The Way We Practice

My guest today is Ched Myers. A fifth generation Californian living in the Ventura Watershed, Ched is an activist theologian who has worked in the social change and radical discipleship movements for more than 45 years. His groundbreaking book on the Gospel of Mark, Binding the Strong Man, is a modern classic of New Testament scholarship and the organization he co-founded, Bartimaeus Cooperative Ministries, has continued to animate radical discipleship in a variety of contexts. Ched is the author and editor of many books including Who Will Roll Away the Stone?, Watershed Discipleship, and with his partner, Elaine Enns, Healing Haunted Histories. In all of them he has continued to mix deep reading of scripture with a call for equality.

This is true once again in his latest book, Healing Affluenza and Resisting Plutocracy: Luke’s Jesus and Sabbath Economics which was just released from Fortress Press. I am glad to consider Ched a friend, so it was good to talk with him about his new book, and hear his challenging message of discipleship in this time

Reading is a practice, one that is increasingly threatened in a world of reels, and AI summaries. To help recover the difficult and joyous work of deep reading, I talked with my friend, Jason Baxter. Jason is the Director for the Center for Beauty and Culture at Benedictine College, and the author of several books including The Medieval Mind of C.S. Lewis and a new translation of Dante’s Inferno. Jason is a scholar who engages not only the mind but also the heart. That comes out clearly in his latest book, Why Literature Still Matters, which has been described as The Abolition of Man for our times, refering to C.S. Lewis’s classic defence of the humanities. I hope you enjoy my conversation with Jason about reading, doing hard things, and learning to inhabit the language of other times. You can find out more about Jason’s work at his website, jasonmbaxter.com, and at his Substack newsletter, Beauty Matters.

My guest today is Jonathan Bailey. Jonathan, as you’ll find out, is a careful and wise guide to the practice of the spiritual disciplines. He writes about those disciplines at The Inward Odyssey, his newsletter on Substack, where he draws on the wisdom of the past as a guide to the journeys of the present. Jonathan also serves on the board of Renovare, where he teaches at Renovare’s Institute for Christian Spiritual Formation. On top of all of that, Jonathan co-founded Dwell, an app that serves as a tool for listening to scripture.

In our conversation, Jonathan shares his own journey from a transactional faith to a transformational one. Rooted in his own experience, Bailey offers practical insights into living out the spiritual life through a Rule of Life, the Disciplines of the Mount, and the Three Fold Way.

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In my continuing explorations of the book of Romans, I couldn’t help thinking about Andy Crouch’s important book, The Life We’re Looking For: Reclaiming Relationship in a Technological World. It is a wise and insightful exploration of our device driven culture, but I was surprised in reading it, to find a thread on Romans and Paul’s revolutionary insights into personhood. It shouldn’t have been a surprise, because as you’ll hear in my interview, Crouch is a writer who is able to bring scripture and theology to bare on the practical concerns of every day life.

Andy’s bio is too long and accomplished to simply read of as a list, so I’ll point you to his website, andy-crouch.com. I hope enjoy this conversation on Romans, personhood, and the way Empire and its technologies transform our relationships.

This is my fourth and final conversation on the Gospel of Mark with the Rev. Dr. Joshua Daniel. In this episode we dig into everything from blaspheming the Holy Spirit to the new family Jesus is making. To read along, look at Mark, chapter 3.

Our Holy Week exploration of the Gospel of Mark continues with a vision of a Jesus who gets down into the messy, dirty realities of life to bring God’s healing. This conversation leans heavily on the mini-arch of the gospel found in Mark 2-3. Reading those chapters will be helpful for following along.

Today’s episode digs into chapters 2-3 of Mark’s Gospel. In these two chapters we can find a mini-narrative that offers a summary of the whole. Along the way we’ll jump to some other challenging passages in Mark, such as that one about cutting off a hand if it causes you to sin. How might we read such a passage if we trust that Jesus is always about leading us toward fullness of life? Find out by listening to this conversation with Joshua Daniel.

The Gospel According to Mark is a profound text that works as both great literature and a radical call to live into the way of Jesus. My friend Joshua Daniel has undertaken a deep exploration of this Gospel by committing it to memory. Drawing on that work, Joshua is narrating an embodied portrayal of Mark’s first ten chapters at St. Columba’s Episcopal Church in Washington, D.C. It was this occasion, held on the Saturday before Palm Sunday, that prompted Joshua and I to sit down together and explore some of Mark’s most compelling themes.

This episode will be followed by three more conversations with Joshua, so be sure to listen in on Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday. We hope these explorations of Mark will deepen your appreciation of Jesus as we move into the three day liturgy called the Triduum, beginning with Maundy Thursday and ending with Easter.

We are continuing our series on Paul’s letter to the church in Rome, this time with the husband and wife scholars, Sylvia Keesmaat and Brian Walsh. Their book Romans Disarmed: Resisting Empire, Demanding Justice is one of my favorite explorations of Paul. Sylvia and Brian aren’t scholars who are content to stay in the Ivory Towers of academia. They combine close and thoughtful readings of the the biblical texts with a grounded and lived practice of justice. From standing alongside the unhoused in Toronto, Canada, near their home, to seeking to live out a care for creation at Russet House Farm, their off-the-grid permaculture learning center, Brian and Sylvia are tending to the ground of God’s work of resurrection in the world. I hope you enjoy this deep exploration of Romans and what it says to so many of our contemporary crises.

You can find out more about Sylvia and Brian’s work at bibleremixed.ca and empireremixed.com. In addition to writing, Brian and Sylvia offer a variety of online courses. I’ve taken two of them, and they are fantastic explorations of scripture alongside contemporary culture and politics.

This episode is a bit different than anything I’ve tried—a short exploration of a biblical text with my bible and notes open before me. To read along, take a look at the passage below. And let me know what you think! I plan to offer more of these podcasts in the near future.

Romans 1.1-7 (Common English Bible)

From Paul, a slave of Christ Jesus, called to be an apostle and set apart for God’s good news. God promised this good news about his Son ahead of time through his prophets in the holy scriptures. His Son was descended from David.  He was publicly identified as God’s Son with power through his resurrection from the dead, which was based on the Spirit of holiness. This Son is Jesus Christ our Lord.  Through him we have received God’s grace and our appointment to be apostles. This was to bring all Gentiles to faithful obedience for his name’s sake.  You who are called by Jesus Christ are also included among these Gentiles.

To those in Rome who are dearly loved by God and called to be God’s people.

Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.