As part of this year’s “Day of Scholarship” at The Seattle School of Theology & Psychology, I presented a poster board highlighting some of the work I do in service of the UN-Habitat’s efforts at implementing the Sustainable Development Goals for a better urban future for all and everything.
The poster offers a tiny glimpse into some of the expansive vision of Shalom seen in Jesus the Christ and testified to throughout the Hebrew and Greek sacred texts. The poster highlights that the 17 SDGs are one of the best descriptions of G-d’s Shalom that I’ve seen articulated anywhere. The poster goes on to point out that only recently in homosapien history have human beings become a majority urban species. Urbanization has been accelerating since the Industrial Revolution and is having a disruptive effect on social cohesion in rural and urban contexts. This new urban social reality appears to be inviting our world religions to tap into the riches of their respective traditions to better equip their constituents for the realities of complex and diverse modern urban life.
From there the poster showcases a couple of organizations demonstrating some of the shifts in both organized religion and spirituality, before offering some questions for consideration, a brief comment on “Public Theology”, and a shout-out to the primary organizations I personally engage in this exciting Kin-dom of G-d missional work.
Here is my poster board… enjoy!
Peace, dwight
