God Loves Diversity and Justice

Both personal and scholarly in tone, this book encourages readers to think theologically, ethically, and politically about the statement that declares: “God loves diversity and justice.” The multi-religious, multi-ethnic, multi-disciplinary, and multi-gendered identities of the eleven contributors and two respondents deepen the conversation. It considers questions such as: Do we affirm or challenge this theological statement? Do we concentrate on “God” in our response or do we interrogate what diversity and justice mean in light of God’s love for diversity and justice? Alternatively, do we prefer to ponder the verb, to love, and consider what it might mean for society if people really believed in a divinity loving diversity and justice? Of course, there are no easy and simple answers whether we consult the Sikh scriptures, the Bible, the Qur’an, the movies, the Declaration of Human Rights, or the transgender movement, but the effort is worthwhile. The result is a serious historical, literary, cultural, and religious discourse that fends against intellectually rigid thought and simplistic belief systems across the religious spectrum. In our world in which so much military unrest and violence, economic inequities, and religious strife prevail, such a conversation nurtures theological, ethical, and political possibilities of inclusion and justice.

Fourteen scholars from a diversity of backgrounds, Christian, Jewish, Muslim and Sikh, white, African-American, Asian, believers and non-believers, struggle with this affirmation about God, love, diversity and justice and all agree that together we must work for a world that affirms diversity with justice. A book well worth pondering., The title of this collection of provocative essays makes a bold statement, which most of the authors support with arguments from religious texts and skillful critical analysis, while others dispute or regard as beside the point. An underlying question here is the role religion plays in upholding justice and celebrating diversity, toward healing the wounds of our fragmented and ailing global community. Religious believer or not, the reader is challenged to think, and to take a stand for oneself.

Susanne Scholz is associate professor of Old Testament at Perkins School of Theology of Southern Methodist University. Among her publications are Sacred Witness: Rape in the Hebrew Bible (2010), “Lederhosen Hermeneutics: Toward a Feminist Sociology of White Male German Old Testament Studies” (2010), and “Bible and Yoga: Toward an Esoteric Reading of the Bible” (2005). She also blogs for Feminist Studies of Religion, Inc., at http://www.fsrinc.org/users/susanne-scholz.