Fwd: From Art Laffin--An Invitation to Catholic Workers to Utilize a New Form of Bible Commentary--"Radical Bible"--by Wes Howar--Brook--Please Post

[Catholic Worker]

---------- Forwarded message ---------
From: Art Laffin <artl...@hotmail.com>
Date: Mon, Feb 3, 2025 at 3:58 PM
Subject: From Art Laffin--An Invitation to Catholic Workers to Utilize a New Form of Bible Commentary--"Radical Bible"--by Wes Howar--Brook--Please Post
To: catholicworkerlist <catholicw...@gmail.com>

 

To All Catholic Worker Friends--

 

The times call for us to go deeper into the well of faith and the scriptures as we seek to be faithful witnesses. 

 

One vitally important resource to help in this regard is "Radical Bible" (RB), a new project initiated by Wes Howard--Brook. A longtime friend and collaborator of many Catholic Workers, Wes has been teaching and writing at the intersection of church, society and academy since 1988. Wes and his wife, Sue Ferguson Johnson, collaborate in the ministry, Abide in Me, that interweaves the mystical and the prophetic, the inner and outer journeys with God. He has also taught theology and scripture at Seattle University—including a course on the Catholic Worker Movement—and at churches, CWs and elsewhere. He is the author of Empire Baptized, Come Out My People!, Unveiling Empire, The Church Before Christianity, Becoming Children of God, and co-editor of The New Testament: Introducing the Way of Discipleship. 

 

In an article by Wes published in "Radical Discipleship," May 8, 2022, he describes the origin, purpose and hope of RB:  (https://radicaldiscipleship.net/2022/05/09/the-radical-bible)

 

"...I've started a new project: a YouTube channel called “Radical Bible”, [to begin] to construct a new form of “Bible commentary” for the 21st century. I’ve started with four texts: Genesis, the books of Samuel, the Gospel of Luke and the book of Revelation. Each video is around 20 minutes and goes word-by-word, verse-by-verse, through the text, sharing the insights of scholarship I’ve gathered over the past thirty-five years as well as some of my own, along with sound and visual elements not available in a “standard” book commentary. The videos are available at no charge for anyone to use. In addition, I’ve set up a companion website (radicalbible.net) where one can download the PDFs used in the videos along with links to books and authors noted in each video.

 

My hope is that this channel can become both a reference shelf (“I wonder what the Hebrew of that verse is?”) and a starter for small group engagement, using the PDFs to help guide folks through a text. So far, I’ve done more than a hundred videos [note: as of this writing, 624 videos are posted], with many hundred more to go.

 

I’m very excited about this project and hope users will find it helpful, too. As it grows, my dream is that users will be inspired to claim or reclaim the Story that binds us together in discipleship of Jesus: the Story of a loving and generous God whose abundance overflows within and around all that is. I know I NEED that Story to keep my hope alive. May we all be, to paraphrase our mentor William Stringfellow, “keepers of the Story.” Lord knows, we need some Good News in the world today!"

 

I'm currently making my way through Wes's commentary of Luke's Gospel which I find extremely helpful.

In his instructive introduction to this Gospel, Wes provides important background information to better grasp Luke's story of Jesus. This includes an explanation of the context of time; the Roman empire; when Luke was written and for whom; the geography and Luke's main themes.

I've always been moved and intrigued by Luke 4:16-30, where Jesus reads from the prophet Isaiah in his hometown Nazareth synagogue and the subsequent events that transpire. Wes explains in great detail the sequence of how Jesus goes from being praised to being ostracized to the point where people want to hurl him off a cliff. He also illuminates how Jesus central ministry of release (Jubilee) is all encompassing of everything that holds God's people captive, including sins, debts, illness, demonic possession, and social exclusion.

"The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to bring good news to the poor, he has sent me to proclaim release to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to let the oppressed go free, to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor..." In praying over Luke 4:16-19, where Jesus reads from Isaiah 61:1-2, which is a declaration of Jesus's own ministry, I've come to see this passage as not only a direct personal call to try to embody, but also one for all followers of Jesus.  

As people of faith, we must remain rooted in the Word of God and the Gospel of Jesus. The better we understand Jesus, the better we can determine what we are called to do in this perilous time as we seek to resist the powers and principalities and forces of oppression, death and destruction, renounce Christian nationalism and the interconnected evils Dr. King described as racism, poverty and economic exploitation and militarism, and live and proclaim God's reign of love, justice, peace and nonviolence. 

I strongly encourage Catholic Workers and all followers of Jesus to utilize RB as an invaluable aid for the journey ahead--truly a gift beyond measure! 

In Christ's peace,

Art Laffin