Joerg Rieger

Joerg Rieger is Distinguished Professor of Theology and holds the Cal Turner Chancellor's Chair in Wesleyan Studies in the Divinity School and the Graduate Program of Religion at Vanderbilt University. He is also the Founding Director of the Wendland-Cook Program in Religion and Justice at Vanderbilt. Previously, he was the Wendland-Cook Professor of Constructive Theology at Perkins School of Theology, SMU. For more than two decades Rieger has worked to bring together theology and the struggles for justice and liberation that mark our age. His work addresses the relation of theology to public life, using tools from cultural studies, critical theory, and religious studies, and reflecting on the misuse of power in religion, politics, and economics. His main interest is in movements and developments that bring about change and the positive contributions of religion. Known for his prolific and visionary writing, his books include Jesus vs. Caesar (2018), No Religion but Social Religion (2018), Unified We Are a Force (with Rosemarie Henkel-Rieger, 2016), Faith on the Road (2015), Religion, Theology, and Class (2013), Occupy Religion: Theology of the Multitude (with Kwok Pui-lan, 2012), Grace under Pressure (2011), Traveling (2011), Globalization and Theology (2010), No Rising Tide: Theology, Economics, and the Future (2009, Spanish transl.), Christ and Empire: From Paul to Postcolonial Times (2007, German and Portuguese transl.); Opting for the Margins: Postmodernity and Liberation in Christian Theology (ed., 2003); God and the Excluded: Visions and Blindspots in Contemporary Theology (2001); and Remember the Poor: The Challenge to Theology in the Twenty-First Century (1998, Portuguese transl.). A volume that he co-authored with Brazilian theologian Jung Mo Sung and Argentinian theologian Nestor Miguez, titled Beyond the Spirit of Empire: New Perspectives in Politics and Religion, was published in 2009. Rieger has lectured throughout the U.S., as well as internationally, including presentations in South Africa, Zimbabwe, Germany, Switzerland, Austria, the Netherlands, Belgium, England, Russia, Brazil, Argentina, Mexico, Costa Rica, Cambodia, the Philippines, Thailand, China, India, and Israel/Palestine. For more information: www.joergrieger.com