie Williams, Ralf Wustenberg, Philip G. Ziegler, Jens Zimmermann.

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 of “On the Lived Theology Reading List,” click here. To engage in the conversation on Facebook and Twitter, @LivedTheology, please use #LivedTheologyReads. For more recommended resources from our fellow travelers, click here, #PLTfellowtravelers. To sign up for the Lived Theology monthly newsletter, click here.