Joerg Rieger, Distinguished Professor of Theology and Cal Turner Chancellor’s Professor of Wesleyan Studies at Vanderbilt Divinity School, has been busy.
He’s spent much of 2025 trotting from continent to continent—Europe, Africa, Asia and Australia, to name a few—and from university to university, spreading the word about his research on global solidarity in response to ecological challenges and economic development.
Rieger’s work raises the question: What shared commitment might bind us all together, and can it be leveraged for the good of humanity?
As a theologian, he looks to ancient religious traditions for solutions.
Religion, power and the common good
“What I’m interested in, broadly conceived, is religion and power,” Rieger said. “Religion can be a force for the good in the world and also a force for the bad. What I’m trying to investigate are the problems with religion in order to find some of the solutions.”
One problem he’s uncovered is something he refers to as false solidarities—efforts to bring people together that ultimately do more harm than good.
“At a time when we need global solidarity to be better off as human beings, we are finding all these false efforts at producing solidarity, but the people involved are not benefiting,” Rieger said.
“With nationalism, you’re not using it for the whole nation; you’re using it for the people at the top who are running the nation. I’m arguing that religion gets used this way also. Take missionaries—who were deeply involved in colonialism—the wrinkle here is these missionaries oftentimes didn’t benefit a whole lot from colonialism.
“If you look at Africa, for instance, many missionaries died of malaria. They didn’t become rich or powerful. There are exceptions, but those on the ground usually didn’t benefit from the colonial systems they supported.”
“I sometimes call this ‘unite and conquer,’” Rieger said. “You’re uniting people, but you’re doing so in order to conquer them.”
Exploring solidarity through religious and social perspectives
So what counters false solidarity? Deep solidarity, which Rieger describes as a connection rooted in the shared pressures that make life challenging for everyone.
“If the question is the common good, or the flourishing of humanity, then the common challenge is that everybody needs to make a contribution,” Rieger said. “And of course, my response here comes back to religion and theology.”
“For many people of faith, solidarity is mostly a moral commandment—you must love your neighbor, and that’s just the way it is. But that solution is not strong enough. It isn’t getting us where we need to go.”
Instead, Rieger points to a deeper interpretation: that you and your neighbor are connected.
“That’s the basis of deep solidarity—love your neighbor as yourself. What’s happening to somebody else is happening to me. And that does not demand sameness,” Rieger said.
“If Christians and Muslims recognize that we are all affected by global warming, all they need to do is to say, ‘I’m using my Christian resources and you’re using your Muslim resources—for the same cause.’”
Rieger, who grew up in Germany, is finding that his message is resonating across cultures and communities.
“What’s interesting is that people are really responding to it,” he said. “I mean, here I come as a white European American from Vanderbilt University—why should people listen, right? There’s a lot of suspicion when you talk to an Indigenous community, for example, in Fiji,” Rieger said.
“But at the same time, people understand this in their own histories and stories. Fijians understand not only the need for solidarity, but that there are different ways to build it.”
Building the solidarity economy
In addition to taking the solidarity project around the world, Rieger, director of the Wendland-Cook Program in Religion and Justice, is putting his research into action.
Through Solidarity Circles, a leadership training program for clergy, faith leaders and organizers set on creating and sustaining social change, Rieger and his team collaborate with about 300 faith communities on initiatives ranging from ecological stewardship to economic empowerment.
And a recent $300,000 grant from the Vanderbilt Center for Sustainability, Energy and Climate has given the program more resources to support community-based projects involving climate action.
“Our response to the ecological crisis is putting faith communities all over the U.S.—and a couple of international places too—together with climate adaptation or resilience efforts,” Rieger said. “This is one of the pillars for the VSEC grant. We’re basically encouraging solidarity through shared action.”
When asked how the work is progressing, Rieger is optimistic.
“I’m really excited about this work because I think something bigger than me is happening,” he said. “On the one hand, we do popular education. On the other, we do academic research. My research is stronger when I’m involved on the ground, and I have more meaningful things to say on the ground when I’ve done my homework.”
“What I can do is run with it,” he added. “Help people see it more clearly—and help them build around it.”
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