The L.A. Theologian

A lovely profile by theologian friend James Arcadi, attempting to make sense of some of the regionalist work I’ve done:

It’s the middle of winter and 75 degrees and sunny at Biola University in La Mirada, a suburb of Los Angeles. A hint of Kentucky drawl lingers on Fred Sanders’s welcome of participants to a first-of-its-kind theology conference. Many attendees had recently braved the cold for national theology conferences in the Midwest. But this conference was different, and not just for the weather; the title of the conference includes a city: the Los Angeles Theology Conference. One might ask, à la Tertullian, what has Jerusalem to do with Los Angeles—at once celebrated and derided for its Hollywood glitz and beach-bum privilege—or any other city for that matter? The conference was just one example of Sanders’s trailblazing work in developing a theology of place.

A theology of place is theology modified by prepositions. Fred Sanders is doing theology in, for, of, and from Los Angeles….