Special to United Methodist Insight | May 19, 2026
What does theology need to learn and what does it have to teach “for such a time as this?” In a time when democracy is in crisis, what is the relevance of theological education to the pursuit of a more democratic and just present?
So asks a group of faculty members at Boston University School of Theology (BUSTH). For Such a Time As This is a new independent project launched by a BUSTH faculty collective. The title recalls the words of Mordecai to his adopted daughter Esther.
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The text conveys confidence that liberation will come for Israel in a time of exile and oppression. Yet, with something like a sly wink, Mordecai encourages Esther—and the author encourages their readers—to reflect on whether she has been placed in her role precisely for the purpose of cooperating in that task of deliverance.
Theology reminds faith practitioners that humanity is tied to liberation, and that liberation is entangled with the divine. In the delicate balance between comfort and protest, the leaders of this project believe that those who teach in theological education, like Esther for her people, are called to break through the noise to speak about what it means to live together as creation in this fragile space called “democracy.”
Such is the wager of these faculty who risked breaking silence in a time of fear and repression. Each week, they are posting original essays in response to two questions:
- What is the theological/religious significance of this era?
- What does theological and religious education have to offer, considering such a diagnosis?
In the first diverse set of essays posted since the project’s launch on April 3, the contributors are in agreement on several matters. We are indeed in a time of crisis requiring urgent and courageous responses. Democracy is in retreat and worth fighting for—a genuine political community of cooperative decision-making oriented toward inclusive justice. The stakes are ultimate. International students hide from ICE while fearing visa renewals will be denied. Genocide has raged in Gaza. Christianity has been co-opted by right wing demagogues. Meanwhile, even as these crises demand careful attention and deep relations, we are collectively numbed and isolated by generations of neoliberal consumerism and digital algorithms.
Each essay has contributed a unique insight and ethical charge.
- Dr. Luther Young shows education does not liberate on its own. Higher education has been and continues to be a producer of harm. Therefore, we must unapologetically re-craft pedagogies and institutions for justice.
- Dr. Debbie Brubaker dares us, in an age terrified of institutional failure, to embrace the spirit of artists and advocates who practice generative failure. Theological education can foster a space for radical experiments in life formed otherwise.
- Dr. Luis Menéndez-Antuña models vulnerability, expressing his grief at the lack of resistance by state and church to growing repression. Theological educators have a responsibility to leverage the prophetic strengths of their disciplines.
- Dr. James McCarty declares the most central task is to “imagine and practice new ways of being human together.” He looks to South African leader Steve Biko, for whom education was a praxis of humanization in resistance to apartheid, as a model.
- Dr. Timothy Adkins-Jones reminds us that when conditions are urgent, sometimes the best thing to do is slow down. We need a theological education that helps “us find the time and ability to notice things with friends.”
- Dr. Nicolette Manglos-Weber teaches us not to confuse the edifice for the form of democracy, nor to allow what we once had to keep us from becoming what we could be. Theology can offer “the creative force to do that very hard but necessary work.”
- Dr. Filipe Maia, in the spirit of liberation, returns us to prayer as a “practice for confronting the absurdity of the world and its evil forces…of attending to the world, to its joys and pain.”
- And most recently, Dr. Shively Smith points us back to Howard Thurman to help us remember that beneath what we are calling a “crisis of democracy” is a deeper “spiritual arrhythmia.” As educators and ministers, in classrooms and fellowship halls, we are called to help people remember their essential connectedness by creating what Thurman calls “experiences of unity between peoples.”
Collectively, these contributor voices renew democratic hope in the capacity of theological studies to form all who are touched by these disciplines for the work of attention, care, and creative resistance for justice.
New contributions will continue to be released every week from renowned and respected scholars at BUSTH and a wide diversity of other institutions.
Nathan Davis Hunt is a member of the Class of 2029 at UMC-related Boston University School of Theology.