In September, less than two months before the election, Shark Week X asked, How Would Jesus Vote? As John Slattery wrote, the question could be rephrased as, ” What would Jesus do, right now, in the United States, if no one, or maybe just a few people, knew who he truly was?” And here we are, asking that very question again. The election results were contentious, to say the least. Some rejoiced. Others took to the streets in protest. And the protests are continuing. For many, the past few months have been marked by frustration and a sense of hopelessness — their moral agency overwhelmed by the task organizing on behalf of justice.
The question for those committed to discipleship has become how to organize the propriety of our political virtues to more authentically align with the message of the Gospel — especially in the midst of such a tumultuous time in our nation’s history. Regardless of political alignment, we must be willing to ask ourselves as Christians how we can come together to form structures of grace rather than structures of injustice and oppression.
The purpose of this Shark Week is to reflect exactly on this theme. How does Christ’s ministry in the Gospel inform what it means to protest, to resist, to organize? What are the theological underpinnings of organizing against injustice? How do religious ideas and institutions enhance our understandings of citizenship, of democracy, and of organizing for the greater common good?
It is our hope that this Shark Week will amplify your sense of vocation – whatever it may be. As the chorister echoes, God has work for us to do.
Sunday, 4/30:
Eric Martin, Fordham University: “The Curious Case of the Christian Who Refused to Eat his Kin“
Monday, 5/1:
Kevin Ahern, Manhattan College: “Rediscovering a Theology of Organizing“
Tuesday, 5/2:
Victoria Strang, Yale University: “Jesus was a Community Organizer who Healed”
Marjorie Corbman, Fordham University: “Children in the Fiery Furnace”
Wednesday, 5/3:
MT Dávila, Andover Newton Theological School: “To Know What Christian Activism Looks Like, Make a Friend“
Thursday, 5/4:
Kaitlin Campbell, City of New York: “The Kingdom of Heaven is Like Permanent Protection for 11 Million Undocumented Immigrants“
Callid Keefe-Perry, The Theopoetics Association: “Bodies, Power, and Post-Truth Politics“
Friday, 5/5:
Kyle Lambelet, University of Notre Dame: “A One-to-One on the Road to Emmaus“
Andrew Krinks, Vanderbilt University: “Ella, Peggy, Myles, and Jesus: Facilitating Transformation“
Saturday, 5/6:
Meg Stapleton Smith, Fordham University: “Donald Trump’s Jesuit Education“
Leo Guardado, University of Notre Dame: “How Would Jesus Organize? Acompañando“
