The 6 Feature Sessons

Session 1: We Know We’re Being Screwed (So Why Do We Keep Going?)

Deep down, more and more people are realizing that the capitalist economy is no longer working in their favor if it ever has. So why do they keep supporting it? What are the alternatives, and how might religion become part of the solution rather than of the problem? 

Session 2: For the Bible Tells Us So, Or: Class Struggle and Religion

The sacred texts of the Abrahamic traditions are more deeply interwoven with work and economics than is often recognized. The Exodus narratives, shared by Jews, Christians, and Muslims have inspired alternative economies for thousands of years. The same is true for some of the traditions that uphold a Jesus of the working majority.

Session 3: Religion Reshaping Desire from the Bottom Up - Beyond Moralizing

It has been claimed that there is no alternative to current economic arrangements, as human desire is insatiable. Some religious traditions disagree and promote other ways of dealing with desire. The transformation of desire is a momentous task that goes deeper than proclaiming moral precepts or making ethical appeals. 

Session 4: Charity, Advocacy, and Deep Solidarity: From Distribution to Production

Efforts to help others and to speak out for them are time-honored ways in which religious communities have tried to make a difference. As these models keep running into problems, deep solidarity presents another paradigm that moves religious engagement to the next level.

Session 5: Interrelated Democracies: Economic, Political, and Religious 

In the United States, democracy often stops at work or in religious communities. How can we reclaim democratic relationships in all areas of life? Some evidence suggests that economic democracy—the form of democracy that is arguably least developed—can become a game-changer.

Session 6: The Secret Lives of the Working Majority: What You Always Wanted to Know but Were Afraid to Ask Other People of Faith

Why are people of faith talking about anything and everything but what is happening at the places where they spend the bulk of their waking hours? Relationships at work shape us deeply, and often for the worse, due to power differentials, glass ceilings, and arcane rules. How can the 99 percent of us that have to work for a living reclaim work for the better, enhancing agency and creativity for the benefit of the community rather than for the profit of the few?