On the Lived Theology Reading List: The Rebels Clinic

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As a psychiatrist shaped by World War II and later a revolutionary thinker against colonialism, Frantz Fanon became an influential intellectual whose work emerged from the tensions of his historical moment. His works, Black Skin, White Masks and The Wretched of the Earth, explore the psychological damage produced by colonialism and racism. This emphasis on psychological injury is central to Adam Shatz’s analysis in The Rebel’s Clinic. By focusing on Fanon’s thought, Shatz presents the revolutionary as a figure shaped by both the consequences and the moral ambiguity of violence.

Shatz begins by describing Fanon’s work as a psychiatrist in colonial Algeria, where Fanon came to understand colonialism itself as the illness requiring treatment. Drawing on the work of Aimé Césaire, whose poetic language influenced Fanon’s writing, Shatz shows how colonialism deforms both the colonized and the colonizer. Incorporating other revolutionary thinkers, Shatz frames revolution not simply as violence, but as a response to structural injustice, whose moral complexity does not erase the conditions that produced it. Revolutionary violence, while never absolved of ethical ambiguity, is presented as historically intelligible within systems already sustained by colonial violence.

Fanon’s legacy, as Shatz presents it, reckons not only with the repercussions of colonialism but with resistance and rebellion as diagnostic responses to political disorder. In this sense, the “rebel’s clinic” names an ongoing effort to confront and treat the injustices embedded in the modern world.

Adam Shatz is a visiting professor at Bard College, US editor of the London Review of Books. In addition to his current work, he has authored the following: “Prophets Outcast: A Century of Dissident Jewish Writing about Zionism and Israel”, and “Writers and Missionaries: Essays on the Radical Imagination”

Reviews and Endorsements of this Publication include the following:

“Nimble and engrossing . . . [An] exemplary work of public intellectualism.”

–Becca Rothfeld, The Washington Post

“Undoubtedly the best [biography of Fanon] . . . A remarkable achievement.”

–Robert J. C. Young, Los Angeles Review of Books

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On the Lived Theology Reading List: Commonwealth of Hope

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Augustine’s Political Thought

In The City of God, Augustine of Hippo posits that political order cannot fulfill the deepest longings of humanity. Modern society has given politics an inflated hope, only to be disappointed when its promises fall short of these misunderstood expectations. By reframing politics around hope, Michael Lamb uses Augustine’s theology to reframe politics toward a commonwealth. Here, the limitations of politics are understood, but ideas of justice and peace remain paramount.

Lamb begins by introducing the problem in the current political climate, where people have a misunderstood notion of what politics can do, ultimately leading to disappointment. He then turns to Augustine’s theology, where politics is penultimate to justice or peace, thus making it fragile but morally significant. In response to the pitfalls of the political system, Lamb presents hope as a discipline that sustains moral action despite uncertainty rather than a guarantee of success. Here, Lamb introduces the “commonwealth”: a shared community shaped by compromise and a central aim toward justice and morality as the framework for politics. Rooted in democratic life, the “commonwealth” enacts slow positive change without assuming inevitable progress, sustaining hope for ultimate justice and peace beyond politics itself. Overall, Lamb reorients political thought through Augustinian theology toward a more human-centered and justice-oriented framework rooted in shared hope rather than optimism.

Michael Lamb is an associate fellow for the Oxford Character Project and an associate professor at Wake Forest University. earned his B.A. in philosophy and theology from the University of Oxford, and PhD at Princeton University. In addition to the current work, he has co-edited the following publications: “The Arts of Leading,” “Cultivating Virtue in the University,” and “Everyday Ethics: Moral Theology and the Practices of Ordinary Life.”

Reviews and Endorsements of this publication include the following:

“Michael Lamb’s magisterial book gives us an Augustine we so badly need: a great prisoner of hope who resists presumption and despair. Drawing on meticulous scholarship and a creative philosophical analysis of the inimitable African church father, Lamb makes a powerful and compelling case that in our bleak times (much like his) Augustine provides wise encouragement for an active citizenship tempered by humility and mature piety.”
—Cornel West, Union Theological Seminary

“[Lamb] introduces his readers to another Augustine. This Augustine was not a pessimist but a champion of hope. He encouraged his hearers to hope for the well-being of the city. And he possessed an expansive vision of Christians and non-Christians working together to improve their lives on earth.”
—Aaron Alexander Zubia, Wall Street Journal

“A fascinating revisionist view of the political thought of St. Augustine. Contrary to a popular perception of Augustine as an otherworldly thinker who accents ‘darkness and pessimism,’ Lamb sketches a persuasive portrait of a thinker who ‘encourages a realistic hope for a better form of community not only in heaven but on earth.’”
—E. J. Dionne, Washington Post

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“Climate Disruption, Religious Anxiety, and the Tenacity of Hope” with Professor Larry Rasmussen

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In his virtual presentation on December 2, 2025, Professor Larry Rasmussen reflected on the emotional and ethical challenges of climate crisis and ecological distress, weaving together personal stories, theological insight, and social-ethical analysis. He began with an anecdote about his young grandson’s early awareness of mortality, illustrating how existential dread emerges naturally yet does not define us, and that humans move between fear and resilience. Rasmussen then recalled theologian Dorothee Soelle’s reminder that many people “don’t have the luxury of despair,” noting that while some communities struggle simply to survive, students and scholars have the privilege, and responsibility, to reflect on climate anxiety and moral change.

Central to Rasmussen’s message was the theme of community, which he described as the grounding force throughout his career and a key remedy for ecological dread. Drawing from his experience in the Community of Christ in Washington, D.C., he emphasized that belonging and shared life give people the strength to face uncertainty.

He then outlined five essential elements for responding to climate anxiety in the Anthropocene:

  1. Warning and Survival: climate scientists as modern prophets calling attention to ecological crisis.
  2. Alternative Visions: imagining new ways of living beyond destructive patterns.
  3. Embodiment – turning visions into concrete practices and sustainable habits.
  4. Structural Change: recognizing that laws and institutions must reinforce just behavior, often preceding attitude change.
  5. Friendship and Celebration: sustaining hope and moral courage through joy and connection

Rasmussen concluded by distinguishing between “Holocene generations,” who grew up with climate stability, and today’s “Anthropocene children,” who inherit a more volatile world. Addressing ecological anxiety, he argued, requires not just knowledge but community, imagination, and collective action.

Watch the event here

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.

On the Lived Theology Reading List: Heidegger in Ruins

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Between Philosophy and Ideology

One of the most influential philosophers of the twentieth century, Martin Heidegger remains deeply controversial for his sustained nationalist and antisemitic commitments before and after World War II. Much like contemporary debates over separating an artist’s work from their personal beliefs, Richard Wolin reexamines Heidegger’s philosophy by situating it firmly within its ideological and historical context.

By focusing on Heidegger’s postwar writings and conduct, Wolin criticizes his prolonged silence on the crimes of Nazism as a deliberate evasion of moral and political responsibility. This evasion is made explicit through Heidegger’s Black Notebooks, which reveal his continued antisemitism and commitment to National Socialist ideas of German and Jewish identity. Wolin argues that Heidegger purposely hid his ideology through silence and omission. For example, by removing incriminating passages or the mistranslation of his work to a more universal language, Heidegger has evaded criticism, consequently revealing a sanitized and misleading overview of his ideology. As philosophy cannot be taught without a moral accountability, Wolin reframes Heidegger’s writings of large abstract philosophical constructs as mechanisms to avoid ethical responsibility for his beliefs.

Reviews and Endorsements of this publication include the following:

“Combines close readings of Heidegger’s key writings with a rich cultural, literary and political history. . . . Wolin’s evidence-based work is its own riposte to the ludic mythomania of the philosopher’s political fanboys.”

—Lyndsey Stonebridge, New Statesman

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On the Lived Theology Reading List: Preparing for War

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The Extremist History of White Christian Nationalism and What Comes Next

To many, watching the January 6th insurrection unfold was both jarring and unthinkable; however, for Brad Onishi, it was the logical outcome of long-standing tensions within Christian nationalism. As a former conservative evangelical, his horror was two-fold: one response shared with most Americans, and another shaped by the unsettling question of whether he himself might have been present had he continued in his former faith. In Preparing for War, Onishi traces the history of Christian nationalism and its buildup to the Capitol riot, drawing on his personal story to illuminate the emotional and cultural pull of this ideology.

By situating January 6 within its broader historical context, Onishi begins by humanizing those in the movement through reflections on his own past. Converted to evangelicalism at fourteen and serving as a youth pastor in a megachurch in his early twenties, he was deeply embedded in a Christian nationalist worldview before leaving Christianity during his graduate studies at Oxford. For Onishi, the roots of Christian nationalism are not only culturally significant but personally revealing, emerging from grievances held by white nostalgic Christians. The coalition built in the 1970s on these racial and cultural anxieties—fortified by purity culture and political organizing—transformed this sentiment into a powerful movement. As politics took on an increasingly ritualistic and identity-defining role, the Obama presidency intensified fears within the movement, setting the stage for January 6 as the culmination of decades of escalating tension.

Onishi concludes with a call to action: without a renewed commitment to democratic plurality, Christian nationalism will not fade but reorganize, continuing to shape and destabilize American culture. Overall, Onishi elicits that reckoning with Christian nationalism’s past is a necessary step towards safeguarding America’s future.

Reviews and Endorsements of this Publication include the following:

“In this compelling and scholarly mix of memoir and cultural and political history, Onishi brings to bear his experience as a former Christian nationalist movement insider to expose the radicalism behind the January 6th insurrection. Gripping and essential reading for anyone who wants to understand the threat that this movement poses to American democracy.” 

– Katherine Stewart, Author of The Power Worshippers: Inside the Dangerous World of Religious Nationalism

“In Preparing for War, Bradley Onishi traces the history of White Christian Nationalism from the John Birch Society to the Big Lie and the January 6 terrorist assault on the U.S. Capitol, a narrative enlivened by the author’s own occasional intersections with the movement. This is an excellent and important book, both chilling and prophetic.” 

– Randall Balmer, Professor of Religion at Dartmouth College and Author of Bad Faith: Race and the Rise of the Religious Right

“Onishi takes us on a sweeping yet personal journey through modern American religious and political history to understand the violent, extremist strains of white Christian America that led to the January 6th insurrection. With insight from hundreds of interviews, deep scholarship, and his own escape from white Christian Nationalism, Onishi’s Preparing for War is a clear account of what happened and clarion warning about what is coming. Compelling and timely.” 

– Andrew Seidel, Constitutional Lawyer at Americans United and author of American Crusade: How the Supreme Court Is Weaponizing Religious Freedom 

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On the Lived Theology Reading List: The Emancipation of God

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Postmarks on Cultural Prophecy

“There is no longer Jew or Greek,
There is no longer slave or free,
There is no longer male or female,
for all of you are one in Christ” (Galatians 3:28).

In modern times, Scripture is meant to be read interpretively. One of the longest-standing debates in religion is homosexuality—one that, depending on where you look in the Bible, is either shamed or accepted through God’s love of all His creations. The text from Paul above is one example of God’s boundless nature and a theme of Walter Brueggemann’s essay collection. By freeing readers from literal interpretations of the Bible, interpretation liberates not only individuals but also their communities as a whole.

Organized into three parts and 26 essays, Brueggemann composes his work to elicit the freedom of God, the church, and the neighborhood. To start, he offers an interpretive system of reading the Bible whereby we pick and choose texts based on our vested interests, fears, and hurts; rooting readers within this lens allows him to urge an individual relationship with Scripture and away from religious establishments that claim to hold a singular “truth.” Reading the Bible in this way ultimately guides readers toward a humanitarian and universal outlook, including environmentalism, political crisis, and inclusiveness.

While Brueggemann encourages a personal relationship with the Bible, the church offers a communal outlet that embraces vulnerability and diversity. In the second part of his collection, his essays focus on the aim of churches as community leaders pursuing diversity and inclusion, and how corrupt establishments within the church have diluted this message.

Concluding with the individual responsibility of Christians to advocate for the disadvantaged within their community and the church as a whole, Brueggemann liberates God from the constraints of institutional interpretation and guides readers toward an individual reading of the Bible in line with Paul’s text, whereby differences are unified by God’s universal love.

Reviews and Endorsements of this Publication include the following:

“This collection is a rare gift for all interpreters and proclaimers of biblical texts for church and culture. Walter Brueggemann continues to be the most significant biblical theologian speaking to church and culture in our day. The Emancipation of God gives us all the revealing opportunity to see him at work; he clearly identifies his method and then illustrates it immediately in the first essay on the debate over the Bible and human sexuality. Brueggemann regularly shows tensions in biblical texts and how he navigates those tensions. In three parts he mingles pieces on the emancipation of God, the church, and the neighborhood. Don’t miss this jewel of delightful and remarkably crafted biblical interpretations.”

—H. Bellinger Jr., professor Emeritus of Religion, Baylor University

“Newer approaches to biblical interpretation can address the multiple (and sometimes contradictory) biblical traditions, the significance of different communities of readers and their respective histories and contexts, interdisciplinary insights, and the theological implications of our interpretations, among other things. It is a daunting task, but in The Emancipation of God: Postmarks on Cultural Prophecy, Walter Brueggemann uses these specific approaches to offer new insights on the Bible and its meaning for a life of faith amid today’s seemingly intractable divisions. This book is an important resource that will serve us well.”

—Cheryl B. Anderson, professor emerita of Old Testament, Garrett–Evangelical Theological Seminary

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On the Lived Theology Reading List: American Apocalypse

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A History of Modern Evangelicism

The imminent end of the world has a longstanding history of bringing out the worst in people. From Y2K to the COVID-19 toilet paper debacle, viewing the world as racing toward catastrophe changes not only people’s behavior but also their politics, media consumption, and institution-building. In evangelicalism, premillennialism builds on this sense of urgency through its focus on Christ’s imminent return and the end of the world. Sutton argues that modern evangelicalism is fundamentally rooted in this apocalyptic and prophetic mindset, which has shaped evangelical identity, purpose, and activism.

Sutton begins in the late 1800s with William Blackstone, whose teachings about the end of the world and Christ’s immediate return became central to evangelical identity. Throughout subsequent eras—World War II nationalism, the rise of fundamentalism, Cold War anti-communism, and the cultural upheaval of the 1960s civil rights movement and Vietnam War—apocalyptic themes consistently reappear. According to Sutton, each new crisis strengthens “end-times” thinking among both evangelicals and the broader American public.

Overall, Sutton offers compelling arguments for the pervasive influence of apocalyptic language and attitudes in shaping not only evangelicalism but American culture more broadly.

Matthew Avery Sutton is a distinguished professor and chair of the Department of History at Washington State University. In addition to his current work, his other notable publications include Chosen Land: How Christianity Made America and Americans Remade Christianity and Double Crossed: The Missionaries Who Spied for the United States During the Second World War.

Reviews and Endorsements of this publication include the following:

“The history Sutton assembles is rich, and the connections are startling.”
―New Yorker

“American Apocalypse relentlessly and impressively shows how evangelicals have interpreted almost every domestic or international crisis in relation to Christ’s return and his judgment upon the wicked…Sutton sees one of the most troubling aspects of evangelical influence in the spread of the apocalyptic outlook among Republican politicians with the rise of the Religious Right…American Apocalypse clearly shows just how popular evangelical apocalypticism has been and, during the Cold War, how the combination of odd belief and political power could produce a sleepless night or two.”
―D. G. Hart, Wall Street Journal

“American Apocalypse is the best history of American evangelicalism I’ve read in some time…If you want to understand why compromise has become a dirty word in the GOP today and how cultural politics is splitting the nation apart, American Apocalypse is an excellent place to start.”
―Stephen Prothero, Bookforum

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On the Lived Theology Reading List: Complete London Writings

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Meditations on the Goodness and Mercy of God

From despair to faith, Johann Georg Hamann’s encounter with the Bible in 1758 London reveals the transformative power of Scripture. Destitute and despondent, Hamann took up the Bible and experienced a profound conversion. Drawn from his journal, The Complete London Writings—newly translated by John W. Kleinig—collects Hamann’s interpretations, meditations, and reflections written during this decisive period of renewal.

Offering the first complete English translation of these writings, the volume illuminates the origins of Hamann’s distinctive philosophical faith: the conviction that all human reason is grounded in God’s Word, and that language and revelation are inseparable. For Hamann, Scripture is a living Word meant to be read spiritually rather than rationally. Through his own biography—his fall into hubris and material need, and his restoration through divine grace—he demonstrates the revelatory power of the Bible.

Overall, The Complete London Writings provides a comprehensive presentation of the texts that form the foundation of Hamann’s later thought. Rooted in autobiographical confession, they unveil both the transforming power of the Word and Hamann’s emergence into a new vocation as a thinker of faith.

Johann Georg Hamann (1730–1788) was a German Lutheran thinker whose reflections on faith, reason, and human complexity offered a sharp critique of Enlightenment rationalism and later shaped post-Kantian philosophy.

John W. Kleinig received his phD from the University of Cambridge, is a former lecturer at Australian Lutheran College, and an ordained pastor in the Lutheran Church of Australia. In addition to his current work, he is the author of the following: Wonderfully Made: A Protestant Theology of the Body.

Reviews and Endorsements of this publication include the following:

“Reading the reflections of Christians from the past is an excellent way to strengthen us in times of doubt and uncertainty. Hamann’s reflections on Scripture, God’s grace in Christ, and the church’s hymnody offer readers a wonderful way to think deeply upon the truths of Scripture.”

—J. V. Fesko, Reformed Theological Seminary, Jackson, Mississippi

“Hamann offers resources for engaging both rationalists and ‘spiritual but not religious’ outlooks today. This expert translation of his London Writings gives us access to the piety that inspired Hamann’s innovative philosophical and hermeneutical labors.”

–Michael S. Horton, Westminster Seminary California

“This wonderful translation of Hamann’s London Writing exposes readers to a central theme of his life: the passionate encounter with the word that reads us and our world. Here we see Hamann captivated by the perplexing simplicity of God’s word, modeling true enlightenment that sees through a glass darkly.”

–Tyler Wittman, New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary

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On The Lived Theology Reading List: Shame

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Theory, Therapy, Theology

Christian theologian Thomas Aquinas regards shame as a positive signal towards virtue development, with moral puritanists such as John Locke likewise considering it an essential component of moral character. While acknowledging this positive assessment, Stephen Pattison focuses his work on the dysfunctional and chronic shame prevalent in religion and pervading society. For him, the relationship between shame and morality is negative, with traumatic personal experiences deeply tainting one’s psyche. Drawing from his personal experience, he emphasizes the importance of community in both perpetuating and healing shame.

Pattison begins by acknowledging the positive role of shame that previous theologians argued. He then structures his work into three parts: approaching shame, encountering shame, and exploring shame in Christianity. Focusing on chronic shame, he defines it as a condition of “polluting, defiling unwantedness that alienates people and groups from themselves and from society” (186). The destructive connotation of “polluting” underscores the deeply disturbing and elusive nature of shame. It is rarely investigated apart from guilt or purely individual psychological processes. Rather, shame is situated within a network of relational, social, and cultural dynamics, with chronic shame becoming a persistent and self-effacing condition.

Christianity acts as an inadvertent instigator of chronic shame, yet also offers the opportunity for reform, since the same community that creates shame can repair it. The Christian tradition maintains a complex relationship with shame, both within the Bible and in the expectations projected onto christians. Since this conversation ultimately concerns the reconciling work of God, healing can be pursued through an emphasis on acceptance, belonging, and restoration. Overall, Pattison concludes by encouraging readers to seek communities in which shame is openly addressed and transformed through practices of healing and acceptance.

Stephen Pattinson is a professor of theology and Religion at Emeritus University. Specializing in the relationship between beliefs and values both in and outside standard religions, some of his other works include the following: “Seeing Things: Deepening Relations with Visual Artefacts”(2007), “Saving Face: Enfacement, shame, theology” (2013), and “The Challenge of Practical Theology: Selected Essays” (2007).

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On the Theology Reading List: Spirit and Trauma

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A Theology of Remaining

From the reading. . .

“I think if the devil doesn’t exist, but man has created him, he has created him in his own image and likeness.”
— Fyodor Dostoevsky, The Brothers Karamazov

In The Brothers Karamazov, Dostoevsky wrestles with the problem of evil and asks: How does faith account for the suffering of innocents? In a similar way, Rambo seeks to address this question through the lens of Holy Saturday, defined as the space between death and resurrection. For her, this in-between moment becomes a contemplative space of tension, silence, and absence that mirrors the experience of trauma. Because trauma touches every aspect of human life, this space offers comfort and solidarity in the shared realities of life and death.

Rambo grounds her work in the question: How can theology speak meaningfully about trauma when life continues amid devastation? Drawing on survivor testimonies from Hurricane Katrina, she presents trauma as an ever-present and persistent past, where time is fractured for those who have endured it. Within this disruption, theology finds its place. Holy Saturday is not an empty interval but a sacred space that reveals the texture of trauma . Through examples from scripture, Rambo shows how the biblical narrative acknowledges trauma as ongoing and multifaceted. To remain present in the midst of such pain, she argues, is a fundamental act of love. The community’s role is not to fix or repair, but to accompany and bear witness. Ultimately, Rambo’s work is a profound reflection on the power of presence — a theology of remaining with those who suffer.

Shelly Rambo is a Professor of Theology at Boston University School of Theology. In addition to her current work, she is the author of the following work: “Resurrecting Wounds: Living in the Afterlife of Trauma.”

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