The Wendland-Cook Program in
Religion and Justice
The Wendland-Cook Program in Religion and Justice is an interdisciplinary program located at Vanderbilt University Divinity School. We focus on issues of justice that arise at the intersection of religion, economics, and ecology. Founded in 2019 by Dr. Joerg Rieger and supported by a generous gift from Barbara Wendland, the mission of the program is to develop resources and opportunities for students, scholars, clergy, and activists to envision and create a more just and sustainable world for all.
Interventions
Interventions is a space for students, scholars, clergy, and activists to write and collaborate on practical and theological approaches to issues of economy, ecology, religion, and justice.
New Materialism or Eco-Socialism?
June 2025
This forum features the presentation by Dr. Jan Rehmann during the spring 2025 Theology and Religion in the Capitalocene Working group, along with the responses by Joerg Rieger and George Schmidt. We are happy to reproduce this paper in its entirety here.
Contributors: Jan Rehmann, Joerg Rieger, George Schmidt
Power and Privilege: Reclaiming Solidarity for Justice
December 2024
This forum brings together the voices of Filipe Maia, Aaron Stauffer, and Joerg Rieger to explore the critical intersections of class, power, privilege, and solidarity. This fourm is grounded in Chapter 4 of Rieger’s Theology in the Capitalocene and were presented during the fall meeting of the Theology and Religion in the Capitalocene International Working Group.
Through these essays, each contributor uncovers how the confusion between privilege and power sustains systems of exploitation, why solidarity must be rooted in shared material struggles, and how movements can transform through collective action. From dismantling false narratives of unity to envisioning deep solidarity that transcends identity-based divides, this forum offers a path toward reclaiming justice in an unequal world.
Global Labor, Liberation, & the Social Gospel
September 2024
In this Labor Day edition of Wendland-Cook’s Interventions, we are providing a series of reflections on the assigned scripture readings based on the Revised Common Lectionary in the Christian tradition for September 1, 2024. This is the fourth year that the Wendland-Cook Program in Religion and Justice at Vanderbilt has produced a lectionary commentary for the Labor Day readings. By providing clergy and faith leaders with different readings of common passages, we hope to provide alternative lenses to scripture and to open up interpretative possibilities for how the Bible speaks to the reality of working people.
Contributors: Wilson Dickinson, Ansley Quiros, and Joerg Rieger,
Outward focus
Solidarity Circles
At a time when protest often seems to be the last recourse for those longing for a better world and a more sustainable faith, the Solidarity Circles of the Wendland-Cook Program in Religion and Justice at Vanderbilt University are designed to expand horizons by constructing and building alternatives. Our approach is holistic from the outset. Putting together faith communities and solidarity economies—we are also talking about developing religious and economic democracies in addition to political democracy—leads to deeper engagements of all of life and feeds back into the deepening of faith.
Academic Fellows
The Wendland-Cook Program in Religion and Justice is happy to accept applications to our fellows program for next academic year. The Wendland-Cook Program provides fellowships and internships for masters students enrolled at VDS and for doctoral students in the Graduate Department of Religion and other graduate programs at Vanderbilt University. The program focuses on issues of justice in matters of religion, economics, and ecology, intersecting with race and gender. The fellowship program places VDS students in leadership roles in the key initiative of the Wendland-Cook program, the Solidarity Circles.
Fellowship slots are limited and applicants who have participated in Solidarity Circles previously or are familiar with our webinars such as The (Im)possibility of Solidarity on the Left and popular education materials are encouraged to apply. Applications are competitive and can be found here.
Working Groups
International Working Group on Theology in the Capitalocene
The Social Gospel in the South Working Group
If you are interested in the work of these groups, please submit an inquiry here.
Our Most Popular Posts
Are you curious to find out why the work of Wendland-Cook is so important for our times? Below is a collection of our most popular posts and stories that define who we are striving to be and what experiences define our work. You will also find our founding documents and a letter from our Director, Dr. Joerg Rieger.
Solidarity Circles: Some Introductory Reflections
May 2024
At a time when protest often seems to be the last recourse for those longing for a better world and a more sustainable faith, the Solidarity Circles of the Wendland-Cook Program in Religion and Justice at Vanderbilt University are designed to expand horizons by constructing and building alternatives.
Challenging the Myth of the Middle: Reflections on Class in Theology
June 2024
The concept of class is something we must reclaim. By identifying and addressing the obstacles to understanding class—particularly the stratification approach and what I refer to as the "myth of the middle"—Jörg lays the foundation for a theology that, whether consciously or unconsciously, does not align itself with the interests of the ruling class.
Deep Solidarity: Embracing God’s Power to Alleviate Poverty and Create Structural Change
March 12, 2019
Rosemarie Henkel-Rieger is the co-founder and co-director of the Southeast Center for Cooperative Development in Nashville, Tennessee. For a deeper engagement of this topic see their book Unified …
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