The Interplay of Religion, Desire, and Ethical Responsibility

In this conversation, I got to catch up with my friend Jacob Erickson, who's doing some inspiring work at Trinity College Dublin, where they've just launched a new Master's in Theology and Social Justice. What struck me most was how Jake and his colleagues are embodying this broader transformation happening in theological education - moving beyond those traditional disciplinary boundaries to create genuinely interdisciplinary spaces where theology isn't just talking aboutother fields, but actually thinking with scientists, activists, and practitioners. We dug into how this shift has happened over the last couple decades - from philosophers bracketing God to study religion as a phenomenon, to theologians like Tillich doing theology of culture, to the changing student body that's bringing questions that don't fit neatly into traditional confessional boxes. Jake's insights about wisdom versus knowledge really hit home - how religious traditions offer this "porous knowledge" that comes with demands and can't be separated from formation and embodiment. And I loved hearing about his work with plant studies and how hanging out with botanists and mycologists at Harvard is opening up new ways of thinking about everything from Christology to what it means to be entangled with other creatures. It's exactly the kind of risky, playful, boundary-crossing work that makes theology come alive.

Dr. Jacob J. Erickson is Assistant Professor of Theological Ethics in the School of Religion, Theology, and Peace Studies at Trinity College Dublin. A constructive theologian and theological ethicist, Erickson writes to evoke an ecotheology of planetary conviviality--the playful and just cherishing of life together--in the midst of current ecological crises, ecological injustice, emerging perspectives in the wake of global warming, and new challenges in energy production.

You can WATCH the conversation on YouTube

Previous Episodes with Dr. Erickson

• The Becoming of a Lutheran Queer Eco-Process Theologian from North Dakota
• a Theopoetics of the Earth
• Apocalyptic #ProcessParty with Catherine Keller & Jacob Erickson

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