A Call for a Theology of Theologies to Address Increasing Income Inequality in Mainline Protestant Congregations

IntroductionRising income inequality in the United States has likely resulted in rising income inequality in mainline Protestant congregations. Such inequality has an impact on the theologies of church members because the financially-comfortable and the financially-precarious tend to have distinct theological orientations. In spite of the increase in median household income in 2015-the first since 20071-recent data continues to suggest that gaps in income have widened to levels not seen for eighty years, making proper attention to differing theological emphases more urgent.2 Greater awareness of these divergent theologies could lead to improved support for members with low incomes and to enhanced social cohesion within congregations.Many mainline Protestants have college educations, which, along with family processes, are-or used to be-strong indicators of income, especially of earnings. Based on data collected between 1979 and 2004 by the Bureau of Labor Statistics' National Longitudinal Survey of Youth, Lisa Keister ascertained that 26 percent of mainline Protestants have management and administrative jobs, whereas the remaining three-quarters are divided between professional careers (15.4 percent), work in sales (6.8 percent), labor and service (39.1 percent), and other livelihoods (12.4 percent).3 Studies show that especially in Episcopal, Presbyterian, and United Church of Christ congregations, higher tiers of incomes are overrepresented. According to Keister, the relatively small group of people who wield the most power nationally has been and continues to be dominated by mainline Protestants. Along with white Catholics and Jews, mainline Protestants are "significantly" more likely to belong to the top 10 percent of affluent persons in the United States.4However, several studies, including those by the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, show that, since 1970s, the incomes of a fraction of top American earners have rapidly increased, the ranks of the middle class have shrunk, and the number of people who are working class and poor has grown.5 As a result of the Great Recession, significant numbers of professionals with post-high school educations have been laid off and pension funds or retirement savings decimated. Others have been forced into part-time, hourly work without job security or benefits.6 Their incomes slashed, workers may slide into a lower socio-economic class. As a result, "class," which for many years was set aside in favor of other identity markers, is returning as a key topic of study and conversation. ' Sociologists are finding that "gaps by social class and educational attainment are widening among Americans by almost any measure."8Extrapolating from such data, it is probable that, along with millions of other Americans, mainline Protestants are affected in significant ways by these nationwide economic trends. Income gaps in mainline Protestant congregations have always been a reality but they are likely growing. This articles focuses on three potential effects of growing income inequality on the theologies of those who sit in the pews of these congregations:1. Financially-comfortable Americans tend, primarily, to look to their religious traditions for a sense of meaning; the financially-precarious tend, in contrast, to look for help in meeting the daily challenges of low earnings.2. Wide differences in income can separate congregants into two groups: those with the means to participate in advocacy work and those in need of the reforms produced by this work.3. The non-traditional and unreliable hourly schedules of lowwage workers make church participation (and thus integration into congregational life) and class-bridging more difficult.This article not only explores the theological differences fisted above, it also calls for a theology of theologies to foster understanding, cooperation, and mutual support among church members. Such a theology of theologies will take into account theological variations related to income, seeking to accommodate these variations and to foster solidarity between members of mainline Protestant congregations. …