19th Transdisciplinary Theological Colloquium at Drew University

The Drew University Graduate Division of Religion is pleased to announce its 19th Transdisciplinary Theological Colloquium to be held on March 14th and 15th, and corresponding Graduate Student Symposium on March 13th, 2020. The conversations will be centered around our conference theme: Assembling Futures: Economy, Ecology, Democracy.

What is the relationship of religion to economy, ecology, and democracy? In our fraught moment, what critical questions about democratic processes, ecosystems, and economic structures are in need of (dis)assembly? What possible futures might emerge from transdisciplinary work across these traditionally siloed scholarly areas of interest? By bringing together scholars in religious, theological, and biblical studies, this 19th Transdisciplinary Theological Colloquium seeks to activate perspectives urgently needed in assembling possible futures.

Participants: J. Kameron Carter, Gary Dorrien, Paulina Ochoa Espejo, Marion Grau, Catherine Keller, Hyo-Dong Lee, Kathryn Lofton, Marcia Pally, Jennifer Quigley, Joerg Rieger, Devin Singh, Kathryn Tanner.

Immanent Frame Universe of Terms: Economy

As part of a recent initiative by The Immanent Frame on A Universe of Terms, I participated in a contribution around the term “economy.” Here is my reflection.

Political Theology Network: Pedagogy Reading List

The Fluidity of the Field

As part of a symposium around reading lists and “canon” in Political Theology, here is my entry:

“Key texts: 

1. Eusebius of Caesarea, Oration In Praise of Constantine

2. Augustine of Hippo, City of God Against the Pagans

3. Delores Williams, Sisters in the Wilderness: The Challenge of Womanist God-Talk

Essential texts: 

1. Marie-José Mondzain, Image, Icon, Economy: The Byzantine Origins of the Contemporary Imaginary

2. Silvia Federici, Caliban and The Witch: Women, the Body and Primitive Accumulation

3. Willie Jennings, The Christian Imagination: Theology and the Origins of Race”

Read the full entry and my actual commentary and discussion of these texts HERE.

Better Conversations Podcast: Ethics of Care in Conversations

I recently had the privilege to explore at length the value of conversations—in life, in teaching, in coaching and working with others—with Sehaam Cyrene, host of the Better Conversations podcast. We covered a lot of ground. Have a listen below, or follow this link to the show notes to skip to relevant topics.

Theology Matters Podcast Interview: Money, Debt, Gifts

In December (2019) I sat down with Joshua Mauldin, Associate Director of the Center of Theological Inquiry in Princeton, NJ. This year I am participating in a workshop on Religion and Economic Inequality. We discussed my book, Divine Currency, as well as me current project on debt, and how they relate to the them of inequality.

Have a listen below:

GCAS Interview: What is Economic Theology?

I recently spoke with Preston Price at GCAS about my work on theological economics and economic theology. It was a good conversation:

Philosophy of Religion Blog: What are the Norms for Excellence in the Field?

“In this essay, I highlight a cluster of virtues offered by the ethics of care as an important normative framework for thinking about the philosophy of religion…”

Recovering from Religion Podcast: Interview on Divine Currency

• Had a great time talking money, religion and politics on the Recovering from Religion podcast. Was honored to discussed my work in Divine Currency.
  

• We covered everything from the prosperity gospel to the ancient economy to religion in the age of Trump.
  

• Have a listen on your next commute!

St Paul's School Chapel Talk: Three Keys to Resilience

In this chapel talk on Apr 9, 2019 at St Paul’s School in Concord, NH, I share with students three keys to being resilient.

In this chapel talk at St Paul's School, Devin Singh discusses three keys to being resilient. Apr 9, 2019.

Call for Papers: Second Annual Political Theology Network Conference

Call for Papers: Second Annual Political Theology Network Conference Union Theological Seminary and Columbia University, New York, NY October 17-19, 2019

Plenary Speakers: Michelle Alexander, Gil Anidjar, Lap Yan Kung, Najeeba Syeed

We invite proposals of 200-300 words for projects exploring political theology, broadly understood as an interdisciplinary conversation about intersections of religious and political ideas and practices. Under the sign of “political theology” political theorists have reflected on analogies between political and theological sovereignty, theologians have reflected on the role of memory and hope in political engagement, and cultural theorists have performed ideology critique. We are looking for projects that may draw on but also challenge and transform such classic conversations about political theology.

We embrace the vibrant scholarly and activist work being done under the sign of political theology around the world, particularly in contexts of domination. African, Arab, Asian, and Latinx political theological traditions interrogate discourses around “sacred” and “profane” bodies. Indigenous activists organize to dismantle the anthropocentricism and “civilizing mission” of settler states. Scholars of secularism explore the relationship between caste, political culture, and everyday life in India. Black Muslim intellectuals theorize the power of popular protest and the religious nature of #BlackLivesMatter. Anti-colonial theologians from across the globe discuss abolition, anarchy, statelessness, and “higher laws.” Still others invite us to imagine “the end of the world.”

We aim to bring together scholars, activists, and artists working with ethnographic, theoretical, theological, legal, historical, literary, and cultural studies methods motivated by a concern for justice. We are particularly interested in proposals that speak to the following themes:

• economies

• ecologies

• legalities

• embodiments

• gender and sexualities

• racializations

• citizenship, migration, place and displacement

• colonialisms (including settler colonialism and relations between settlers and Indigenous peoples)

• critical disability studies

• technologies and artificial intelligence

• fictions and poetics

• public scholarship and creative pedagogies

• religious nationalisms and religious pluralities

Proposals that address these themes from diverse global and religious perspectives are especially welcome. We invite five different presentation formats:

1. Paper presentation or pre-arranged papers panel (we anticipate allotting 90 minutes for each panel)

2. Poster

3. Dialogue or roundtable around a single theme (roundtables that include a combination of academics,

   activists, and representatives of the community are strongly encouraged)

4. Activist workshop (e.g. teach-in, facilitated conversation, skills-building session, etc.)

5. Performative piece (e.g. poem, spoken word, music, drama, dance, film, digital media, creative fiction

   readings, etc.) (Please submit either a general description of the piece or the performative work itself. Please also indicate any preferences for room and A/V setup.).

This conference, hosted by Union Theological Seminary and Columbia University, is also funded by grants from the Henry Luce Foundation and Emory University’s Center for the Study of Law and Religion. It hosts a professional network connecting scholars of political theology across varying fields and traditions, and we are eager for proposals to advance conversations about what political theology could look like both in and outside the academy.

Submit proposals to Winfield Goodwin, PTN Conference Coordinator at ptn19.proposals@gmail.com

Proposals Due June 1, 2019

UPenn Lecture: Existential Scarcity: Debt and Ideals of 'Natural' Reproduction

Here’s a video of the lecture I gave on March 22, 2019 at the University of Pennsylvania, hosted by the Collegium Institute for Catholic Thought and Culture. I spoke on how the generation of interest and the generation of children have been conflated and compared at different points in history in various theological and philosophical systems. Maybe one way to resist the onslaught and power of debt in society today is to tease out and separate these interconnections, and undercut the associations between debt and reproduction.

LARB: Christianity, Capitalism, and the Corruption of Theology? In dialogue with D. Stephen Long

I recently engaged in dialogue with D. Stephen Long, Cary M. Maguire University Professor of Ethics at Southern Methodist University, about my recent book, Divine Currency. Long offered his review of the book in Marginalia: LA Review of Books, entitled, “Can Christians Be Capitalists?” Given the challenges and critiques he raises, I provided a response, “The Anxiety of Influence.” Check out the exchange!

Existential Scarcity: Debt and Ideals of "Natural" Reproduction (UPenn Lecture)

Very excited about my upcoming lecture at UPenn. Hosted by the Collegium Institute and co-sponsored by the Department of Religious Studies, Penn PPE, the Andrea Mitchell Center for the Study of Democracy, and the Program for Research on Religion and Urban Civil Society. To be held in a lecture hall at Wharton.

I look forward to the conversation!

Abstract:

This lecture explores how understandings of debt and interest are bound up with assumptions about what counts as reproduction, and how both interest and reproduction reflect anxieties about the scarcity of life and resources. Drawing on alternative labor theories, the paper examines what it means to say that money works to produce more of itself, and whether recent anti-work interventions offer productive insights for reining in the proliferation of debt. Ultimately, a reconsideration of the centrality of productive labor to human identity may provide resources for challenging the centrality of productive, debt-based finance to our economic imaginations.

Podcast: Greed and God, Radboud Reflects Lecture

Prefer to listen to my lecture on “Greed and God” in Nijmegen, The Netherlands, rather than watch the video? Check out the audio track here on Soundcloud. This also has the advantage of containing the entire QnA, which was cut off on the video.

Harvard Divinity School lecture: Guilty Debt? The Economy of Carcerality

This video is an edited down version of my participation on a panel at Harvard Divinity School on Christianity, Race, and Mass Incarceration, showing my contribution to the discussion. October 20th, 2017.

AUFS: Piercing the Darkness: Review of Kotsko's Neoliberalism's Demons

I recently participated in a book event for Adam Kotsko’s Neoliberalism’s Demons: On the Political Theology of Late Capital. Read my entry and the many great reviews, in addition to Kotsko’s response, here.

Fausto Magazine: Money and Religion Always Coincide (interview)

I recently spoke with Eliana de Castro, editor of the Brazilian online magazine of art and literature, Fausto. She asked my about my book, Divine Currency, as well as the relation of religion and economics to Islamophobia in the West. Read it in Portuguese here, or pop it into your favorite online translator.

"Don't You Forget About Me:" Generation X in the Workplace

I’m often struck by how little I see written about Gen Xers (1965-1980) in the workplace or Gen X leadership. There is, of course, a ton on our younger siblings, the Millennials (1981-1996), and still plenty coming out on our aging Boomer (1946-1964) parents. There’s even a lot of coverage on the tense relationship between those two!

We Xers seem to have been left out of things, which, of course, totally fits our life experience.

But why fail to consider the important challenges faced and contributions made by GenXers in the workplace?

I’m sure there are a few books out there that I’m missing on this topic, but here’s a quick and dirty list of five things that Gen Xers bring to leadership, the workplace, and organizations in general:

Read the rest on LinkedIn

The Catacombic Machine Podcast: Lecture on the Ascension as Void

Recorded Lecture

May 22, 2018

In this TCM mini-episode, we hear a short talk given by Devin Singh last November as part of the Race, Coloniality and Philosophy of Religion Unit at AAR in Boston. Devin has recently written a book Divine Currency: The Theological Power of Money in the West. We'll hear more about that in an upcoming episode... Stay tuned.

Radboud Reflects Public Lecture: Greed and God

Dec 4, 2018

In this public lecture, for “Radboud Reflects,” a program hosted by Radboud University, Nijmegen, I explain some of the main themes from my book, Divine Currency, and ask how God and greed may be more closely related than we assume.