Aaron Stauffer: Theology for Action

Tripp Fuller

In this episode, we are joined by social ethicist Dr. Aaron Stauffer to guide usthrough the intersection of theology and community organzing. Aaron, a coordinator for the Wendland-Cook Program in Religion & Justice and author of Listening to the Spirit, explores the intertwining of theology, activism, and justice. Discover how faith has historically inspired activism and can energize current movements. The dialogue delves into sacred values, community organizing, and the transformation of religious and political landscapes. Topics include bipartisan politics, military spending, foreign policy, and the role of unions like the UAW. Reflect on the impact of historical social movements, the military-industrial complex, and theological perspectives on democracy and class solidarity. Learn about upcoming events like Theology Beer Camp and the concept of Solidarity Circles to build supportive networks of change-makers. This episode is a compelling blend of faith, practical efforts for social change, and community values.

Aaron Stauffer is the Director of Online Learning and Associate Director of the Wendland-Cook Program at Vanderbilt University Divinity School. He earned his PhD in social ethics at Union Theological Seminary in the City of New York and has organized with the Industrial Areas Foundation in San Antonio, Texas and Religions for Peace. His work has appeared in Tikkun, Sojourners, The Other Journal, Political Theology, and CrossCurrents, as well as other scholarly and popular publications.

About Solidarity Circles

Building Solidarity by Deep Transformation

Faith leaders, clergy, & organizers today feel more isolated than ever. We are over-resourced and under-connected. We need spaces and networks to organize together.

Solidarity Circles are built to meet this need. These are virtual peer-networks for faith leaders, organizers, clergy, and members of the community who realize that the solidarity economy is essential for the flourishing of life and our faith communities. Solidarity circles are one way the Wendland-Cook Program is seeking to revitalize and build the church and Christian theology in positive ways. We believe that this work is deeply connected to the mission and vocation of Christian churches. Broadly understood, the cooperative and solidarity economy are ways of addressing longstanding economic inequalities within our society, including white supremacy and gender and sex inequities.

We’re so excited about the work we can do together.

ABOUT Listening to the Spirit

Broad-based community organizing (BBCO) is perhaps the most widely used form of political participation supported by American religious institutions today. As organizing groups become more religiously diverse, however, so do the conceptions of sacred value that ground organizing in the first place. In today’s political climate what we hold most dear, those sacred values such as human life, a land, or a natural resource may seem to only further entrench us in our enclaves and threaten the solidarity of any constituency. This book tells a different story.
People organize to protect and fight for what they hold most dear. Using auto-ethnography from over a decade of interfaith BBCO experiences, Listening to the Spirit makes a case for the political role of sacred values in BBCO, especially as they show up in two organizing practices: the “listening campaign” and the “relational meeting.” Aaron Stauffer argues that by centering sacred values in democratic politics, these organizing practices can be seen as religious practices, and that BBCO can build deeper solidarity through sacred values and relational power. Stauffer offers a social ethical, social practical account of religion and grounds democracy in our diverse religious values.
Listening to the Spirit is a work of Christian social ethics in the tradition of the radical social gospel and draws on discussions of racial capitalism, radical democracy, feminist theory, and philosophical theology. By exploring the political role of sacred values in BBCO, the role of religion in organizing becomes clearer and a new political and ecclesiological terrain opens for Christians to understand these practices in ways Christians have traditionally understood through the Holy Spirit.

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