Found in Translation

Jesus' cousin gets impulsively murdered in jail by a tyrant for calling out his BS – just what you'd expect from an authoritarian.Later, Jesus surfaces an abundance of food, feeding thousands – what if this miracle had something to do with mutual aide?Finally, Jesus calls an indigenous woman a "household pet," and her response jolts him to remember God's abundance. Was Jesus being racist? Did he change his mind because of her? What about her is a clue to her brave wisdom?Our guest cohost is Elle Dowd (she/they). Elle is a bi-furious pastor who preaches, writes and teaches about God's desire to liberate us from the things we use to oppress each other: cis-heterosexism, racism, ableism, queerphobia, colonialism, misogyny, childism, capitalism and white supremacy.  She believes we must deconstruct the harmful systems infecting the Christian Church and other American institutions, that a queer/femme interpretation of scripture is at the center of grace, and all bodies – including yours – are beautifully and wonderfully made.Elle's Website – https://elledowd.com/Elle's Book – Baptized in Tear Gas: From White Moderate to AbolitionistElle on Facebook...Read LIT online: https://www.litbible.net/matthew-14 and https://www.litbible.net/matthew-15More about the Liberation & Inclusion Translation: https://www.litbible.net/translation-commitmentsSupport LIT & FIT: https://donorbox.org/found-in-translation-1...Opportunity Walks by Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

Jesus continues spreading compassion, care, and joy among his most vulnerable neighbors – but the religious professionals won't have any of it! They're using the Bible as a weapon rather than a sacred gift meant to help us pursue shalom. This week in Matthew 12-13 we explore a few of these stories, and the cryptic parables Jesus tells in response.Episode highlightsCompassion should take precedence over strict adherence to rules.Sabbath is a revolutionary practice that promotes rest and justice.Curiosity is essential for understanding and growth.Why the story of Jonah slaps.Oppression harms everyone, including the oppressor.How what we believe & practice about knowledge & learning can be fundamentally anti-authoritarian Community and mutual aid are part of how this whole God-thing worksOur guest co-host today is Ell, a cohost over at the fantastic podcast The Word in Black and Red. She is a member of the Industrial Workers of the World, is a board member at her church, and enjoys gardening spending time in nature. Ell's pronouns are she/they.The Word in Black and Red...Read LIT online: https://www.litbible.net/matthew-12 and https://www.litbible.net/matthew-13More about the Liberation & Inclusion Translation: https://www.litbible.net/translation-commitmentsSupport LIT & FIT: https://donorbox.org/found-in-translation-1...Opportunity Walks by Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/Keywords: Bible, Matthew, parables, compassion, justice, authority, spirituality, faith, community, interpretation

Need to know the best Bible translation if you care about LBTQ inclusion, liberation vibes, basic Greek fidelity, and low-cringe? We present our Bible Translation Tier List!We're vibe-ranking them based variously on:Do they translate faithfully about LGBTQ kin being included in God?Was any of it actively translated to justify domination, authoritarianism, or sexism?Is it lovely?What's the cringe level?How faithful is it to the Greek?...Read LIT online: https://www.litbible.net/More about the Liberation & Inclusion Translation: https://www.litbible.net/translation-commitmentsSupport LIT & FIT: https://donorbox.org/found-in-translation-1...Opportunity Walks by Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

Jesus is bringing together his crew and sending them to get in good trouble. Familiar tales, sure. But is there something about how Jesus organizes, how Jesus relates, and how Jesus teaches that is instinctively anarchist? Teaching after teaching and tale after tale, he's challenging all the fixations that oppressors leverage into fear to secure power. And oppression, I heard a fella say, is the mask of fear.Episode highlights:Christian anarchism as a practice and a hermeneutic,the subversive aspects of Jesus' commissioning the twelve,the hidden edge of some of Jesus' spiciest sayings,Amish wisdom fist-bumping anarchismOur guest cohost is Rev. Terry Stokes (he/they). Rev. Stokes is an anarchist theologian who seeks to foster political and spiritual radicalization through his writing and speaking.He holds degrees from Yale University and Princeton Theological Seminary, and was ordained as a minister of word and sacrament by Park Avenue Baptist Church, an abolitionist congregation on Mvskoke Land (Atlanta, GA).He lives on Munsee Lenape land (central NJ), where he works with children and youth as a nonprofit director.Their new book, Jesus and the Abolitionists: How Anarchist Christianity Empowers the People, is available now.More about Terry:www.terryjstokes.comIG: @anarchyterryBook: Jesus and the Abolitionists: How Anarchist Christianity Empowers the People...Read LIT online: https://www.litbible.net/matthew-10 and https://www.litbible.net/matthew-11More about the Liberation & Inclusion Translation: https://www.litbible.net/translation-commitmentsSupport LIT & FIT: https://donorbox.org/found-in-translation-1...Opportunity Walks by Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

Bounary-transgressing love and overcoming ableism are at the heart of the very first stories Matthew tells about Jesus after his big Sermon on the Mount. There's oodles of anti-authoritarian mischief and delightful queer energy brimming in these tales.Episode highlights:ableism and leprosy,Jesus' massive shoutout to a queer Centurion,the only person in the Bible outside the holy family to submit to their spouses,whether Brandon Johnson is willing to add a winking emoji to the LIT bible,antisemitic vibes of some texts,problems with the economic convenience of pigs and people tormented by demons.Our guest cohost is Micah Belong (xe/xey). Micah is the founding cohost of the outstanding podcast The Word in Black and Red, where a rotating cast of wise souls are exploring the Hebrew Bible one chapter or so at a time through a liberationist and leftist lens. If you like Found in Translation, you're going to positively adore TWIBAR."The Word in Black and Red" podcast (Apple Podcasts, Spotify)Support TWIBAR on Patreon....Read LIT online: https://www.litbible.net/matthew-8 and https://www.litbible.net/matthew-9More about the Liberation & Inclusion Translation: https://www.litbible.net/translation-commitmentsSupport LIT & FIT: https://donorbox.org/found-in-translation-1...Opportunity Walks by Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

Can you read the Sermon on the Mount apart from Mammon? Maybe, but we don't recommend it. Jesus' teachings on everything from fasting to how to pray to not judging pops into 3D when read through the lens of how Mammon works.Episode highlights:trusting how the poor hear Jesus,it takes a community to resist Mammon,embracing Christ class consciousness, andthe most boring question you can ask about biblical money ethics.Our guest cohost is Matt Tebbe (he/him). Matt is an Episcopal priest in Indianapolis where he co-pastors The Table. He co-founded Gravity Commons where he helps lead a community dedicated to learning how to follow Jesus and take love seriously in the post-Christian culture of the 21st Century. He also talks shit about the false god of Mammon on social media.Matt's SubstackGravity CommonsMatt on X, Facebook, Threads...Read LIT online: https://www.litbible.net/matthew-6 and https://www.litbible.net/matthew-7More about the Liberation & Inclusion Translation: https://www.litbible.net/translation-commitmentsSupport LIT & FIT: https://donorbox.org/found-in-translation-1...Opportunity Walks by Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

The short answer to the title's question is, Yes, totally. But it wasn't just about lusty glares. Jesus dared us to pluck out anything within us that objectifies or commodifies another. It's part of his most famous spiel, "the sermon on the mount," which is most clearly presented vision for how his followers should live. Not a set of rules to obey, but a trajectory of faithfulness to enter the flow of: one marked together by gentleness, fidelity, justice, and love. The kinds of things our economy and ruling powers abhor. For a show about antifascist readings of the Bible, there's a lot to dig into!Our guest cohost is Frances Cutshaw, D.Min. (she/they). Frances is the Founder and "Wilderness Abbess" of the Order of Hildegard, an unaffiliated community of practice which exists to center, celebrate and develop the interfaith cross-vocational spiritual leadership of those marginalized by traditional religious structures such as LGBTQIA+, BIPOC, people with disabilities and neurodiversities and those otherwise disillusioned with harmful, puritanical patriarchal religious structures. She recently completed her thesis "Shame as the Great Obstacle and Unexpected Invitation to Shalom." They were raised on the tribal lands of the Cherokee Nation in the Blue Ridge Mountains, and lives somewhat south of there these days.Order of St HildegardFrances' Substack...Read LIT online: https://www.litbible.net/matthew-5More about the Liberation & Inclusion Translation: https://www.litbible.net/translation-commitmentsSupport LIT & FIT: https://donorbox.org/found-in-translation-1...Opportunity Walks by Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

The anti-authoritarian, justice-y vibes dance off the page as Jesus goes through a communal preparation ceremony in the wilderness with his cousin and then is tempted by the Accuser to embrace domination. It's a spicy set of stories, brimming with loads of wit and wisdom for times like ours.Our guest cohost this week is the delightful and delightful Mae Forrest Barnes (she/her). Mae writes at https://maeforrestbarnes.substack.com/ and you can listen to her at The Anarchodox Podcast. (Apple Podcasts, Spotify)...Read LIT online: https://www.litbible.net/matthew-3 and https://www.litbible.net/matthew-4More about the Liberation & Inclusion Translation: https://www.litbible.net/translation-commitmentsSupport LIT & FIT: https://donorbox.org/found-in-translation-1...Opportunity Walks by Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

What if the birth of Jesus wasn't just sweet and sacred—but strategically subversive? In this episode Aaron J. Smith (www.aaronjsmith.net) joins as guest co-host to take a hard look at Matthew chapters 1 and 2 through the lens of power, empire, and authoritarian fear.We trace the political tension that pulses beneath every angelic message, Herodian sh*tfit, and nativity set piece. This isn't just theology—it's resistance, survival, and the God who sides with the vulnerable.Listen in and see what empire always fears most: a different kind of king.www.aaronjsmith.netAaron on BlueSky, Instagram, and Threads...Read LIT online: https://www.litbible.net/matthew-1 and https://www.litbible.net/matthew-2More about the Liberation & Inclusion Translation: https://www.litbible.net/translation-commitmentsSupport LIT & FIT: https://donorbox.org/found-in-translation-1...Opportunity Walks by Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

The Brandons are back! This season we are going through Matthew's Gospel again – this time, reading it under American authoritarianism, as literature written under authoritarianism, and written against authoritarianism. Get reintroduced to a Jesus whose social imagination was relentlessly critical of the attachments, avarice, and agendas of authoritarianism.This season we're going to do it a little different: each episode will have a guest co-host to join us in exploring the text....Read LIT online: https://www.litbible.net/matthew-introMore about the Liberation & Inclusion Translation: https://www.litbible.net/translation-commitmentsSupport LIT & FIT: https://donorbox.org/found-in-translation-1...Opportunity Walks by Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

We're back! Brandon and Brandon pop out of their winter hibernation to share how their plans for Season 7 changed after the US election. But will they see their shadows?...Read LIT online: www.litbible.net/matthewMore about the Liberation & Inclusion Translation: https://www.litbible.net/translation-commitmentsSupport LIT & FIT: https://donorbox.org/found-in-translation-1...Opportunity Walks by Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

Paul wasn't only making a passionate theological argument this whole time. It shows up in the nitty-gritty of actual cultural difference: power dynamics, deeply-held customs around food and idols and sex and strangers. And that's how he concludes his letter to the Jesus huddle in Rome.We take this week as an opportunity to reflect on the entire flow of Romans that leads us to his final arguments, ponder about implications for today, and give this season's parting drop-kick to the ESV to the Apostle Junia....Read LIT online: www.litbible.net/romans-14More about the Liberation & Inclusion Translation: https://www.litbible.net/translation-commitmentsSupport LIT & FIT: https://donorbox.org/found-in-translation-1...Opportunity Walks by Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

Romans has been a forceful ethical argument from the outset: arguing for a life beyond supremacism, exclusion, and domination that is made possible by God in Jesus Christ. A life together of peace.And yet Paul still desires to complete his letter with explicit ethical guidance: how to be a people of this kind of peace.Looming over it all is Rome. What of those who hope in the Pax Romana? Who control their known world? Here we encounter some of Paul's most widely abused language, Romans 13, concerning the power of the state and those who claim to wield violence for public good. Is he endorsing their exclusive claim to violence? Doesn't this give free reign to authoritarians?Historic translations have bent Paul's words to suggest as much. We call bullshit. With the help of historians and political scientists, let's listen deeply for why this isn't a moment of Paul losing the plot. It's deeply subversive, and even a wee bit anarchistic....Read LIT online: www.litbible.net/romans-12More about the Liberation & Inclusion Translation: https://www.litbible.net/translation-commitmentsSupport LIT & FIT: https://donorbox.org/found-in-translation-1...Opportunity Walks by Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

Translations and interpretations that make entire stretches of Romans incongruous seem to fundamentally be missing something. If your theory can't hold all the data, change the theory, not the data, right?Can the Liberation & Inclusion Translation help us make better sense of Romans 9 through 11? Will it be part of a seamless letter? We believe it must. It must be heard within Paul's wider insistence that in Christ Jew and Gentile are woven together in one non-hierarchal holy belonging.Along the way we'll address passages that historically are used to support predestination, God sending people to hell, and other wacky toxic shit....Read LIT online: www.litbible.net/romans-9More about the Liberation & Inclusion Translation: https://www.litbible.net/translation-commitmentsSupport LIT & FIT: https://donorbox.org/found-in-translation-1...Opportunity Walks by Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

We can't handle how excited this conversation got us. So many profound shifts come to bear as Paul brings the bulk of his arguments to a crescendo!more time exploring the oppressive legacy of sarx/flesh through a therapeutic lens;the full-hearted rebuke of accusation and judgement in those animated by Life-Breath;"everything collaborates for the benefit of those who love God" is leagues and miles better than "God works in all things for the good of those who love him;" andhow this all ties together the letter's deeper community-related pleas....Read LIT online: www.litbible.net/romans-8More about the Liberation & Inclusion Translation: https://www.litbible.net/translation-commitmentsSupport LIT & FIT: https://donorbox.org/found-in-translation-1...Opportunity Walks by Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

Reflections on how deviation/sin lives within our bodies, if at all, have been sources of tremendous shame, self-distrust, and sex-negativity for centuries. Are we unable to trust our bodily desires? How do we learn to live with them? Shouldn't cues from our body be helpful, not harmful? And might there be a word-play afoot here that speaks to how our group identities ("my flesh and blood") may also be places of antagonism and deviation?...Read LIT online: www.litbible.net/romans-7More about the Liberation & Inclusion Translation: https://www.litbible.net/translation-commitmentsSupport LIT & FIT: https://donorbox.org/found-in-translation-1...Opportunity Walks by Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

You won't find "The Law" in the LIT Bible because a timeless, pristine moral law floating above and condemning all humanity has nothing to do with the early Christian mindset. What they were much more concerned with was what to do with Torah, the sacred writings of Jesus' own people.Jewish folk outside of their homeland equated reading Torah together to being in the Temple itself! Its practice, memory, and presence were fundamental to their community identity. No wonder the early Christians had to spend so much time sorting out Torah's relationship to Jesus' death and their life together. Paul spent a lot of time trying to mine meaning from the mess, and along the way help the tiny communities across the empire grow in love and faithfulness....Read LIT online: www.litbible.net/romans-6More about the Liberation & Inclusion Translation: https://www.litbible.net/translation-commitmentsSupport LIT & FIT: https://donorbox.org/found-in-translation-1...Opportunity Walks by Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

Paul uses courtroom imagery throughout Romans. We're on trial, and the Life-Breath is our defense attorney. But who is the prosecutor? Is it God, upholding God's perfect law? Is it Torah? Is it... Jesus?Christ have mercy: too many theologies are built around God being the prosecutor. But... Satan's name is literally The Accuser. And in the wider argument of Romans, who is accusing us but the person fixated on obedience and cultural conformity as the conditions of belonging. It's one another who is the accuser, the prosecutor. It is us in our anger playing the role of the satan.What a world of difference this makes! It is our own puny fearfulness that is satanic, not the Creator! No wonder in 5:9 we are liberated from our own anger, not saved from God's wrath.Skeptical? Listen on, and let us know what you think!...Read LIT online: www.litbible.net/romans-5More about the Liberation & Inclusion Translation: https://www.litbible.net/translation-commitmentsSupport LIT & FIT: https://donorbox.org/found-in-translation-1...Opportunity Walks by Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

If our argument is that Romans is an anti-supremacism pastoral letter, not a manual for how to go to heaven, then what is all this business in other translations about "faith vs works?" Protestantism is built on a mountain of sermons about salvation by faith alone – sermons that point to passages like Romans 4 with glee and anti-Catholic smugness. Their whole thing is about Romans being about "how to go to heaven," right?As with the whole of Romans, we think this "faith vs works" stuff is actually way more about this life, way more about what determines one's belonging in a local Jesus huddle today than who'll be playing football with Jesus in a big big house in the clouds by and by.There's so much here – and we haven't even scratched all the warped ways faith is contrasted to doubt, or how its battle with works is used to sidestep justice....Read LIT online: www.litbible.net/romans-4More about the Liberation & Inclusion Translation: https://www.litbible.net/translation-commitmentsSupport LIT & FIT: https://donorbox.org/found-in-translation-1...Opportunity Walks by Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

Another week in Romans, another set of clobber passages to detangle from authoritarian and shame-based theologies. This time, we explore the wider context of that old "all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God" business. And wouldn't you know it – it's all about celebrating that we're all on a level playing field of God's love, and therefore particularity of divine encounter must never be grounds for judgement or supremacism....Read LIT online: www.litbible.net/romans-3More about the Liberation & Inclusion Translation: https://www.litbible.net/translation-commitmentsSupport LIT & FIT: https://donorbox.org/found-in-translation-1...Opportunity Walks by Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

"What determines our belonging" is the central question of Romans. We will always miss the mark if we think Paul's answer is about a cosmic 'LAW.' In truth he's discussing the place of Torah among the Jewish people, and the way that belonging-carrier now lives in the Jew-plus-Gentile community. He's arguing that cultural conformity and deep tradition ultimately excludes everyone, not issuing some grandiose decree about cosmic rule-breakers or cosmic rule-keepers.This foundational distinction may seem arcane, but it will reap dividends chapter after chapter as we go through Romans. And it'll haunt us as we reflect on the terms of community belonging in our own times and places....Read LIT online: www.litbible.net/romans-2More about the Liberation & Inclusion Translation: https://www.litbible.net/translation-commitmentsSupport LIT & FIT: https://donorbox.org/found-in-translation-1...Opportunity Walks by Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

We are thrilled to be joined by the wise and winsome Micah Belong (they/them) to discuss the LGBTQ+ clobber passage of Romans 1:24-32. It's a spicy conversation that shows how Paul's words are about rape culture and power-reinforcing sexuality as emblematic of humanity's waywardness – NOT a blanket condemnation of same-sex intimacy.Micah hosts The Word in Black and Red, an outstanding podcast exploring the Hebrew Bible through leftist and queer lenses, one chapter or tale at a time. Each episode gets a slightly different blend of cohosts and guests, which makes for dependably invigorating reflections on some of the strangest stories in the Bible.You can find out more about Micah and TWIBAR at https://linktr.ee/twibar....Read LIT online: www.litbible.net/romans-1More about the Liberation & Inclusion Translation: https://www.litbible.net/translation-commitmentsSupport LIT & FIT: https://donorbox.org/found-in-translation-1...Opportunity Walks by Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

Welcome to Season 6: Romans! It's time to journey through Paul's legendary letter, where we'll discover that this is a pastoral argument for overcoming ethnic supremacism in the local church. It's got nothing – NOTHING – to do with being saved from a violent authoritarian god's torture through ritual sacrifice.It gets better: even some of the most popular Christian sentiments that cite Romans ("there's nothing you can do to earn your salvation") is an out of focus riff on what Paul's actually doing. In that case, it's Paul's vision of a universal belonging in God through Christ (1:16), that takes concrete historical form as a community in which no ethnic markers that can earn our holy belonging.Intrigued? Join us as we survey the legacy of Romans and the thesis in chapter 1 as Brandon Johnson sees it....Read online: www.litbible.net/romans-1More about the Liberation & Inclusion Translation: https://www.litbible.net/translation-commitmentsSupport LIT & FIT: https://donorbox.org/found-in-translation-1...Opportunity Walks by Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

Introducing the name and web presence of Brandon's work: The Liberation and Inclusion Translation of the New Testament, at www.litbible.net. We're thrilled to share this unfolding resource, complete with all of his footnotes in one easy to find place.We'll be back next week with season 6: Romans!Read online: www.litbible.net/More about the Liberation & Inclusion Translation: https://www.litbible.net/translation-commitmentsSupport LIT & FIT: https://donorbox.org/found-in-translation-1...Opportunity Walks by Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

Hebrews' conclusion weaves together so many of its most potent ideas with an emphasis on the practical and communal. The Brandons take this opportunity to review the total flow of Priscilla's letter, touching on the most consequential translation changes and recapping what she was about.See you in 2024, for season 6: Romans!...Translation (Google Doc): https://bit.ly/FIT-Hebrews-GDocTranslation (PDF): https://bit.ly/FIT-Hebrews-PDFMobile-Friendly with endnotes: https://bit.ly/FIT-Hebrews-MobilePDJoin the community: https://donorbox.org/found-in-translation-1...Opportunity Walks by Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/...#bible #Christian #theology #hebrews #religion #spirituality #justice #bibletranslation #liberation

The slightest change in direction can have massively different outcomes. Change the rudder just a little and you end up far from port.This chapter is packed with that level of consequential changes. Understanding that holiness is about pursuing peace with everyone, particularly through the lens of economic justice and non-exploitation, is a watershed distinction that Brandon's translation argues for forcefully.Few episodes have left us as amazed at the liberative power dormant beneath the avalanche of misleading/shitty translations as this....Translation (Google Doc): https://bit.ly/FIT-Hebrews-GDocTranslation (PDF): https://bit.ly/FIT-Hebrews-PDFMobile-Friendly with endnotes: https://bit.ly/FIT-Hebrews-MobilePDJoin the community: https://donorbox.org/found-in-translation-1...Opportunity Walks by Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/...#bible #Christian #theology #hebrews #religion #spirituality #justice #bibletranslation #liberation

One of the more tragic ways we misunderstand the Divine is in projecting our experience of harmful parents onto Them. Creator thus becomes the parent that beats us "out of love", parents us through punishment, and more. It leads to profound attachment insecurity, horrible parenting skills, and tasteless relationships to suffering.Translators have had a hand in this: translating "discipline" instead of childrearing," "punishes" instead of "corrects," and more. Making better sense of the text then hides in a jungle of mealy-mouthed religious phrases ("shared in his holiness") that at best are confusing, but more alarmingly can reinforce a hierarchal, purity, punishment religion.Let's try it another way....Translation (Google Doc): https://bit.ly/FIT-Hebrews-GDocTranslation (PDF): https://bit.ly/FIT-Hebrews-PDFMobile-Friendly with endnotes: https://bit.ly/FIT-Hebrews-MobilePDJoin the community: https://donorbox.org/found-in-translation-1...Opportunity Walks by Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/...#bible #Christian #theology #hebrews #religion #spirituality #justice #bibletranslation #liberation

Is the Divine really after belief? Were all the saints of the past most remembered for their inner certainty of an invisible realm? That can't be what Priscilla or the other NT authors mean by faith, given the pervasive emphasis on communal solidarity, economic security, and a courageous belonging. In this episode we set our sights on faith vs faithfulness, and the transforming power that shift brings to the rest of the Bible....Translation (Google Doc): https://bit.ly/FIT-Hebrews-GDocTranslation (PDF): https://bit.ly/FIT-Hebrews-PDFMobile-Friendly with endnotes: https://bit.ly/FIT-Hebrews-MobilePDJoin the community: https://donorbox.org/found-in-translation-1...Opportunity Walks by Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/...#bible #Christian #theology #hebrews #religion #spirituality #justice #bibletranslation #liberation

Does God need violence to forgive? Must something die for deviations to be dismissed? Seems like a shitty god that would need violence to be merciful. But thanks to how a certain verse in Hebrews is typically translated, many argue for just that. YUCK. Let's address that head-on and find out that not only is the Divine not shitty like that, but far more on the side of the sacrificed than the sacrificer....Translation (Google Doc): https://bit.ly/FIT-Hebrews-GDocTranslation (PDF): https://bit.ly/FIT-Hebrews-PDFMobile-Friendly with endnotes: https://bit.ly/FIT-Hebrews-MobilePDJoin the community: https://donorbox.org/found-in-translation-1...Opportunity Walks by Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/...#bible #Christian #theology #hebrews #religion #spirituality #justice #bibletranslation #liberation

All that Brandon Rhodes remembers about Hebrews from seminary was the debates Calvinists and others would have over Hebrews 6 – the whole "once saved, always saved" thing. Boring! This passage is far more revolutionary than that old pissing match. If our sacred story's sense of salvation is Creator inhabiting a community of love and solidarity – not rules and going to heaven – then this reads quite differently.Notice what comes before: Jesus 101 is love and generosity. Then notice what comes after: waywardness expressed as scapegoating among them (re-crucifying Christ). Priscilla is arguing that if you're practicing the Jesus Way, then subsequent doctrine will come into focus and it'll exorcise any impulse to solve problems with violence and exclusion....Translation (Google Doc): https://bit.ly/FIT-Hebrews-GDocTranslation (PDF): https://bit.ly/FIT-Hebrews-PDFMobile-Friendly with endnotes: https://bit.ly/FIT-Hebrews-MobilePDJoin the community: https://donorbox.org/found-in-translation-1...Opportunity Walks by Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/...#bible #Christian #theology #hebrews #religion #spirituality #justice #bibletranslation #liberation

Is our liberation collective or individual? According to the author of Priscilla, it is only individual insofar as it helps us reweave into the sacred fabric of God's belonging through liberation. But you wouldn't know it from most translations! The Brandons focus on how she uses language of hostility to understand this, and what role the ancestors have in that collective liberation....Translation (Google Doc): https://bit.ly/FIT-Hebrews-GDocTranslation (PDF): https://bit.ly/FIT-Hebrews-PDFMobile-Friendly with endnotes: https://bit.ly/FIT-Hebrews-MobilePDJoin the community: https://donorbox.org/found-in-translation-1...Opportunity Walks by Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/...#bible #Christian #theology #hebrews #religion #spirituality #justice #bibletranslation #liberation

Ever heard folks casually equate violence with justice? Or suffering and punishment as the necessary response to sin? Or Jesus' crucifixion into an altar to holy bloodshed? Hebrews quickly turns into a minefield of phrases that are typically translated to support retributive and redemptive violence. Who shall deliver us from this body of death, but the Brandons and a whole lot of coffee?...Translation (Google Doc): https://bit.ly/FIT-Hebrews-GDocTranslation (PDF): https://bit.ly/FIT-Hebrews-PDFMobile-Friendly with endnotes: https://bit.ly/FIT-Hebrews-MobilePDJoin the community: https://donorbox.org/found-in-translation-1...Opportunity Walks by Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/...#bible #Christian #theology #hebrews #religion #spirituality #justice #bibletranslation #liberation

Priscilla begins the letter by arguing Christ is the tuning fork for how to be liberated and liberating creatures, and so goes deeper to the core of the cosmos than Messengers (angels). Leveraging Brandon Johnson's translation, we argue this stretch of the letter means all our systems of meaning and belonging and authority are penultimate, that all these things are bound up with the faithfulness of Jesus....Translation (Google Doc): https://bit.ly/FIT-Hebrews-GDocTranslation (PDF): https://bit.ly/FIT-Hebrews-PDFMobile-Friendly with endnotes: https://bit.ly/FIT-Hebrews-MobilePDFJoin the community: https://donorbox.org/found-in-translation-1...Opportunity Walks by Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/...#bible #Christian #theology #hebrews #religion #spirituality #justice #bibletranslation #liberation

Season Five is here! We're thrilled to begin this discussion of Brandon Johnson's translation of Hebrews. It's an esoteric, confusing, and mysterious text – and a bit of a minefield. We'll be cartwheeling through those mines with you, and we're wildly excited to explore its radical nature. For all that atonement language, who would have guessed it has some of the most explicitly anti-scapegoating passages in the entire canon? Yep, that's where this is going. Tune in, join us for some caffeinated musings, and welcome to the fifth season of Found in Translation!...Translation (Google Doc): https://bit.ly/FIT-Hebrews-GDocTranslation (PDF): https://bit.ly/FIT-Hebrews-PDFMobile-Friendly with endnotes: https://bit.ly/FIT-Hebrews-MobilePDFJoin the community: https://donorbox.org/found-in-translation-1...Opportunity Walks by Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/...#bible #Christian #theology #hebrews #religion #spirituality #justice #bibletranslation #liberation

As we wrap up season four on the fourth gospel, it's time to reflect on how these larger themes come together. And it begs the question: what kind of story is Lazarus/Eleazer telling? Is it one of punishment-avoidance, gnostic escape, antisemitic screed, or embodied cosmic liberation? ...Translation (Google Doc): https://bit.ly/FIT-John-GDocTranslation (PDF): https://bit.ly/FIT-John-PDF-revisedMobile-Friendly with endnotes: https://bit.ly/FIT-John-MobilePDFJoin the community: https://donorbox.org/found-in-translation-1...Opportunity Walks by Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/...#bible #Christian #theology #gospelofjohn #religion #spirituality #justice #bibletranslation #liberation

Some translators treat language like objects, as mere hallowed jargon on a leash than a living exchange in the wild. These sacred texts should be a zesty enterprise, but unfortunately there are some who engage in logjamming the Bible with jargon compulsively, seemingly without joy. Their preferred nomenclature make these subversive texts stupefyin', shrouding their liberating power in classist esoterica. The text feels disrupted by these words, like a child who wanders in in the middle of a movie; there's no frame of reference.And I'm talking about the word meno, here, from koine Gr– aw shush, look at me: I'm ramblin' again. Well, thisahere episode you're about to play is pretty darn innerestin', and in English, too.*...Translation (Google Doc): https://bit.ly/FIT-John-GDocTranslation (PDF): https://bit.ly/FIT-John-PDF-revisedMobile-Friendly with endnotes: https://bit.ly/FIT-John-MobilePDFJoin the community: https://donorbox.org/found-in-translation-1...Opportunity Walks by Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/...#bible #Christian #theology #gospelofjohn #religion #spirituality #justice #bibletranslation #liberation*yes, that was all a sagging mass of The Big Lebowski references, taped together with the overconfident bluster of Walter Sobchak.

Yeah, there's a lot in that episode title. But then again, there's a lot of weirdness with the divine Spirit in the Fourth Gospel.How might Spirit language draw us away from our bodies, when it's meant to be about God coming home to them?What does Jesus' lines in John 20 about receiving the Life Breath and then forgiving and retaining sins have to do with our capacity to violently blame and shame minority groups?Why is it more faithful to the sacred text to ascribe she/her pronouns to the Life-Breath when they're he/him in the Greek?If most persons called sinners in the gospels are the exiled and shamed, not the Cosmically Terminally Naughty that Augustine was so snagged up on, what does forgiving sins mean for churches?Cut to around minute 26 onward for the real fire. :)...Translation (Google Doc): https://bit.ly/FIT-John-GDocTranslation (PDF): https://bit.ly/FIT-John-PDF-revisedMobile-Friendly with endnotes: https://bit.ly/FIT-John-MobilePDFJoin the community: https://donorbox.org/found-in-translation-1...Opportunity Walks by Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/...#bible #Christian #theology #gospelofjohn #religion #spirituality #justice #bibletranslation #liberation

The identity of the Beloved Disciple, and therefore the author of John, has been a topic of low-consequence speculation for centuries. But recent scholarly insights give this mystery a profound gravity: a woman upheld as a pillar in the early church and apostle to the apostles was also the sister of the author of the New Testament's most mystical and intimate stories about Jesus Christ. The Fourth Gospel may be the closest we get to the spirituality and legacy of Mary Magdalene.And not at all in a DaVinci Code way at all.Further Reading: "Mary the Tower" by Diana Butler Bass...Translation (Google Doc): https://bit.ly/FIT-John-GDocTranslation (PDF): https://bit.ly/FIT-John-PDF-revisedMobile-Friendly with endnotes: https://bit.ly/FIT-John-MobilePDFJoin the community: https://donorbox.org/found-in-translation-1...Opportunity Walks by Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/...#bible #Christian #theology #gospelofjohn #religion #spirituality #justice #bibletranslation #liberation

Lots of talk about cleansing and impurity in the fourth gospel. Lots of talk about cleansing and impurity in, well, in purity culture. Not a good look. Not a good legacy.Disgust toward humans, it turns out, disgusts humans. Or it should.Many of us have found ourselves closer to Jesus through being delivered from disgust and purity paradigms toward one another. Yet there all the purity talk is in the Bible. What if we've been translating and imagining those passages backwards? This week, Brandon and Brandon take a look....Translation (Google Doc): https://bit.ly/FIT-John-GDocTranslation (PDF): https://bit.ly/FIT-John-PDFMobile-Friendly with endnotes: https://bit.ly/FIT-John-MobilePDFJoin the community: https://donorbox.org/found-in-translation-1...Opportunity Walks by Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/...#bible #Christian #theology #gospelofjohn #religion #spirituality #justice #bibletranslation #liberation

We need to talk about all the little footholds in the text that popular translations give to antisemitism. Sometimes it's de-judaizing early Christianity ("the law" instead of "Torah," etc.). Other times it's hyper-"othering" Jewish folk. This legacy of most translations enabling antisemitism must be faced, condemned, and repented of....Translation (Google Doc): https://bit.ly/FIT-John-GDocTranslation (PDF): https://bit.ly/FIT-John-PDFMobile-Friendly with endnotes: https://bit.ly/FIT-John-MobilePDFJoin the community: https://donorbox.org/found-in-translation-1...Opportunity Walks by Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/...#bible #Christian #theology #gospelofjohn #religion #spirituality #justice #bibletranslation #liberation

We've all seen John 3:16 in weird places – billboards, sporting events, bumper stickers, bracelets – even tattoos! In a tradition like evangelicalism that is so committed to sales and "closing the deal" through religious conversion, it kinda makes sense. Conventional translations of the verse have mixed with evangelical heaven-hell fetishes to leave many of us thinking "going to heaven when you die" is the point of all this. It's right there in that verse, right?Well, not right. It's way cooler and more interesting than that. Today we bring together many translation commitments across Brandon Johnson's work into this one verse, and see what kind of synthesis emerges. TL;DR – the story is way more interesting than we've been told....Translation (Google Doc): https://bit.ly/FIT-John-GDocTranslation (PDF): https://bit.ly/FIT-John-PDFMobile-Friendly with endnotes: https://bit.ly/FIT-John-MobilePDFJoin the community: https://donorbox.org/found-in-translation-1...Opportunity Walks by Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/...#bible #Christian #theology #gospelofjohn #religion #spirituality #justice #bibletranslation #liberation

We've been pretty dogged about the point of the Jesus stories is not to go to heaven, and it sure as hell isn't about not going to hell. Jesus stories point to something far better than that.But what to do about all that eternal life language? That sure seems to direct us toward a living-forever-one-way-or-another fate. Turns out, the greek there is a window into a much more faithful way of telling the Jesus stories: one that's good news for soil and salmon and supernovae and even us human critters!...Translation (Google Doc): https://bit.ly/FIT-John-GDocTranslation (PDF): https://bit.ly/FIT-John-PDFMobile-Friendly with endnotes: https://bit.ly/FIT-John-MobilePDFJoin the community: https://donorbox.org/found-in-translation-1...Opportunity Walks by Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/...#bible #Christian #theology #gospelofjohn #religion #spirituality #justice #bibletranslation #liberation

Glory to some people means one very specific thing – and at times one suspects how the use glory paints a picture of an insecure-but-big God needing lots of accolades. It's become a religious technical term with serious downsides.To others, glory is a blurry religious word that carries little meaning – it's a word that's become a sound. Hmmm.This week the Brandons try to make sense of this sound without ceding it to interpretive traditions that bow to an insecure authoritarian....Translation (Google Doc): https://bit.ly/FIT-John-GDocTranslation (PDF): https://bit.ly/FIT-John-PDFMobile-Friendly with endnotes: https://bit.ly/FIT-John-MobilePDFJoin the community: https://donorbox.org/found-in-translation-1...Opportunity Walks by Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/...#bible #Christian #theology #gospelofjohn #religion #spirituality #justice #bibletranslation #liberation

Metaphors, Wittgenstein said, have a way of dragging us along. And theologian Leonard Sweet speaks of divine authority in the Bible being found in its stories and metaphors, not merely word-for-word. But what happens when the pattern of a particular metaphor is stripped out of sacred literature? What happens when you bring it back?Pull a camping chair out into the field with us and let the fresh dawn of light, reveal, sleep, and rise up warm your spiritual imagination to new life....Translation (Google Doc): https://bit.ly/FIT-John-GDocTranslation (PDF): https://bit.ly/FIT-John-PDFMobile-Friendly with endnotes: https://bit.ly/FIT-John-MobilePDFJoin the community: https://donorbox.org/found-in-translation-1...Opportunity Walks by Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/...#bible #Christian #theology #gospelofjohn #religion #spirituality #justice #bibletranslation #liberation

Is reality a monologue or a conversation? Is the unity of all things singular, or is it generative unity among difference? What lies at the heart of the Divine and of the cosmos: a throne or a table?OK that may sound grandiose, but this change in John's legendary opening line may lead you to ask similar questions....Translation (Google Doc): https://bit.ly/FIT-John-GDocTranslation (PDF): https://bit.ly/FIT-John-PDFMobile-Friendly with endnotes: https://bit.ly/FIT-John-MobilePDFJoin the community: https://donorbox.org/found-in-translation-1...Opportunity Walks by Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/...#bible #Christian #theology #gospelofjohn #religion #spirituality #justice #bibletranslation #liberation

We're back for season four! As we explore the Gospel According to John (sus name btw), we will be offering shorter episodes that explore the literature thematically rather than sequentially.In this episode we'll be going over some of the distinctives of the fourth gospel, as well as the legacy it has in each of our own faith journey....Translation (Google Doc): https://bit.ly/FIT-John-GDocTranslation (PDF): https://bit.ly/FIT-John-PDFMobile-Friendly with endnotes: https://bit.ly/FIT-John-MobilePDFJoin the community: https://donorbox.org/found-in-translation-1...Opportunity Walks by Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/...#bible #Christian #theology #gospelofjohn #religion #spirituality #justice #bibletranslation #ethics #liberation

We've been busy! Listen in to know what to look forward to....Opportunity Walks by Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

In the final chapter of Paul's letter to the church in Galatia, as rendered by the Translator himself, Brandon Johnson, we explore:"y'all" vs "you,""Christ's Torah" vs "Law of Christ,"giving to leaders, andrecap where Galatians has taken us....Translation (Google Doc):https://bit.ly/FIT-Galatians-GDocTranslation (PDF): https://bit.ly/FIT-Galatians-PDFMobile-Friendly without footnotes: https://bit.ly/FIT-Galatians-MobileJoin the community: https://donorbox.org/found-in-translation-1...Opportunity Walks by Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/...#bible #Christian #theology #galatians #religion #spirituality #justice #bibletranslation #ethics #liberation

In the back half of chapter five of Paul's letter to the church in Galatia, as rendered by the Translator himself, Brandon Johnson, we explore:"impulsive bodily cravings" vs "desires of the flesh,"other weird ways of being bigoted against bodies, andPaul's latest list of No-No's....Translation (Google Doc):https://bit.ly/FIT-Galatians-GDocTranslation (PDF): https://bit.ly/FIT-Galatians-PDFMobile-Friendly without footnotes: https://bit.ly/FIT-Galatians-MobileJoin the community: https://donorbox.org/found-in-translation-1...Opportunity Walks by Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/...#bible #Christian #theology #galatians #religion #spirituality #justice #bibletranslation #ethics #liberation

In the beginning of chapter five of Paul's letter to the church in Galatia, as rendered by the Translator himself, Brandon Johnson, we explore:why faithfulness is more saving than faith,the authoritarian nature of obedience, andthe tangle of viticultural, social, and penile puns Paul waggles at his opponents....Translation (Google Doc):https://bit.ly/FIT-Galatians-GDocTranslation (PDF): https://bit.ly/FIT-Galatians-PDFMobile-Friendly without footnotes: https://bit.ly/FIT-Galatians-MobileJoin the community: https://donorbox.org/found-in-translation-1...Opportunity Walks by Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/...#bible #Christian #theology #galatians #religion #spirituality #justice #bibletranslation #ethics #liberation

In the fourth chapter of Paul's letter to the church in Galatia, as rendered by the Translator himself, Brandon Johnson, we explore:'fundamental assumptions of the world systems' vs 'elemental spiritual forces of the world'how Paul's arguments are a template for decolonizing everywhere, andwhat to do about that weird allegory....Translation (Google Doc):https://bit.ly/FIT-Galatians-GDocTranslation (PDF): https://bit.ly/FIT-Galatians-PDFMobile-Friendly without footnotes: https://bit.ly/FIT-Galatians-MobileJoin the community: https://donorbox.org/found-in-translation-1...Opportunity Walks by Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/...#bible #Christian #theology #galatians #religion #spirituality #justice #bibletranslation #ethics #liberation