Joerg Michael Rieger (born 1963) is a German and American professor of
Christian theology
Christian theology is the theology – the systematic study of the divine and religion – of Christianity, Christian belief and practice. It concentrates primarily upon the texts of the Old Testament and of the New Testament, as well as on Ch ...
whose work emphasizes
economic justice
Economic justice is a component of social justice and welfare economics. It is a set of moral and ethical principles for building economic institutions, where the ultimate goal is to create an opportunity for each person to establish a sufficie ...
and
political movements
A political movement is a collective attempt by a group of people to change government policy or social values. Political movements are usually in opposition to an element of the status quo, and are often associated with a certain ideology. Some t ...
. Rieger is also an ordained minister of the
United Methodist Church
The United Methodist Church (UMC) is a worldwide mainline Protestant Christian denomination, denomination based in the United States, and a major part of Methodism. In the 19th century, its main predecessor, the Methodist Episcopal Church, was ...
.
Life and career
Born on August 3, 1963, Rieger is
Cal Turner Chancellor's Chair in Wesleyan Studies and Distinguished Professor of Theology at the Divinity School and the Graduate Program of Religion at
Vanderbilt University
Vanderbilt University (informally Vandy or VU) is a private university, private research university in Nashville, Tennessee, United States. Founded in 1873, it was named in honor of shipping and railroad magnate Cornelius Vanderbilt, who provide ...
. Previously he was the Wendland-Cook Endowed Professor of Constructive Theology at
Perkins School of Theology
Perkins School of Theology is one of Southern Methodist University's three original schools and is located in Dallas, Texas. The theology school was renamed in 1945 to honor benefactors Joe J. and Lois Craddock Perkins of Wichita Falls, Texas. De ...
,
Southern Methodist University
Southern Methodist University (SMU) is a Private university, private research university in Dallas, Texas, United States, with a satellite campus in Taos County, New Mexico. SMU was founded on April 17, 1911, by the Methodist Episcopal Church, ...
. He received a
Master of Divinity
For graduate-level theological institutions, the Master of Divinity (MDiv, ''magister divinitatis'' in Latin) is the first professional degree of the pastoral profession in North America. It is the most common academic degree in seminaries and ...
degree from the , Germany, a
Master of Theology
Master of Theology (, abbreviated ThM, MTh or MTheol, or ''Sacrae Theologiae Magister''; abbreviated STM) is a post-graduate degree offered by universities, divinity schools, and seminaries. It can serve as a transition degree for entrance into a ...
degree from
Duke Divinity School, and a
Doctor of Philosophy
A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, DPhil; or ) is a terminal degree that usually denotes the highest level of academic achievement in a given discipline and is awarded following a course of Postgraduate education, graduate study and original resear ...
degree in religion and ethics from
Duke University
Duke University is a Private university, private research university in Durham, North Carolina, United States. Founded by Methodists and Quakers in the present-day city of Trinity, North Carolina, Trinity in 1838, the school moved to Durham in 1 ...
.
Rieger is the author and editor of more than 20 books and over 135 academic articles, which have been translated into Portuguese, Spanish, Italian, German, Korean, and Chinese.
Rieger is editor of the academic book series New Approaches to Religion and Power with Palgrave Macmillan Publishers and, together with
Kwok Pui-lan
Kwok Pui-lan (, born 1952) is a Hong Kong-born feminist theologian known for her work on Asian feminist theology and postcolonial theology.
Academic life and career
Kwok was born in Hong Kong to Chinese parents who practiced Chinese folk relig ...
, he edits the academic book series Religion in the Modern World (Rowman and Littlefield).
Rieger has lectured throughout the United States as well as internationally, including presentations in Argentina, Brazil, Costa Rica, Mexico, Canada, South Africa, Zimbabwe, Germany, Switzerland, Austria, Slovakia, the Netherlands, Belgium, England, Russia, Thailand, and China.
Ideas
Rieger is an activist
constructive theologian in the tradition of
liberation theology. Robert Wafawanaka has referred to Rieger as an "Occupy theologian" because he endorses the views of the
Occupy movement
The Occupy movement was an international populist Social movement, socio-political movement that expressed opposition to Social equality, social and economic inequality and to the perceived lack of real democracy around the world. It aimed primar ...
and shares its ethos. Rieger understands theology as functioning to support or transform reality, especially historical and contemporary economic systems. His work focuses on
economic class and
empire
An empire is a political unit made up of several territories, military outpost (military), outposts, and peoples, "usually created by conquest, and divided between a hegemony, dominant center and subordinate peripheries". The center of the ...
. In politics, Rieger argues that
religion and politics
Religion is a range of social- cultural systems, including designated behaviors and practices, morals, beliefs, worldviews, texts, sanctified places, prophecies, ethics, or organizations, that generally relate humanity to supernatural, ...
cannot easily be separated.
Rieger describes his work as an effort to bring theology and contemporary liberation movements together. His work addresses the relation of theology and public life, reflecting on the misuse of power in religion, politics, and economics. His main interest is in developments and movements that bring about change and in the positive contributions of religion and theology. His work in theology draws on a wide range of historical and contemporary traditions, with a concern for manifestations of the divine in the pressures of everyday life.
Rieger advocates for a materialistic spirituality centered on working to improve the material conditions of the marginalized. He believes current economic systems are incompatible with the
biblical conception of God. Rieger has described economic ideologies as religions, and asserts that people typically assent to them as a matter of blind faith, not empirical evidence. He renounces the perceived hegemony of free market ideology offering Christian theology as an alternative.
Rieger's criticizes the currently dominant economic system especially for increasing global
economic inequality, and also for poverty, distorting of the way people and their work are valued, and limiting control people have over their lives. As a response to economic injustice, Rieger promotes solidarity with those negatively impacted by current economic processes and encourages Christians to modify economic systems to promote the wellbeing of everyone.
Rieger and Kwok Pui-lan coined the notion of ''deep solidarity'', which is a recognition that the community as a whole is harmed by the unjust system, not just a particular group to be
paternalistically supported from a place of superiority or distance. Within this framework, the presence of college-educated individuals participating in the Occupy movement is not lack of authenticity in their appeal for economic justice, but rather an achievement in helping a broader portion of the public identify themselves as oppressed and able to see inequality as a threat to society as whole.
Published works
Books authored
* ''Theology in the Capitalocene. Ecology, Identity, Class, and Solidarity''. Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 2022
* ''Jesus vs. Caesar: For People Tired of Serving the Wrong God''. Nashville: Abingdon Press, 2018.
*''No Religion but Social Religion: Liberating Wesleyan Theology''. With Contributions by Paulo Ayres Mattos, Helmut Renders, and José Carlos de Souza. Nashville: GBHEM, 2018.
* ''Unified We Are a Force: How Faith and Labor Can Overcome America’s Inequalities''. With Rosemarie Henkel-Rieger. Saint Louis, Mo.: Chalice Press, 2016.
* ''Faith on the Road: A Short Theology of Travel and Justice.'' Downers Grove, Ill.: InterVarsity Press, 2015.
* ''Graça libertadora: como o metodismo pode se envolver no século vinte e um.'' (''Liberating Grace: How Methodism Can Engage the Twenty-First Century.'') With additional contributions by Helmut Renders, José Carlos de Souza, and Paulo Ayres Mattos. Portuguese only, translated from the English by Elizangela A. Soares. São Bernardo do Campo, SP: Editeo, 2015.
* Chinese Translation (transl. by Jenny Wong Yan). Hong Kong: Chinese Christian Literature Council, 2015.
* ''Traveling: Christian Explorations of Daily Living''. Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 2011. Portuguese translation: Fé e viagens no mundo globalizado (transl. by José Raimundo Vidigal). São Paulo: Editora Paulus, 2014. Chinese Translation (transl. by Jane Ng). Hong Kong: Chinese Christian Literature Council, 2014. Korean Translation. Seoul: Poiema, an imprint of Gimm-Young Publishers, 2015.
* Portuguese translation: Graça sob Pressão: Negociando o Coração das Tradições Metodistas (transl. by Felipe Maia). São Bernardo do Campo: Editeo, 2012. Spanish translation: Gracia bajo presión (transl. by Alejandro Alfaro-Santi). Buenos Aires: Ediciones La Aurora, 2016.
* Italian translation: Globalizzazione e Teologia (transl. by Andrea Aguti). Preface by Rosino Gibellini. Brescia: Editrice Queriniana, 2015.
* Spanish Translation: La religion del Mercado: Una aproximación crítica a la acumulación y la probreza (transl. and ed. by Néstor Míguez). Buenos Aires: Ediciones La Aurora, 2016.
* ''Beyond the Spirit of Empire: Theology and Politics in a New Key.'' Reclaiming Liberation Theology Series. Co-authored with Néstor Míguez and Jung Mo Sung. London: SCM Press, 2009. Portuguese translation: Para além do espírito do Império: Novas perspectivas em política e religião (transl. by Gilmar Saint’ Clair Ribeiro and Barbara T. Lambert). São Paulo: Paulinas, 2012. Spanish translation: Más allá del espiritu imperial: Nuevas perspectivas en política y religión (transl. by Nicolás Panotto and Néstor Míguez). Prologo de F. Hinkelammert. Buenos Aires: Ediciones La Aurora, 2016.
* German translation: Christus und das Imperium: Von Paulus bis zum Postkolonialismus (transl. by Sabine Plonz). Berlin: Lit Verlag, 2009.Portuguese translation: Cristo e Império: de Paulo aos tempos pós-coloniais, Coleção Bíblia e Sociologia (transl. by Luiz Alexandre Solano Rossi). São Paulo: Editora Paulus, 2009.
*
* Portuguese translation: Lembrar-se dos Pobres: o desafio da teologia no século XXI (transl. by Thiago Gambi). São Paulo: Edições Loyola, 2009.
Books edited
* ''Religious Experience and New Materialism: Movements Matter.'' Co-editor with Edward Waggoner. Radical Theologies Series. New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2015.
*
* ''Across Borders: Latin Perspectives in the Americas Reshaping Religion, Theology, and Life.'' Editor. Lanham, MD: Lexington Books, 2013.
* ''Empire and the Christian Tradition: New Readings of Classical Theologians.'' Co-editor, with
Don Compier and
Kwok Pui Lan. Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 2007.
* ''Encyclopedia of Activism and Social Justice. Associate Editor.'' Thousand Oaks, Calif.: Sage Publications, 2007.
* ''Opting for the Margins: Postmodernity and Liberation in Christian Theology.'' American Academy of Religion, Reflection and Theory in the Study of Religion Series. Editor. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2003.
* ''Methodist and Radical: Rejuvenating a Tradition.'' Co-editor with John Vincent. Nashville: Kingswood Books, 2003.
* ''Theology from the Belly of the Whale: A Frederick Herzog Reader.'' Editor. Harrisburg: Trinity Press International, 1999.
* ''Liberating the Future: God, Mammon, and Theology.'' Editor. Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 1998.
See also
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Christianity and politics
The relationship between Christianity and politics is a historically complex subject and a frequent source of disagreement throughout the history of Christianity, as well as in modern politics between the Christian right and Christian left. The ...
Notes
References
Bibliography
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External links
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Faculty biographyat Vanderbilt Divinity School
{{DEFAULTSORT:Rieger, Joerg
1963 births
21st-century German Protestant theologians
21st-century American Methodist ministers
Christian socialist theologians
Duke Divinity School alumni
German Christian socialists
German Methodist ministers
Liberation theologians
Living people
Methodist socialists
Methodist theologians
Southern Methodist University faculty
United Methodist clergy
Vanderbilt University faculty