Occupy Religion: Theology of the Multitude

by Joerg Rieger, Kwok Pui-Lan

Occupy Religion introduces readers to the growing role of religion in the Occupy Movement and asks provocative questions about how people of faith can work for social justice. From the temperance movement to the Civil Rights movement, churches have played key roles in important social movements, and Occupy Religion shows this role is no less critical today.

Genres: Religion, Theology, Christianity, Justice

164 pages, Hardcover

First published September 20, 2012

About the author

Joerg Rieger is Wendland-Cook Professor of Constructive Theology at Perkins School of Theology, Southern Methodist University, Dallas.

Reviews

[Drick · Rating 3 out of 5]

With the 2011 Occupy Wall Street (OWS) as a background, Rieger develops a liberation theology of the multitude. He draws on South American liberation , Asian Minjung, feminist and queer theologies, as well as Karl Barth to describe a God of the multitude (the 99%) over against a theology of the elite (the 1%). At times his treatment seemed trite and overly romantic, but in the midst he makes some interesting points...

- the concept of deep solidarity - seeing a commmon fate with those much different than oneself
- God's otherness over against the triumphal view of God in mainline religion
- the non-hierarchical nature of Jesus' view of power and authority
- the way in which Christians can and must interact with people of other faiths
- the need for new structures of church beyond traditional and emergent models.

While OWS seems to have faded from view, if one sees that movement as part of a larger movement against global neoliberal capitalism, there is much to be gained and gleaned from this book

[Katrinka · Rating 3 out of 5]

Needed, yes-- but the book amounts to a new packaging of the same assertions that have been circulating for a while now re: "updating" theology/Christianity.

[John Lussier · Rating 3 out of 5]

What does Christianity have to say about greed? Capitalism? Hierarchies? Is Christianity a religion of the masses and for them? How does the mass represent God?