Redeeming Culture Means Buying Back the DIA
Religion & Liberty Online

Redeeming Culture Means Buying Back the DIA

Christians often talk a big game about “redeeming” the culture.

I think the current dilemma facing the Detroit Institute of Arts (DIA) amid the city of Detroit’s bankruptcy provides a great opportunity to back up that talk with something concrete. And there’s perhaps no more concrete way of redeeming something, buying it back, than from the threat of bankruptcy.

That’s why I’ve started a crowdfunding campaign to redeem the DIA. The federal judge overseeing the proceedings wants to raise $500 million to privatize the DIA and keep it in Detroit. He’s gathered together a number of charitable foundations. But individuals have a role to play, too. A former Wayne State University professor has donated $5 million. That leaves $495 million to go by my count. And that’s the goal for the “Redeem the DIA” campaign at Razoo.

For more on the need to privatize the DIA, read my Acton Commentary from last July.

Jordan J. Ballor

Jordan J. Ballor (Dr. theol., University of Zurich; Ph.D., Calvin Theological Seminary) is director of research at the Center for Religion, Culture & Democracy, an initiative of the First Liberty Institute. He has previously held research positions at the Acton Institute and Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, and has authored multiple books, including a forthcoming introduction to the public theology of Abraham Kuyper. Working with Lexham Press, he served as a general editor for the 12 volume Abraham Kuyper Collected Works in Public Theology series, and his research can be found in publications including Journal of Markets & Morality, Journal of Religion, Scottish Journal of Theology, Reformation & Renaissance Review, Journal of the History of Economic Thought, Faith & Economics, and Calvin Theological Journal. He is also associate director of the Junius Institute for Digital Reformation Research at Calvin Theological Seminary and the Henry Institute for the Study of Christianity & Politics at Calvin University.