#79. John Dear in conversation with scripture scholar and author Wes Howard-Brook: "We're faced with the choice between the religion of empire or the religion of creation."

On today’s new episode of “The Nonviolent Jesus Podcast,” I speak with my friend scripture scholar Wes Howard-Brook, author of several great books, including his commentary on the Gospel of John, Becoming Children of God. He also has a free YouTube channel “The Radical Bible,” his study of the Bible as a whole called, Come Out My People!: God’s Call out of Empire in the Bible and Beyond. He also just published a smaller, more accessible version of it called: Creation or Empire: A Choice of Religions in the Bible and Beyond.He tells us: "The Bible is not a bunch of rules or a bunch of pull quotes."“Most Christians treat the Bible like someone who's been on a one-week tourist trip with a bad tour guide, which is to say, they've gotten a superficial overview and had it interpreted wrongly, and then concluded, ‘Why would I want to go there again?’ he says. “The heart of my work is trying to re-establish a passion for biblical literacy, because as all indigenous cultures know, as a people, you are the stories that carry you forward.“The Bible is a set of narratives, poems, proverbs, and other texts that were written by our Israelite and Judean ancestors to get their children to grapple with one central question: what kind of people does God intend us to be?“The Bible proposes two choices: the religion of creation and the religion of empire. Jesus enters into that 2,000 year old argument among his people: are we to be a powerful empire in the name of God, centered in Jerusalem, to which all the nations will stream and bow down to us and our God? Or is creation the temple; do we find the Creator in the creation, and every created being is part of that? Jesus plainly and explicitly sides with the religion of creation and resists empire.” We were so inspired by this Bible scholar to find the Creator in creation and resist empire! Find his book hereSign up for more podcasts and interactive zooms here beatitudescenter.org IG @thenonviolentjesus Connect with me on Substack @FatherJohnDear 🌻, John