Join the New Online Course with Dr. Gary Dorrien and Aaron Stauffer Starting in April!
The injustices we face are immense—but they are not unique. What theological and ethical tools and ideas can we take from previous generations to confront our social ills today?
For over four decades, Dr. Gary Dorrien has been one of the foremost scholars of liberal theology, social ethics, and democratic socialism—tracing the movements and figures who dared to believe that Christianity demands justice. His multi-volume histories have shaped how a generation understands the social gospel, Black theology, and the ongoing struggle for a more just world.
This course begins where all serious social ethics must begin: with the social movements themselves. What was actually happening when Reverdy Ransom and Ida B. Wells called for a "new abolition"? How did Reinhold Niebuhr's realism shape—and sometimes limit—Christian engagement with power? Why did welfare mothers become the leaders of a national movement for economic justice? What made James Cone declare that Black Power was the gospel?
Only by understanding what these figures and movements accomplished then can we wrestle with what faithfulness demands of us now.
ABOUT THE ONLINE COURSE
Christian social ethics and progressive Christianity need to return to their roots – namely, to the social and liberative movements that gave birth to the field of social ethics. The injustices we face today are immense—but they are not unique. Previous generations confronted similar challenges, yet we cannot simply get out of our current crises by mobilizing alone. Today, we need to organize not only people but also ideas. This means equipping ourselves with the best theology and ethics the church has to offer.
This six-week course explores key figures and movements that organized to confront the challenges of their day. From the Social Gospel movement to Black Power theology, from democratic socialism to welfare rights activism, we'll examine how theologians and organizers built power, challenged injustice, and transformed both church and society.
Led by renowned theologian Gary Dorrien and Aaron Stauffer, with live conversations hosted by Tripp Fuller, this course will resource you with the theological and ethical frameworks needed for faithful action today. Guest lecturers will introduce diverse voices on how congregations and Christians can more deeply live into their faith commitments.
WHAT IS INCLUDED?
6 Pre-Recorded Lectures: Each video lecture features Dr. Dorrien's masterful teaching, drawing on decades of historical research and his landmark scholarship in social ethics and liberal theology.
6 Livestream Conversations: Each week includes a live conversation with Gary Dorrien, Aaron Stauffer, and Tripp Fuller—your chance to ask questions and engage directly with one of the world's leading scholars of Christian social ethics.
Guest Lecturers: Learn from a diverse range of voices including Cynthia Moe-Lobeda, Joe Strife, Nicholas Hayes Mota, Carolyn Baker, Colleen Wessel-McCoy, and Charlene Sinclair.
Online Community: Connect with other participants in the private Facebook group and access all lectures and livestream replays on the Class Resource Page.
LIVE SESSIONS, REPLAYS, & COST
SIX LIVE SESSIONS:
Tuesdays (April 14th - May 19th) at 10am PT / 1pm ET
ASYNCHRONOUS CLASS: You can participate fully without being present at any specific time. Replays are available on the Class Resource Page.
COST: A course like this is typically offered for $250 or more. Your contributions are what make our classes possible. We invite you to contribute whatever amount you feel led to give (including $0).
WHY MOVEMENTS HOLD THE KEY
Progressive Christianity today often acts as if the struggle for justice began yesterday. We mobilize. We post. We protest. But we've lost touch with the deep wells of theological reflection and strategic organizing that previous generations developed through decades of struggle.
We cannot get out of our current crises by mobilizing alone.
Today we need to organize not only people but also ideas. This means equipping ourselves with the best theology and ethics the church has to offer. It means learning from those who came before—their victories and their failures, their brilliance and their blind spots.
From Reverdy Ransom's vision of a cooperative commonwealth to James Cone's declaration that God is Black, from Saul Alinsky's hard-nosed organizing to the welfare mothers who demanded dignity, this course recovers a tradition of Christian social ethics that is radical, rigorous, and ready for deployment.
COURSE OUTLINE
Week 1: Social Ethics, The New Abolition, and the Cooperative Commonwealth
Livestream: Tuesday, April 14th (10am PT / 1pm ET)
Key Figure: Reverdy Ransom and Ida B. Wells-Barnett
Reverdy Ransom was a prophetic voice in the African Methodist Episcopal Church who merged Social Gospel ideals with the Black freedom struggle. We begin here because Ransom represents a road not taken—a vision of cooperative economics, racial justice, and Christian socialism that anticipated later movements while remaining largely forgotten. What can his vision of a "new abolition" teach us about organizing for justice today?
Learning Objectives:
- Understand the origins of Christian social ethics in America
- Explore Ransom's synthesis of Social Gospel theology and Black liberation
- Examine the concept of the "cooperative commonwealth" as a Christian vision
Week 2: Social Ethics and Building Power
Livestream: Tuesday, April 21st (10am PT / 1pm ET)
Key Figure: Reinhold Niebuhr
What does it mean for theology to contend with power? Reinhold Niebuhr's Christian realism challenged naive optimism about social change, and its legacy shapes how congregations engage in public life. This week examines the theology and tactics of Niebuhr’s complicated and multifaceted Christian realism, and how Christians today can leverage his work for the challenges they face today.
How do we build power without losing our souls?
Learning Objectives:
- Understand Niebuhr's critique of liberal idealism and his theology of power
- Learn the principles and practices of Christian Realism.
- Explore tensions between prophetic witness and strategic compromise
Week 3: Social Ethics as Democratic Socialism
Livestream: Tuesday, April 28th (10am PT / 1pm ET)
Key Figure: Gary Dorrien
Democratic socialism has deep roots in the Christian tradition—from the Social Gospel to liberation theology. Gary Dorrien, one of the foremost historians of liberal theology and social ethics, makes the case that democratic socialism represents the most faithful political-economic expression of Christian ethics. This week examines the theological foundations for economic democracy and asks what a just economy might look like.
Learning Objectives:
- Trace the history of Christian socialism from its origins to today
- Understand the theological case for economic democracy
- Distinguish democratic socialism from other political-economic frameworks
Week 4: The Welfare Rights Movement and the Industrial Areas Foundation
Livestream: Tuesday, May 5th (10am PT / 1pm ET)
Key Figures: Saul Alinsky and Beulah Sanders
Movement: Broad-Based Community Organizing (IAF) and Welfare Rights Movement
Guests: Cynthia Moe-Lobeda, Joe Strife, Nicholas Hayes Mota, Carolyn Baker and Colleen Wessel-McCoy
Beulah Sanders was a welfare recipient who became a national leader in the fight for economic justice. The National Welfare Rights Organization she helped lead challenged both poverty and the paternalism of anti-poverty programs. Saul Alinsky is broadly assumed to be the “dean” of community organizing that led to the birth of the Industrial Areas Foundation. Together, Sanders and Alinsky present different strategies for creating community change. This week we explore these figures and movements to ask, “What does it mean to organize from the margins?” How do we center the voices of those most affected by injustice? How do we build movements that do not replicate the systems we’re trying to transform?”
Learning Objectives:
- Learn the history and theology of the Welfare Rights Movement and the Industrial Areas Foundation
- Understand the leadership of poor women in social movements
- Explore the ethics of dignity, agency, and economic rights
Week 5: Social Ethics & Black Power
Livestream: Tuesday, May 12th (10am PT / 1pm ET)
Key Figure: James Cone
Movement: Black Power
Guest: Charlene Sinclair
James Cone's Black Theology and Black Power (1969) sent shockwaves through American Christianity by arguing that Black Power was the gospel of Jesus Christ for 20th-century America. This week examines Cone's revolutionary synthesis of Black Power and Christian theology, asking how his work continues to challenge white supremacy in church and society.
Learning Objectives:
- Understand the origins and development of Black theology
- Explore Cone's theological interpretation of Black Power
- Examine the ongoing relevance of Black theology for racial justice
Week 6: Christian Social Ethics for Today
Livestream: Tuesday, May 19th (10am PT / 1pm ET)
Movement: Social Ethics
We conclude by turning to our present moment and explore the potential for congregations and people of faith to tap into a social ethics for our political, economic, and social challenges today. Drawing on the resources we've gathered throughout the course, this final week asks: What does Christian social ethics demand of us now?
Learning Objectives:
- Explore the movement of Social Ethics as a way for congregations to live into their faith
- Apply insights from the course to contemporary challenges
- Develop frameworks for faithful action in the current moment
WHY HISTORY MATTERS FOR ACTION
Too often, progressive Christians treat theology as decoration and organizing as technique. We forget that the most effective movements for justice have always been fueled by deep theological conviction and informed by hard-won historical wisdom.
When we understand what actually happened—how Reverdy Ransom built institutions, how Niebuhr navigated power, how welfare mothers organized for dignity, how James Cone transformed a discipline—we begin to see that our challenges are not unprecedented. We've faced corporate power before. We've confronted white supremacy before. We've organized for economic democracy before.
The question is whether we will learn from those who came before us.
This course is not about nostalgia. It's about resources. It's about equipping a new generation with the theology and ethics needed for faithful action in a moment of crisis.
History doesn't tell us exactly what to do. But it shows us what's possible—and what's at stake.
MEET YOUR HOSTS
Dr. Gary Dorrien
Reinhold Niebuhr Professor of Social Ethics, Union Theological Seminary | Professor of Religion, Columbia University
Gary Dorrien is one of the most prolific and influential scholars of liberal theology and Christian social ethics in the world today. He holds the Reinhold Niebuhr Chair in Social Ethics at Union Theological Seminary and is Professor of Religion at Columbia University.
His many books include the landmark three-volume The Making of American Liberal Theology, the comprehensive Social Ethics in the Making: Interpreting an American Tradition, and Breaking White Supremacy: Martin Luther King Jr. and the Black Social Gospel. His work on democratic socialism includes Economy, Difference, Empire and American Democratic Socialism: History, Politics, Religion, and Theory.
For decades, Dr. Dorrien has been recovering the forgotten history of Christian social ethics—lifting up figures and movements that have been marginalized or ignored. His scholarship doesn't just describe the past; it resources the present.
This is not history for history's sake. This is history for the sake of justice.
Aaron Stauffer
Aaron is the Associate Presbyter for Congregational Vitality at Heartland Presbytery, and is an ordained Teaching Elder in the PC(USA), and was most recently was the associate director of the Wendland-Cook Program in Religion and Justice at Vanderbilt Divinity School. Previously, he was the Executive Director and then Special Advisor of Religions for Peace USA, where he helped launch a national anti-Islamophobia program based in the southeast, along with organizing national senior religious leaders on issues of common concern such as mass incarceration, immigration and climate change. Before his doctoral work, Aaron was an organizer with the Industrial Areas Foundation in San Antonio, Tx.
Tripp Fuller
Luther Theological Seminary
Homebrewed Christianity
Theology Class
Dr. Tripp Fuller is a theologian, minister, and public intellectual who earned his B.A. from Campbell University, his M.Div. from Wake Forest University Divinity School, and his Ph.D. in Philosophy, Religion, and Theology from Claremont Graduate University. Following a postdoctoral research fellowship in Theology & Science at the University of Edinburgh, he currently serves as Visiting Professor of Theology & Culture at Luther Seminary.
He is the founder and host of the Homebrewed Christianity Podcast, which he launched in 2008 and has grown into one of the most popular theology podcasts in the world. He also leads online theology courses that have served over 20,000 students, making him one of the most influential voices in making academic theology accessible to broader audiences.
MEET OUR SPECIAL GUESTS
Colleen Wessel-McCoy
Assistant Professor of Peace & Justice Studies
Earlham School of Religion
Wessel-McCoy specializes in Christian social ethics with particular attention to the role of religion in US social movements. She is author of Freedom Church of the Poor: Martin Luther King Jr’s Poor People’s Campaign (Lexington, 2021), an examination of King’s theo-ethical and political vision for his last campaign. Before coming to Earlham School of Religion, she was Neely Visiting Professor of Religion and Public Policy at Arizona State and a lecturer at Union Theological Seminary in theology and field education. She has been part of the Kairos Center for Religions, Rights, and Social Justice, was a national educator with the Poor People’s Campaign: A National Call for Moral Revival, and is an interim co-chair of the National Welfare Rights Union. Her current research focuses on the leadership of the National Welfare Rights Organization of the 1960s and 70s.
Carolyn Baker
The General Baker Institute
Carolyn is an organizer in Detroit, Michigan, whose work with The General Baker Institute preserves the legacy of her father, General Gordon Baker Jr., and her mother's advocacy, while also honoring other legends in the fight for Black social justice.
Cynthia Moe-Lobeda
Professor of Theological and Social Ethics
Church Divinity School of the Pacific
Dr. Cynthia Moe-Lobeda has lectured or consulted in Africa, Asia, Europe, Latin America, and many parts of North America in theological ethics addressing matters of economic globalization, moral agency and hope, public church, faith-based resistance to systemic injustice, ethical implications of resurrection and incarnation, the Bible and ethics, theo-ethical method, and climate justice as related to race and class. Her ethical approach weds Earth ethics to liberation theologies including eco-feminist theology. She is author or co‐author of six volumes and numerous chapters and articles.
Nicholas Hayes Mota
Assistant Professor
Santa Clara College of Arts and Sciences
Nicholas Hayes-Mota is a social ethicist and public theologian. Working within the Catholic tradition, his primary research explores the role of religion in democratic public life, the ethics of democratic citizenship, and the possibility of a "politics of the common good" in today's highly pluralistic and often contentious societies. This last topic is the subject of Prof. Hayes-Mota's doctoral dissertation and first book (now in preparation), which synthesizes insights from Catholic social thought and the community organizing tradition of Saul Alinsky to advance a new account of common good politics, one that takes the role of power, conflict, and self-interest seriously. Additional research interests include the theology and history of community organizing, Catholic social thought and practice, Latin American and U.S. Hispanic-Latine theology, contemporary virtue ethics (in particular, the virtue of prudence), democratic theory, and, most recently, AI ethics. Prof. Hayes-Mota holds an AB, summa cum laude, from Harvard College (2008), an MDiv from Harvard Divinity School (2014), and a Ph.D. in theology from Boston College (2024), where he was awarded the Donald and Hélène White Prize for Best Dissertation in the Humanities.
Joseph Strife
Joe Strife is a scholar working at the intersection of church, charity, and social justice. His research focuses on the role of faith-based organizations in fighting poverty. For years he served as a community organizer in Philadelphia with organizations including the National Union of the Homeless, the National Welfare Rights Union, and the Simple Way. He received his PhD from Union Theological Seminary and teaches at Fordham University.
Charlene Sinclair
Dr. Charlene Sinclair is an organizer, thinker, and writer whose work centers on the intersection of race, economic justice and democracy. Charlene serves as a consultant, trainer, and adviser to leading social change organizations and individual prophetic leaders. Strongly influenced by the pathbreaking thought of the late James Cone, Dr. Sinclair helps to fashion strategies that embrace a liberationist approach to faith and spirituality in the context of popular struggles for racial and economic justice.
WHAT PEOPLE ARE SAYING
"As a minister these classes and conversations have enriched how I read and engage with our sacred texts, as well as for the community I help shepherd. As an individual person of faith I'm always amazed at the resources and friends Tripp helps curate and connect with on a deeper and authentic level."
Will Rose - Parish Pastor, Holy Trinity Lutheran and Lutheran Campus Ministry (Chapel Hill, NC)
“Grad-school level classes with incredible teachers in a fun, accessible and engaging online experience for even an exhausted working pastor/parent to participate in and enjoy!”
Rachel Haxtema - Associate Pastor, Keystone UCC (Seattle, WA)
“I’ve taken several Homebrewed classes over the years, from a couple of Black theology classes, to Kierkegaard to Bonhoeffer, to Tolkien and many others I’ve heard episodes from. From the episodes and the readings I’ve learned things I wouldn’t have otherwise had access to, from some of my favorite scholars or about some of my favorite topics. From some of the readings I’ve bought books I wouldn’t have otherwise read, and further deepened what I was able to think with. It’s been a treasure to be part of them.”
Jonathan Stegall - faith-rooted organizer, abolitionist, designer, and coder
“Homebrewed Christianity is, in my opinion, the best open and interactive community I’ve ever been apart of. I’ve learned so much from people who are not only brilliant but kind and fun."
Ednaldo Elme - the drummer who doesn’t tell his minister what he’s really thinking
“HBC classes have been an absolute lifeline for allowing me to have continuing education outside of the adult Sunday School setting. Many people have limited exposure to the entire spectrum of Christianity as well as other world religions in the church setting, and these classes are a wonderful resource in that regard. Also, as someone who is getting a theology degree, the HBC classes have provided a super helpful avenue for learning."
John Pohl, MD - Pediatric Surgeon (University of Utah)
FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
When does the class meet?
The class is asynchronous and you can participate fully without being present at any specific time. Replays will be available on the Class Resource Page.
LIVE SESSIONS: Tuesdays (April 14th - May 19th) at 10am PT / 1pm ET
How do I get access to the class content?
The complete class content collection will be available on the password protected resource page. The downloadable audio and video of each session will be uploaded there and available for at least a year.
What happens after I sign up?
The email you enter when signing up will receive an email from classinfo[at]homebrewedchristianty[dot]com. The email will include access to the resource page, details on how to join the class Facebook group, and more.
Do I have to have Facebook?
No. Facebook is not required to participate, but an additional way to connect with other class members and interact throughout the class.
How can we use this with our church group?
We would love for you to use this online class for your Sunday School class or small group! If people will be watching the lectures (approximately 50 minutes) and livestreams (approximately 70 minutes) on their own, we encourage every person to sign up and receive access to the Class Resource Page and Facebook group. Each person is welcome to make a donation on their own, or the church can designate one person to make a donation on behalf of the group. If the church is making the donation, feel free to make a donation in the amount of whatever you have budgeted for a curriculum of this quality. If you have further questions, please email classinfo[at]homebrewedchristianity[dot]com.