One world under God?

We’ve been having rather passionate discussions in my doctoral seminar, of late, that tend to cluster around some of the differences between issues that arise in “everyday theology” and those that we focus on in “academic theology.” (I put these terms in quotes, because although I think Kathryn Tanner does a good job of defining them, not everyone has read her excellent book.)

Today I opened up the latest issue of The Atlantic (April 2009) -- which is one of the few magazines I regularly recommend people subscribe to in print version -- to find this powerful essay entitled "One World Under God" by Robert Wright.

I think that this essay is a remarkable illustration of everyday theology. It makes some key points about Christianity -- particularly the Pauline corpus -- that we regularly work on in the midst of discussions at Luther (see especially the Center for Missional Leadership), but it does so almost entirely in the language of evolutionary theory (which is not surprising, given that Robert Wright is a journalist who's focused a lot on that topic).

I'm certain that systematic theologians and biblical scholars could find some things to disagree with in this essay (Wright draws on a fairly common interpretation of Lydia's role in Paul's ministry, for instance, when newer work is available), but I wonder to what extent academic theologians can engage this essay as a welcome intervention in popular US discourse?

My hunch is that many would find it hard to do so, because it doesn't start from the key claims of the Christian gospel. But on the other hand, I suspect that many religious educators -- or maybe I should speak for myself, as a specifically Catholic religious educator of Christian faith -- would simply say that I find this essay a powerful argument that could go a long way towards opening up notions of the missio dei and missional leadership in broader discourse.

Which is why it's a great illustration, to my mind, of the challenges that arise when everyday theologians and academic theologians engage each other!