Found in Translation

07/11/2025

*links in the comments*

🖕 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 these passages antisemitically;
🎭 Why religious fakers pi**ed Jesus off so much;
💩 How truthfulness and no-bullsh*t vibes became central to Jesus' social vision;
🏳️‍🌈 Why Jesus would be so irate at Christians antagonizing LGBTQ folk in his name;

Our guest co-host today is Jenna DeWitt (she/her pronouns). Jenna is a writer, editor, and resource curator, working primarily in q***r Christian spaces and centering aromanticism and asexuality. You can find her work at The Invisible Cake Society or on Substack, Threads, or BlueSky.

07/05/2025

*Links in comments*

👩‍🎤 The q***r 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' G**O clapbacks;
and much more.

Our guest co-host is Naphtali Renshaw (she/they). Naphtali is the director of the BeLonging Space, a United Methodist ministry which resources faith communities to support LGBTQ+ and BIPOC-led liberation groups as acts of solidarity and reparations, including as de-escalators at Pride events. They are also the on-site support for the Maxwell Community Hub, a UMC building reimagined for neighborliness and q***r liberation.

07/04/2025

This week's episode will be a few hours late – but trust us, it's a banger.

06/27/2025

*links in the comments*

💍 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 eu**chs?
💖 Does being a not-dickish partner render someone a kind of eu**ch in the eyes of patriarchy?
🔨 Does Jesus reinforce patriarchal ideas of marriage or deconstruct them?
🍑 How sexually engaged were eu**chs in Jesus' day?
♾️ How do our inherited gender binaries get in the way of interpreting these stories?
🤑 Who is the more prominent antagonist in the Bible: the devil or the rich?

🎙️ Our guest co-host is Kalie Hargrove (she/her). Kalie is a writer, theologian, and activist who lives in the greater-Atlanta area with her partner and two kids. She has been part of LGBTQ+ activism bringing awareness of the legalized discrimination q***r and trans students face at religious universities. She received her Master of Divinity from United Theological Seminary of Twin Cities.

Kalie is Director of Digital Outreach at The Center for Prophetic Imagination which seeks to connect the intersection of socio-spiritual discernment and radical justice in our world.

06/20/2025

*Links in comments below*

😾 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 q***rphobic parents?
and more!

Our guest cohost is Avery Arden (they/ze). Avery is a genderq***r autistic minister in Atlanta whose work proclaims the holiness and agency of trans and disabled people. Drawing from both Catholic and Reform traditions, their theology is incarnational, Trinitarian, and rooted in breaking binaries. And of course, you've heard Avery many times on The Word in Black and Red.

06/13/2025

*links in the comments below*

🤴 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 Pastor Elle Dowd (she/they). Pastor 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, q***rphobia, 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 q***r/femme interpretation of scripture is at the center of grace, and all bodies – including yours – are beautifully and wonderfully made.

06/06/2025

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 highlights
– Compassion 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 works

Our 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.

06/03/2025

Hate, it appears to me, is the heresy.

Bright Evening Star

05/30/2025

So excited for this!

Here is a PDF press release for the FNV Psalms and Proverbs. It contains good samples and more information. Read and share!

https://ivpress.com/Media/Default/Press-Kits/A0727-press.pdf

05/30/2025

~LINKS BELOW~
What is the best Bible translation if you care about LGBTQ inclusion, liberation vibes, basic Greek fidelity and accuracy, 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?

Translations we rank...
Christian Standard Bible (CSB)
Common English Bible (CEB)
English Standard Version (ESV)
Inclusive Bible
Jerusalem Bible
King James Version (KJV)
Kingdom New Testament (N.T. Wright)
Liberation & Inclusion Translation (LIT)
The Message
New American Standard Version (NASB)
New English Translation (NET)
New International Version (NIV)
New Living Translation (NLT)
New Revised Standard Version (NRSV)
New Testament (David Bentley Hart)

▶️ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Br13ClAHqx8

 https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/found-in-translation/id1586737797?i=1000710557074

🎧 https://open.spotify.com/episode/1tUDtWQa0mQ8i4iL5O8i4R?si=ytgWJG9SRqKTB1zj7D253g

What is the best Bible translation if you care about LBTQ inclusion, liberation vibes, basic Greek fidelity and accuracy, and low-cringe? We present our Bibl...

05/23/2025

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 anarchism

Our 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.

Watch now: https://youtu.be/fLUACsjN-0s?si=fviFWxc4tayWnJ5r

01/29/2025

What does the Bible say to people living under tyranny and oppression? Should we fight back, passively resign ourselves to suffering, or hope only for the afterlife? Is there hope now, or is it only promised after we die? What encouragement does it offer to those who refuse to give up on a world dom