Member Login
BECOME A MEMBER

Theology for Troublemakers

Placeholder


COURSE OVERVIEW
Christian social ethics and progressive Christianity need to return to their roots – namely, to the social and liberative movements that gave birth to the field of social ethics. The injustices we face today are immense—but they are not unique. Previous generations confronted similar challenges, yet we cannot simply get out of our current crises by mobilizing alone. Today, we need to organize not only people but also ideas. This means equipping ourselves with the best theology and ethics the church has to offer.

This six-week course explores key figures and movements that organized to confront the challenges of their day. From the Social Gospel movement to Black Power theology, from democratic socialism to welfare rights activism, we’ll examine how theologians and organizers built power, challenged injustice, and transformed both church and society.

Led by renowned theologian Gary Dorrien and Aaron Stauffer, with live conversations hosted by Tripp Fuller, this course will resource you with the theological and ethical frameworks needed for faithful action today. Guest lecturers will introduce diverse voices on how congregations and Christians can more deeply live into their faith commitments.


ABOUT THE INSTRUCTORS
Dr. Tripp Fuller is the founder and host of the #1 theology podcast, Homebrewed Christianity. As an author, speaker, podcaster, and professional theologian he is committed to bringing the best resources from the academy to the church so we can brew a more robust faith today.

Aaron Stauffer is the Associate Presbyter for Congregational Vitality at Heartland Presbytery, and is an ordained Teaching Elder in the PC(USA), and was most recently was the associate director of the Wendland-Cook Program in Religion and Justice at Vanderbilt Divinity School. Previously, he was the Executive Director and then Special Advisor of Religions for Peace USA, where he helped launch a national anti-Islamophobia program based in the southeast, along with organizing national senior religious leaders on issues of common concern such as mass incarceration, immigration and climate change.  Before his doctoral work, Aaron was an organizer with the Industrial Areas Foundation in San Antonio, Tx.

Gary Dorrien is one of the most prolific and influential scholars of liberal theology and Christian social ethics in the world today. He holds the Reinhold Niebuhr Chair in Social Ethics at Union Theological Seminary and is Professor of Religion at Columbia University.
For decades, Dr. Dorrien has been recovering the forgotten history of Christian social ethics—lifting up figures and movements that have been marginalized or ignored. His scholarship doesn’t just describe the past; it resources the present.
This is not history for history’s sake. This is history for the sake of justice.

[lifterlms_course_continue_button]
0%

Week 1

1 – Lecture – Ida B. Wells, Reverdy Ransom, and the Black Social Gospel
Lesson 1 of 2 within section Week 1. You must become a member to access course content.
2 – Livestream – Theology for Troublemakers: the Black Social Gospel
Lesson 2 of 2 within section Week 1. You must become a member to access course content.

Week 2

3 – Lecture – Realism as Christian Ethics: Reinhold Niebuhr
Lesson 1 of 2 within section Week 2. You must become a member to access course content.
4 – Livestream – Niebuhr Was Right (And Wrong) About Everything with Dr. Gary Dorrien
Lesson 2 of 2 within section Week 2. You must become a member to access course content.

Week 3

5 – Lecture – Gary Dorrien on Love Divine and Justice Struggle
Lesson 1 of 2 within section Week 3. You must become a member to access course content.
6 – Livestream – The Crucifix, King, and Hegel — Gary Dorrien’s Theology for Troublemakers
Lesson 2 of 2 within section Week 3. You must become a member to access course content.

Week 4

7 – Lecture – Organizing for Justice: Intersecting Traditions of Struggle
Lesson 1 of 2 within section Week 4. You must become a member to access course content.
8 – Livestream – Sacred Values and Street Power — The Theology of Organizing
Lesson 2 of 2 within section Week 4. You must become a member to access course content.

Week 5

9 – Lecture – Theologizing Black Liberation: James Cone
Lesson 1 of 2 within section Week 5. You must become a member to access course content.
10 – Livestream – Martin Kept Him Christian. Malcolm Kept Him Black: The Legacy of James Cone
Lesson 2 of 2 within section Week 5. You must become a member to access course content.

Week 6

11 – Lecture – Darkly Radiant Struggle, Du Boisian Double-Consciousness, and the Work Your Soul Requires
Lesson 1 of 2 within section Week 6. You must become a member to access course content.
12 – Livestream – After the Voting Rights Act: What Does Faithfulness Demand Now?
Lesson 2 of 2 within section Week 6. You must become a member to access course content.

Guest Interviews

13 – Charlene Sinclair
Lesson 1 of 5 within section Guest Interviews. You must become a member to access course content.
14 – Joe Strife
Lesson 2 of 5 within section Guest Interviews. You must become a member to access course content.
15 – Nicholas Hayes Mota
Lesson 3 of 5 within section Guest Interviews. You must become a member to access course content.
16 – Cynthia Moe Lobeda
Lesson 4 of 5 within section Guest Interviews. You must become a member to access course content.
17 – Colleen Wessel-McCoy and Caroyln Baker
Lesson 5 of 5 within section Guest Interviews. You must become a member to access course content.

Theology for Troublemakers


COURSE OVERVIEW
Christian social ethics and progressive Christianity need to return to their roots – namely, to the social and liberative movements that gave birth to the field of social ethics. The injustices we face today are immense—but they are not unique. Previous generations confronted similar challenges, yet we cannot simply get out of our current crises by mobilizing alone. Today, we need to organize not only people but also ideas. This means equipping ourselves with the best theology and ethics the church has to offer.

This six-week course explores key figures and movements that organized to confront the challenges of their day. From the Social Gospel movement to Black Power theology, from democratic socialism to welfare rights activism, we’ll examine how theologians and organizers built power, challenged injustice, and transformed both church and society.

Led by renowned theologian Gary Dorrien and Aaron Stauffer, with live conversations hosted by Tripp Fuller, this course will resource you with the theological and ethical frameworks needed for faithful action today. Guest lecturers will introduce diverse voices on how congregations and Christians can more deeply live into their faith commitments.


ABOUT THE INSTRUCTORS
Dr. Tripp Fuller is the founder and host of the #1 theology podcast, Homebrewed Christianity. As an author, speaker, podcaster, and professional theologian he is committed to bringing the best resources from the academy to the church so we can brew a more robust faith today.

Aaron Stauffer is the Associate Presbyter for Congregational Vitality at Heartland Presbytery, and is an ordained Teaching Elder in the PC(USA), and was most recently was the associate director of the Wendland-Cook Program in Religion and Justice at Vanderbilt Divinity School. Previously, he was the Executive Director and then Special Advisor of Religions for Peace USA, where he helped launch a national anti-Islamophobia program based in the southeast, along with organizing national senior religious leaders on issues of common concern such as mass incarceration, immigration and climate change.  Before his doctoral work, Aaron was an organizer with the Industrial Areas Foundation in San Antonio, Tx.

Gary Dorrien is one of the most prolific and influential scholars of liberal theology and Christian social ethics in the world today. He holds the Reinhold Niebuhr Chair in Social Ethics at Union Theological Seminary and is Professor of Religion at Columbia University.
For decades, Dr. Dorrien has been recovering the forgotten history of Christian social ethics—lifting up figures and movements that have been marginalized or ignored. His scholarship doesn’t just describe the past; it resources the present.
This is not history for history’s sake. This is history for the sake of justice.