Occupy Religion: Theology of the Multitude

Theology should be conducted in the public square, promoting debates about justice, according to Rieger and Kwok, professors of theology. They provide a comprehensive overview of how faith communities responded to the Occupy movement, with fascinating asides about the faith and spirituality tent in Boston, where Zen Buddhists, Muslims, and Jews held prayers and services. Occupy also strengthened interfaith alliances and dialogue, culminating in the Occupy Faith national gathering, where faith leaders agreed to a platform for economic and educational parity, among other issues. The authors argue that Occupy forces religious people to reimagine the divine, and, borrowing from Islamic and Christian liberation theologians, they view Jesus as the quintessential resister to the elites of his day. Christ exemplifies the multitude because %E2%80%9Cif one person suffers, we all suffer,%E2%80%9D they write. Their concept of a theology of the multitude identifies God with the oppressed, emphasizes solidarity and relationship, and questions the patriarchal implications of God the father. A new theology would not only reclaim a radical image of God, but the authors also re-envision the theological concept of immanence to mean a new world growing in the midst of the old, where the faithful ask who has power rather than whether God exists. (Oct.)