Lunchroom Theology
Is it possible our world is just one big high school lunchroom?
In a world fraught with polarization and division—where we form separate tables based on political beliefs, skin color, economic status, theological ideas, and personal preferences—can we find a way to live differently, more aligned with the ways of Jesus?
In Lunchroom Theology, Heather Gorman and Mark Nelson confront our societal and theological rifts, and by weaving together scriptural and sociological insights, they expose the many ways our contemporary divisions are mirrored by the church today. Drawing extensively from the life of Jesus and the practices of his early followers, they propose a better way to live in the lunchroom. They beckon us to embody Jesus’ John 17 prayer for oneness and to think faithfully and creatively about how to push tables together in our fractured world.
ENDORSEMENTS
“By appealing to a fresh metaphor-the school lunchroom-Gorman and Nelson invite us to bold, generative thinking about the human community. In the typical lunchroom, there are all kinds of cliques and special interest groups. The work of faith is to push all the tables together so that all may eat together. This isa most suggestive read whose authors are alert to various cultural clues and connections. We are invited to enlist in the good work of the church, not unlike the work of reorganizing the lunchroom. We will eat better when we all eat together!”
WALTER BRUEGGEMANN, Columbia Theological Seminary
“We live in a fractured world where too many people not only disagree with each other but actually despise each other. Jesus shows us another way, a path forward beyond the polarized division of the world around us. He continually includes the excluded and challenges the chosen; he brings people together around a common table and shows us all how to be more loving, more just, more compassionate—that’s what Lunchroom Theology is all about. So, read this book, and then join Jesus in eating with all the wrong people. Be a practitioner of lunchroom theology.”
SHANE CLAIBORNE, author; activist; founder, Red Letter Christians
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