Delighting in our Neighbors Who are Non-Religious: A Lutheran Theological Proposal

This paper explores the rapidly increasing reality of religious nones and proposes a way forward beyond Lutheran theological neutrality regarding those who are non-religious. Drawing on the work of Lutheran feminist theologians Kathryn Kleinhans and Elisabeth Gerle, the paper explores how a Lutheran understanding of self-in-relation alongside the Lutheran vocational call to delight in the neighbor compel us to move beyond the religious/non-religious binary to be opened to new spiritual truths through interpathic relationships with those who are non-religious.