Gravity Commons Podcast

We talk with Rev. Dr. Miguel A. De La Torre about his book Reading the Bible From the Margins and how learning to read from the perspective of the poor, oppressed, and marginalized can enrich our perspective on what Scripture means and does.

Rev. Dr. Miguel A. De La Torre, Professor of Social Ethics and Latinx Studies at the Iliff School of Theology in Denver, Colorado. He has served as the elected 2012 President of the Society of Christian Ethics and served as the Executive Officer for the Society of Race, Ethnicity and Religion (2012-17). Dr. De La Torre is a recognized international Fulbright scholar who has taught courses and lectured around the world. In 2020, the American Academy of Religion bestowed on him the Excellence in Teaching Award. The following year, 2021, the American Academy also conferred upon him the Martin E. Marty Public Understanding of Religion Award. De La Torre is the first scholar to receive the two most prestigious awards presented by his guild and the first Latinx to receive either one of them.

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We talk with New Testament scholar Scot McKnight about his new translation of the New Testament, entitled The Second Testament: A New Translation, and why encountering the strangeness of the Bible can help us to read it anew.

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What if the imperfections and contradictions in Scripture aren't an accident? What if they were allowed to be there by the Holy Spirit in order to draw us beyond the literal words on the page and deeper into the spiritual truth God is trying to teach us? As provocative or unorthodox as that might sound, it is in fact a very ancient way of understanding what it means for the Bible to be divinely inspired.

We talk with Zack Hunt about these topics, which he covers in his book Godbreathed: What It Really Means For the Bible To Be Inspired.

Zack Hunt graduated from Trevecca Nazarene University with an undergraduate double major in Religion and History. He also holds a graduate degree in Theology as well as an additional graduate degree in Christian History from Yale Divinity School. He's appeared in Rolling Stone, The Boston Globe, Huff Post, and wrote a book narrating his faith deconstruction vis a vis the book of Revelation entitled Unraptured. He's interested in the intersection of faith and politics, and smoking BBQ.

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In response to our conversation with Chris Green, we've received a couple questions asking for examples of how this "new/old" way of interpreting the Scriptures works. So we used a recent sermon from Matt on 2 Samuel 21:1-14 (David avenging the Gibeonites) as an example and talked about the implications.

Here's a link to Matt's original sermon, if you'd like to listen:

Rizpah, David, And The Good Work Of Shame To Oppose Injustice

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As part of our series on the Bible, we talk with Rabbi Danya Ruttenberg about Jewish interpretation of Scripture, repentance and forgiveness, and some of the commons things Christians miss in the Hebrew Scriptures (aka the Old Testament).

Rabbi Danya Ruttenberg is author of numerous books, including On Repentance and Repair: Making Amends in an Unapologetic World--winner of the National Jewish Book Award, and American Library Association's Honor Medal, and hailed by Congresswoman Ayanna Pressley as “A must read for anyone navigating the work of justice and healing.” She serves as Scholar in Residence at National Council of Jewish Women (NCJW).

You can subscribe to her Substack newsletter here.

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“Scripture is a spring of life-giving, life-altering truth, but when we don’t understand how and why it came to us, we end up misusing it.”

Karen Keen joins us to talk about how we got the Bible, why that matters, and how history shows us that Scripture can be used for both life-giving and destructive purposes. Karen's book The Word of a Humble God: The Origins, Inspiration, and Interpretation of Scripture, helps readers to discover the Bible’s origins, which makes all the difference for fostering redemptive interpretation of Scripture.

Karen R. Keen is a biblical scholar, author, and spiritual care provider. She has taught biblical and theological studies in both academic and church settings. Keen is passionate about making scholarship accessible in ways that positively impact everyday life. Founder of the Redwood Center for Spiritual Care and Education, she works to advance spiritual wellness and Christian formation. Keen earned her M.S. in education (counseling) from Western Oregon University, M.A. in exegetical theology from Western Seminary, and Th.M. in biblical studies from Duke Divinity School.

You can find Karen online at karenkeen.com and redwoodspiritualcare.com.

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As part of our series on reading and interpreting the Bible, we talk with pastor Melissa Florer-Bixler about how to find God in the Old Testament, reading it as a Christian without succumbing to the pitfalls of antisemitism and supercessionism. She wrote about these issues in her book Fire by Night: Finding God in the Pages of the Old Testament.

Melissa is the pastor of Raleigh Mennonite Church, and a graduate of Duke University and Princeton Theological Seminary. She spent times studying in Israel/Palestine, Kenya, and England. Much of her formation took place in the L'Arche community of Portland, OR. Now she prefers the Eno River and her garden in Raleigh, NC. She is the chair of L'Arche North Carolina and a steering committee member in broad-based organizing in her county. Melissa's writing has appeared in Christian Century, Sojourners, Geez, Anabaptist Witness, The Bias, Faith&Leadership, and Anabaptist Vision.

You can connect with Melissa and her work by subscribing to her Substack newsletter.

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• Check out Gravity Leadership Academy, our 12-month training intensive for Christian leaders who want to bring lasting transformation to their culture.
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To kick off our series on reading and interpreting the Bible, we talk with pastor and professor Chris Green about how his reading of the Bible has changed over the years from his upbringing in pentecostal holiness to his recent consecration as an Anglican bishop. We touch on how to read disturbing texts, as well as other elements of his book Sanctifying Interpretation: Vocation, Holiness and Scripture.

Chris Green is Professor of Public Theology at Southeastern University (Lakeland, FL), Bishop of the Diocese of St Anthony (CEEC), and Director for St Anthony Institute of Theology, Philosophy, and Liturgics. He is the author and editor of a number of books, including most recently All Things Beautiful: An Aesthetic Christology.

You can connect with Chris and his work on his website.

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Critical race theory (CRT) has become a lightning rod in contemporary American politics and evangelical Christianity. In this interview, Dr, Robert Chao Romero and Dr. Jeff Liou offer a critical but constructive and sympathetic introduction to CRT written from a perspective rooted in Scripture and Christian theology, moving us beyond caricatures and misinformation to consider how critical race theory can be an analytical tool to help us understand persistent inequality and injustice--and to see how Christians and churches working for racial justice can engage it in faithful and constructive ways. These themes are covered in their book Christianity and Critical Race Theory: A Faithful and Constructive Conversation

Dr. Robert Chao Romero is associate professor in the UCLA dept of Chicana/o, Central American, and Asian American Studies; director of the Brown Church Initiative, Fuller Theological Seminary; an attorney; and author of the award-winning book Brown Church: Five Centuries of Latina/O Social Justice, Theology, and Identity. You can connect with him and find out more about his work on his website.

Dr. Jeff M. Liou is national director of theological formation for InterVarsity Christian Fellowship/USA and adjunct assistant professor of Christian ethics at Fuller Theological Seminary in Pasadena, California. He cofounded the Asian American Christian Collaborative and writes on race and justice, Asian American Christianity, theological ethics, and political theology. Ordained in the Christian Reformed Church, Liou has served as a campus minister, pastor, and university chaplain.

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CW: Domestic violence and abuse.

On any given Sunday morning, a pastor can look over the 100 members of the congregation and see 25 women and 14 men who have been crippled by domestic violence and trauma--no matter the race or socio-economic group. The church is more than a hospital for sinners, it is also an emergency room for those who have been sinned against. But emergency rooms are not the place for long-term care. More is needed.

Dr. Christy Gunter wrote Survivor Care: What Religious Professionals Need to Know about Healing Trauma especially for this purpose. She writes for Christian mental health professionals and students, counselors, therapists, psychologists, and pastors, laying out a framework and shows why issues related to violence and abuse continue to plague our society.

Dr. Christy Gunter is the director of Client Services at an agency that serves families of Domestic and Family Violence in DFW. She's the author of "Survivor Care: What Religious Professionals Need to Know about Healing Trauma" and has her doctorate in Global Health and Wellness, a M. Div., and a Master of Social Work with over 500 additional hours of specialized training in violence, assault, trauma-informed care, and other related topics.

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