Beyond Theological Tourism: Mentoring As a Grassroots Approach to Theological Education

Since the early days of liberation theology, Northern Hemisphere theological education has used the phrase "solidarity with the oppressed" to denote the religiously and morally appropriate response to situations of violence and oppression. Yet efforts to inculcate solidarity of heart and mind often devolve into a kind of "theological tourism" wherein professors and students visit oppressed communities without truly participating as subjects in the subjectivity of the marginalized.Beyond Theological Tourism shows how one group of theological teacher-mentors and students attempt to overcome the limits of visits as "tourists of the revolution" to exotic locations. Starting from the challenge of Robert Evans of the Plowshares Institute, a group of Chicago-based Christians struggled with new modes of education for prospective ministers.