PODCAST · religion
Found in Translation
by Brandon Vélez-Johnson & Brandon Rhodes | Liberation Theology & Biblical Studies
We're decolonizing the New Testament chapter-by-chapter, through a fresh translation committed to faithfulness to the text, trauma-informed analysis, God always looking like Jesus, avoiding religious technical language, belovedness and belonging, and reading with the oppressed.*Hosts:* Brandon Rhodes (D.Min) and Brandon Vélez-Johnson (M.Div)*Bible:* Liberation and Inclusion Translation ( www.litbible.net ( http://www.litbible.net ) )*App:* "LIT Bible" free on App Store ( https://apps.apple.com/app/id6772577879 ) & Google Play ( https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.litbible.app&pcampaignid=web_share )*More:* www.liberatingscripture.org ( http://www.liberatingscripture.org )
Episodes
-
Is Marriage an Idol? - 1 Corinthians 7 with Jenna DeWitt
Jenna DeWitt (she/her) is a writer, editor, and resource curator working primarily in queer Christian spaces, and centering aromanticism & asexuality. You can find her work at www.invisiblecakesociety.com and on Threads as @jennadewitt. Episode Highlights Paul is doing pastoral triage, not…
more -
Stop Using Purity Culture to Hide Abuse – 1 Corinthians 5 & 6 with Anthony Parrott
Our guest for 1 Corinthians 3 & 4 is Anthony Parrott. Anthony is the co-pastor at the Table Church in Washington, DC, an affirming, multiracial community committed to following Jesus without the baggage of white Christian nationalism. Anthony writes at parrott.ink about the Bible, books, and what...
-
Life After Rivalry, Scarcity, & Power – 1 Corinthians 3 & 4 with Dr. Drew Hart
Our guest for 1 Corinthians 3 & 4 is Dr. Drew Hart, Associate Professor of Theology at Messiah University, director of Messiah's Thriving Together: Congregations for Racial Justice program, and co-host with Jared McKenna of the amazing Inverse podcast. Dr. Hart is the author of Trouble I've Seen:...
-
The Wisdom of the Marginalized – 1 Corinthians 1 & 2 with Dr. Miguel A. De La Torre
Welcome to Season 9, where we'll be exploring Paul's expansive pastoral concerns and pleas to the Jesus huddle in Corinth. The letter has its share of landmines, which we can't wait to explore with you in the months ahead. Our guest for 1 Corinthians 1 & 2 is Dr. Miguel A. De La Torre, one of the...
-
The LIT Bible app is here!
Introducing the LIT Bible app Now you can read, highlight, and annotate the Liberation & Inclusion Translation from your iPhone or Android. Download on iPhone and iPad Download on Android It's a Bible app that we actually want to use. They're free, no ads, and no tracking. Your LIT Bible updates…
more -
Exposing Wealth & Social Control (James 5)
Episode Highlights Perseverance amidst systemic injustice and economic exploitation; Importance of communal care and addressing chronic illness with dignity; Wealth as a chronic illness in spiritual and social realms; Church discipline and communal accountability for the wealthy; False security…
more -
Desire, Defection, and Detainees - James 4
Episode Highlights The "desire for pleasures" James condemns isn't about sex — it's about golden toilets, rent-gouging, and union-busting. Your 401(k) might be morally complicated. "The world" James warns against isn't a vague spiritual fog — it's redlining, ICE raids, and every system where one...
-
No More Sacrifice! (LIVE from QCF Conference 2026)
We had an absolute blast recording this episode at the Queer Christian Fellowship Conference in Portland, Oregon. Rather than talk about the clobber passages used against queer folk, we wanted to explore how the LIT Bible opens up new insights into moral courage and resisting scapegoating in...
-
The One Where We Curse a Lot – James 3
Episode Highlights Dehumanizing words vs taboo words; What kind of speech disqualifies someone from church leadership; "you piece of 💩" vs "look at that 💩" Competitive self-promotion in tension with maturity; Open-mindedness, not certainty, as a mark of Christian maturity; The role of power and...
-
What if "Faith vs Works" isn't about heaven? – James 2
Episode Highlights The importance of avoiding the word faith in translation; What James probably meant by faith; Comparing what James and Paul each meant by works; Classism and power's role in James' exhortations about modesty; The importance of solidarity with the poor in shaping our…
more -
Cutting the Oppressor-Brain Vibes – James 1
Episode Highlights The Letter of James is best understood through the lens of 1:27. Doubt in James is not about uncertainty in belief. Caring for orphans and widows is a central call of the faith. Avoiding the oppressor's mindset is the flipside to helping widows and orphans. ... Read LIT online:...
-
The Subversive Religion of Jesus' Little Brother – Introducing James
Episode Highlights Is there a unifying theme behind James' meandering letter? Why did this letter piss off so many church leaders over the millennia? What can we learn about early Christianity from James? Why was James so fixated on power relationships? ... Welcome to Season 8 of Found in...
-
Three Seasons and a Live Show! Previewing 2026
We've been recording three seasons at once! James is coming soon, then 1 Corinthians and some bonus episodes on the translation commitments. We're so, so stoked. Most exciting: we're recording our first LIVE episode at the Queer Christian Fellowship Conference in Portland, happening January…
more -
What is the Great Commission? – Matthew 28 & Recap with Kalie May Hargrove
Episode Highlights Anti-Caesar coding throughout the story; how much better the gospel is apart from Christian supremacism; how to understand the great commission through a liberation & inclusion hermeneutic; identifying the inclusive center in the literary structure of Matthew; empathy and...
-
What Was Jesus' Atonement Theory? – Matthew 27 with Mae Forrest Barnes
Episode Highlights for Matthew 27 Pilate and the banality of evil; The enduring temptation of revering the violent; Disability injustice in the church and the Bible; Solidarity is central to salvation; Manipulating crowds into bloodlust is as old as time; Scapegoating vibes on Good Friday; Jesus'...
-
How Does Jesus' Arrest & Trial Expose State Violence? – Matthew 26 with Brian Murphy
Episode Highlights for Matthew 26 The Eucharist is about an ever-widening belonging in God, and Matthew structured his entire gospel around it. The challenge of soothing nerves when confronting state violence. The cyclical nature of domination and liberation in the Bible and history. Resisting…
more -
Who Are the Least of These? – Matthew 24 & 25 with Trey Ferguson
Episode Highlights for Matthew 24 and 25 "I understand that reference" – How Jesus used loads of metacultural nods to embellish his alarm toward his neighbors' self-destructive nationalism; the intersection of the Black church and Anabaptism; the Bible is holy because it is a library of…
more -
What Got Jesus Angry? – Matthew 23 with Jenna DeWitt
Episode Highlights What Jesus knew would get him killed; Why he was fiercest to those – the Pharisees – with whom he was most theologically aligned; The similar anger we find in ourselves toward evangelicalism going after Christian nationalism; The importance of rebuking the temptation to read...
-
Why Did Jesus Cleanse the Temple? – Matthew 21 & 22 with Naphtali Renshaw
Episode Highlights The queer theology anthem that happened to be Jesus' favorite song lyric Jesus' street pageantry entering Jerusalem parodying the imperial occupation; Merch tables in the part of the temple dedicated to hosting outsiders; Jesus' mounting sense of his looming lynching; Jesus'…
more -
Did Jesus Oppose Patriarchy? – Matthew 19 & 20 with Kalie May Hargrove
Why did Jesus' thoughts on divorce and marriage cause his disciples to question whether anyone can get married? Why did Jesus respond with this thing about three kinds of eunuchs? Does being a not-dickish partner render someone a kind of eunuch in the eyes of patriarchy? Does Jesus reinforce...
-
Why is Peter Called Satan by Jesus? – Matthew 16-18 with Avery Arden
Why is Jesus so reactive to his students' difficulty with understanding his vocation? He seems grumpy at times. How does Jesus plan to escalate his confrontation with the Roman Empire and their local enablers? How is Jesus' strong words against harming children a fierce rebuke to queerphobic...
-
What Did Jesus Learn From the Canaanite Woman? – Matthew 14 & 15 with Elle Dowd
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...
-
Why Did Jesus Speak in Parables? - Matthew 12 & 13 with Ell of TWIBAR
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…
more -
What is the Best Bible Translation:
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…
more -
Was Jesus an Anarchist? – Matthew 10 & 11 with Rev. Terry Stokes
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...
-
Did the Roman Centurion Have a Boyfriend? – Matthew 8 & 9 with Micah Belong
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,...
-
Resisting Mammon – Matthew 6 & 7 with Matt Tebbe
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…
more -
Did Jesus Talk About the Male Gaze? - Matthew 5 with Frances Cutshaw
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…
more -
Was Jesus tempted to be a dictator? - Matthew 3 & 4 with Mae Forrest Barnes
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...
-
Jesus Was Born on Occupied Land
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…
more -
Reading Matthew's Gospel Under Authoritarianism – An Introduction
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…
more -
Season 7 Preview: Reading Matthew Amid Authoritarianism
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/matthew More about the Liberation & Inclusion Translation:...
-
Junia, Phoebe, & Romans in Review
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…
more -
Wink-Wink (Romans 12 & 13)
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…
more -
Election Isn't About Heaven & Hell (Romans 9-11)
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…
more -
Everything Collaborates (Romans 8)
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...
-
The Fleshy Bits (Romans 7)
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…
more -
Lawlessness (Romans 6)
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...
-
Who Is God Saving Us From? (Romans 5)
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......
-
What is "Faith vs Works" Really About? (Romans 4)
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...
-
Judgementalism Feeds Supremacism Feeds Death (Romans 3)
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...
-
With Great Torah Comes Great Responsibility (Romans 2)
"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....
-
Dismantling Domination, with Micah Belong (Romans 1:24-32)
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…
more -
Introducing Romans – "Everyone Belongs"
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...
-
The Liberation and Inclusion Translation is here!
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…
more -
Faithfulness is Hopeful Solidarity (Hebrews 13)
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…
more -
The Leftist Expectations of Grace (Hebrews 12:14-29)
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…
more -
Reared for Community, not Conformity (Hebrews 12:1-13)
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...
-
A Great Cloud (Hebrews 10-11)
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…
more -
Blood and Glory (Hebrews 6b-9)
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...
We're indexing this podcast's transcripts for the first time — this can take a minute or two. We'll show results as soon as they're ready.
No matches for "" in this podcast's transcripts.
No topics indexed yet for this podcast.
Loading reviews...
ABOUT THIS SHOW
We're decolonizing the New Testament chapter-by-chapter, through a fresh translation committed to faithfulness to the text, trauma-informed analysis, God always looking like Jesus, avoiding religious technical language, belovedness and belonging, and reading with the oppressed.*Hosts:* Brandon Rhodes (D.Min) and Brandon Vélez-Johnson (M.Div)*Bible:* Liberation and Inclusion Translation ( www.litbible.net ( http://www.litbible.net ) )*App:* "LIT Bible" free on App Store ( https://apps.apple.com/app/id6772577879 ) & Google Play ( https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.litbible.app&pcampaignid=web_share )*More:* www.liberatingscripture.org ( http://www.liberatingscripture.org )
HOSTED BY
Brandon Vélez-Johnson & Brandon Rhodes | Liberation Theology & Biblical Studies
CATEGORIES
Loading similar podcasts...
Frequently Asked Questions
How many episodes does Found in Translation have?
Found in Translation currently has 114 episodes available on PodParley. New episodes are automatically indexed when they're published to the podcast feed.
What is Found in Translation about?
We're decolonizing the New Testament chapter-by-chapter, through a fresh translation committed to faithfulness to the text, trauma-informed analysis, God always looking like Jesus, avoiding religious technical language, belovedness and belonging, and reading with the oppressed.*Hosts:* Brandon...
How often does Found in Translation release new episodes?
Found in Translation publishes regularly with 114 episodes available. Check the episode list for the typical release schedule.
Where can I listen to Found in Translation?
You can listen to Found in Translation on PodParley by clicking any episode. We provide an embedded audio player for direct listening, and you can also subscribe via your preferred podcast app using the RSS feed.
Who hosts Found in Translation?
Found in Translation is created and hosted by Brandon Vélez-Johnson & Brandon Rhodes | Liberation Theology & Biblical Studies.
URL copied to clipboard!