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“Now What?”
Installation Address, Drew University Theological School
Reverend Edwin David Aponte, Ph.D.
Dean of the Theological School
Professor of Religion and Culture
Drew University
March 30, 2023

 

¡Somos lo que hacemos para cambiar lo que somos!

In late December 2019 and early January 2020, my spouse, Laura Jakubowski and I were blessed to be visiting Madrid, Spain. At that time, little did we know that we were at the start of a global pandemic and in our ignorance, we wandered the streets of Madrid oblivious to any health danger, seeing some of the sites, and of course visiting a couple of the world-famous museums, like the Reina Sofia which houses Pablo Picasso’s Guernica, his 1937 antiwar protest to the bombing of the small village in northern Spain. And of course, we went to El Prado Museum where we saw art work by Francisco de Goya y Lucientes, such as the court painting of the royal household “The Family of Carlos IV,” and more Goya, including the painting of “The Clothed Maja” (1807), the shocking war painting “Third of May” (1808), and even more Goya including hundreds of etchings and drawings, such as the etching “The Sleep of Reason Produces Monsters” (1799). There’s lots and lots of Goya at the Museo Nacional del Prado.

In Madrid, we stayed in a neighborhood called Lavapiés, an interesting, eclectic neighborhood, a bit edgy, a little bit artsy. If you ever have a chance to go to Lavapiés and come up out of the metro/subway station you will come face-to-face with a building with lettering that loudly proclaims: “Usted Está Aquí,” “You are Here.” It could be interesting and perhaps worthwhile for us to ponder and unpack that pithy saying, but today I want us to consider what was around the corner from “Usted Está Aquí” on the other side of the same building. I was surprised that on the other side of this building near the Metro station, in the midst of that busy neighborhood where we stayed there was public art, this mural that proclaims: “Somos lo que hacemos para cambiar lo que somos.” Of course, these words in that piece of urban art are from the late Eduardo Galeano (1940-2015), the author, poet, and journalist from Uruguay who wrote on history, politics, sports, and many other things.

Today we can interpret Eduardo Galeano’s words into English to say, “We are what we do in order to change who we are.” One way to understand this phrase is to say that in life we are what we choose, what we do, and how we do it, and that in turn defines us. Fine, perhaps a nice sentiment, but what does that have to do with the mission and work of the Theological School at Drew University? Well, for the moment, let us stay here, “Usted Está Aquí.”

We live in a time of many negative narratives. No doubt you’ve heard expressions of this such as, “Things are bad, and they’re just getting worse!” or “You know when I was young this was so much better.” Some of these discouraging stories, negative narratives that impact the mission and work of the Theological School are stories about the decline of religion, the passing away of faith communities, decline church membership, indeed the shrinking membership congregations of all faith traditions, reflecting decreasing interest in all types of organized religion. There are various studies that tell us that people are becoming less religious in the U.S. and many other countries. Here in the United States the percentage of adults who identify with different types of organized religion is declining each year. Surveys testify about how fewer U.S. adults how often they attend religious services,  pray less frequently, and say that religion is not very important in  their lives.[1] Similar research also shows similar patterns among  Western Europeans and also in Australia and New Zealand.[2]

There’s an additional aspect to these changes that has caught media attention. Places like the Public Religion Research Institute (PRRI), the University of Southern California Center for Religion and Civic Culture, and the  Pew Research Center talk about the so-called “Religious Nones” — those who answer “none of the above” when asked their religious identification. Pew Research Center proclaims that about three-in-ten U.S. Adults no longer have any religious affiliation. In this time of declining commitment to organized religion as the result of pandemic patterns of participation religious communities shifted, we saw fewer people actually show up in congregational buildings.

There are challenges to be sure, and it is foolish to ignore realities, especially for those of us whose daily work has something to do with religion. But it is equally foolish to join the herd of proverbial lemmings running off the cliff of decline, and gloom and doom. Here are a few observations that compel me to offer this caution. At the same time as narratives of decline, and gloom and doom right now as we gather in Craig Chapel at Drew University on March 30^th:

• Since March 23, 2023 hundreds of millions of observant Muslims began the daily fast of Ramadan, seeking to draw closer to God.
• Next week Passover starts on April 5^th and will be observed by millions of Jews around the world.
• Whether in the Western Christian tradition or the Eastern Christian tradition we are right now in the season of Lent or Great Lent looking ahead to Easter, again observed by millions of people around the world.

Even among the so-called Religious Nones, many who have chosen to leave historic forms of organized or establishment religion, they simultaneously show that they are deeply and actively committed to values like tolerance, they are engage in service to communities, working for social justice, economic justice, environmental justice, striving to build vital healthy, stable, caring societies. The same kinds of things that religious people say that interested in doing.

Despite stories of gloom, doom, and decline religion is still a big deal in the world,. And if we look beyond the United States, Western Europe, Australia, and New Zealand to the rest of the world religion is a very big deal especially in Africa, Asia, the political region we call the Middle East, and in Latin America. And this is not even beginning to consider the various traditions that have their origins in Asia and are embraced by people all over the world, sometimes fully, sometimes people are picking and choosing what from those Asian traditions they find meaningful in their daily lives.

Even the same research centers that talk about the decline of religious affiliation state that the vast majority of the world’s people will continue to identify with a religion. Moreover, there are those in their daily lives who embrace multiple traditions and practices simultaneously without any sense of conflict or contradiction.

Religion, spirituality, multiple pathways for the search for meaning and inspiration, all that is not going to disappear. Yes, things are changing. The question is do we want to recognize nature of the changes? Or do we want to respond to what is happening around us by trying to freeze what used to be?

Here is the temptation, one of many, trying to keep on doing things the way they used to be, a “business-as-usual religious people as a response to a perceived crisis in Church, higher education, and theological education. Instead of giving in to these stories of decline as the final word, perhaps we should adjust the way we look at such things. And here the words of prophet Micah chapter six are helpful;

⁸ He has told you, O mortal, what is good;
and what does the Lord require of you
but to do justice, and to love kindness,
and to walk humbly with your God? 

And now at a place like this, here is something for us to ponder. And faculty colleagues, I say ponder, but I mean something more. What might it look like if we embrace a way of doing theological education that takes the values of Micah 6:8 at the heart of our work? Can we imagine a theological education shaped by the principles of Micah 6:8 and folded into what we are called to do, call not just individually, but called collectively? How can we shape our curriculum in a way that captures that nearly untranslatable word because it is full of so rich in meaning in Hebrew, here translated “kindness”? How can we shape a curriculum that is constantly intentionally attentive to the call of the Holy One on our lives on the world, and everything that lives on this earth. You recall the opening words of Micah chapter six, all of the creation has been called as witnesses, and so creation is called as witnesses of what we do at Drew Theological School. What does it mean for us to do what is good? What does it mean to love the way God loves humanity and the world, and to fold all that in theological education and doing religious studies here at this place.

And so, no what? This is a good moment to remind ourselves of the mission and vision of Drew Theological School  to empower “creative thought and courageous action to advance justice, peace and love of God, neighbor and the earth.” But what does that mean in this new age where what we thought was settled no longer is? The nature of culture and society, and of faith communities is changing. The demands of everyday life mean that we embrace understandings of the world in holistic ways. It means taking action, even if we don’t have everything figured out. And for some of us that is a scary thing to do. It means paying attention to everyday life, where we don’t have the luxury of only doing one thing at a time. And let’s remind ourselves that is the nature of everyday life. The demands of everyday life, lo cotidiano, mean that we need to do this and that, and something else all at the same time.

Drew Theological School has a history of taking a risk. This faculty committed itself four Shared Values of

1. 1. Dismantling Racism and Racial Justice
   2. Interfaith and Ecumenical Understanding and Solidarity
   3. Ecological Sustainability and Environmental Justice
   4. Sexual and Gender Justice

And all of that is good and right, but as we engage everyday life are there are other things that we need to name and value beyond these four? I am not saying give up the four. It means doing these four and perhaps four more. I don’t know yet. Part of Drew Theological School’s calling is to do justice, justice in the fullest way possible, to lean into justice even more. Part of the good news for us is that Drew does this now. And this one of the reasons I accepted the invitation to join my faculty colleagues. You are above and beyond the pack of many other theological schools in working for justice. But here is the other side of where are at because you have done so much  we, our School, our faculty, students, and staff we are blessed, we are positioned differently. We can press further beyond. I don’t know what that looks like, but we will find out together. And in pushing further on, doing justice, loving kindness and mercy, walking humbly with focused attention on the Holy One, means living into what has become the unofficial Drew Theological School anthem of “Drawing the Circle wide, and wider still.”

To do this work it is going to be hard. It means that we are going to lean into not just revitalizing theological education, but also reimagining it. Can we do this? Can we be so bold? Can we do things so “crazy.” Can we take the risk? “Somos lo que hacemos para cambiar lo que somos.” “We are what we do in order to change who we are.” We can do this. We must do this. And we can do this together because we have this within us collectively. We can do this as we draw the circle wide.

Thank you.