We Cry Justice: Reading the Bible with the Poor People's Campaign

by Liz Theoharis, William J. Barber II (Foreword by)

Overview

From Genesis to Revelation, the Bible proclaims justice and abundance for the poor. Yet these powerful passages about poverty are frequently overlooked and misinterpreted.

Enter the Poor People's Campaign, a movement against racism, poverty, ecological devastation, militarism, and religious nationalism. In We Cry Justice, Liz Theoharis, co-chair of the campaign, is joined by pastors, community organizers, scholars, low-wage workers, lay leaders, and people in poverty to interpret sacred stories about the poor seeking healing, equity, and freedom. In a world roiled by poverty and injustice, Scripture still speaks.

Organized into fifty-two chapters, each focusing on a key Scripture passage, We Cry Justice offers comfort and challenge from the many stories of the poor taking action together. Read anew the story of the exodus that frees people from debt and slavery, the prophets who denounce the rich and ruling classes, the stories of Jesus's healing and parables about fair wages, and the early church's sharing of goods. Reflection questions and a short prayer at the end of each chapter offer the opportunity to use the book devotionally through a year.

The Bible cries for justice, and we do too. It's time to act on God's persistent call to repair the breach and fight poverty, not the poor.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781506473642
Publisher:	1517 Media
Publication date:	10/12/2021
Pages:	241
Sales rank:	392,718
Product dimensions:	5.40(w) x 8.40(h) x 0.90(d)

About the Author

Rev. Dr. Liz Theoharis is co-chair of the Poor People's Campaign: A National Call for Moral Revival, alongside Bishop William J. Barber II, and she is the director of the Kairos Center for Religions, Rights, and Social Justice at Union Theological Seminary. She has been named by Politico as one of 50 "thinkers, doers and visionaries whose ideas are driving politics," by Sojourners as one of 11 Women Shaping the Church, and by the Center for American Progress as one of 15 Faith Leaders to Watch. Her work has been published in Boston Review, The Christian Century, CNN, The Guardian, Religion News Service, Sojourners, Time magazine, and others. She is the author of Always with Us? and coauthor of Revive Us Again. Theoharis is an ordained minister in the Presbyterian Church (USA) and teaches at Union Theological Seminary. She and her family live in New York City.

Table of Contents

Foreword ix

Introduction 1

Part I Jubilee

1 Is Ending Poverty Possible? Liz Theoharis 9

2 What we Wish For Solita Alexander Riley 13

3 Jesus was a Poor Man Jessica C. Williams 17

4 God Created Enough Daniel Jones 21

5 Give Us this Day Our Daily Bread Melanie Mullen 25

6 Of The Poor, for The Poor Colleen Wessel-McCoy 29

7 A Harvest for All People Claire Chadwick 33

8 The Power to Cry Justice Idalin Luz Montes Bobé 37

9 When Your Kin Fall into Difficulty Tejai Beulah 41

10 The Law That Disinherits is Not God's Law Brigitte Kahl 45

11 Jesus Came to Set It Off Erica N. Williams 49

Part II Struggle and Lament

12 You Must Let Us Wail Stephen Pavey 55

13 Pray for The Dead, Fight for The Living Erica N. Williams 59

14 Wake Up, Jonah Karenna Gore 63

15 We are Not Tractors Liz Theoharis 67

16 What Will you Lift Up? Letiah Fraser 71

17 How Bread Can Divide or Dignify Melanie Mullen 75

18 When Idols Speak, People Can't Michael Pollack 79

19 Naboth's Vineyard and the Struggle for Oak Flat Adam Barnes 83

Part III The Days of Liberation

20 Should we Sit at the Table-or Turn it Over? Janelle Bruce 89

21 Don't You Want to Improve Your Community? Leonardo Vilchis 93

22 Resurrecting Hope Keith M. Bullard II 97

23 Denied Dignity in Life and in Death Liz Theoharis 101

24 Walking Off the Job to Help God Aaron Scott 105

25 A Mixed Multitude Daniel Jones 109

26 The Power the Ground Holds Becca Forsyth 113

27 When Women Testify, Things Change Tejai Beulah 117

28 Touching the Wounds of a Disabled God Letiah Eraser 121

29 Find a Mule, Spread a Movement Clinton Wright 125

Part IV Learn as We Lead

30 Is It Really all That Bad? Aaron Scott 131

31 Blame The Poor or Judge The Rich? Liz Theoharis 135

32 Persistence of The Poor Erica N. Williams 139

33 In the Beginning, there was Care Solita Alexander Riley 143

34 A Hurt and Angry God Daniel Jones 147

35 Steadfast Spirit for Justice Claire Chadwick 151

36 Expose Yourself, Expose the Empire Adam Barnes 155

37 Beastly Economics C. Wess Daniels 159

38 Learn as we Lead Jessica C. Williams 163

Part V The Advent of Revolution

39 What Doth the Lord Require? Liz Theoharis 169

40 If Not Us, Who? Aaron Scott 173

41 Woe to You Who Pass Unjust Laws Charon Hribar 177

42 Is that What you Call a Fast? Nicholas Laccetti 181

43 Las Posadas Kenia Torres-Alcocer 185

44 Song of Revolutionary Mothers Savina J. Martin 189

Part VI The Birth of a Movement

45 Midwives who Say No Tammy Rojas 195

46 Whose Law and Whose Order? Solita Alexander Riley 199

47 Survival Economics Sarah Monroe 203

48 The Empire's Receipts C. Wess Daniels 207

49 What the Way Looks Like Tonny H. Algood 211

50 Band-Aids or Justice Carolyn Jean Foster 215

51 Same Sin, Different Day Aaron Scott 219

52 How to Survive a Pandemic Marco Saavedra 223

53 We who are Becoming Noam Sandweiss-Back 227

Acknowledgments 231

Contributors 233

Editorial Reviews

"Rev. Dr. Liz Theoharis is a towering love warrior and freedom fighter for precious poor people in the bowels of the American empire. This rich collection of essays is a powerful cacophony of prophetic voices that prefigure our beloved community." —Cornel West, Dietrich Bonhoeffer Chair, Union Theological Seminary, New York City

"Put down what you are doing and read this book now. It is a bridge between what Muslims call deen and dunya: the cosmic world and the material world. We Cry Justice will inspire you to organize for the world that God calls us to create." —Eboo Patel, founder and president, Interfaith Youth Core

"As we read [God's Word] together, we are reminded that the gospel is 'good news to the poor'—if it's not good news to the poor, then it is not the gospel of Jesus." —Shane Claiborne, author, activist, co-founder of Red Letter Christians

"If you are inspired by the Poor People's Campaign, We Cry Justice is a must-read. It will inspire spiritual practice, scriptural reflection, and social action to transform your life—and the world." —Valarie Kaur, Sikh American civil rights leader, author of See No Stranger: A Memoir & Manifesto of Revolutionary Love

"We Cry Justice is good news! Read cover to cover or dip into random chapters; each chapter is an encounter with people living the Scripture with vibrant truth. This clarion call is the encounter that is needed to agitate and heal our nation and our planet." —Sister Simone Campbell, SSS, lawyer, advocate, and former executive director of NETWORK

"In these pages, an impressive group of contributors reminds us that we cannot talk about the love of God without taking seriously the need for justice for all God's children, especially the poor, the vulnerable, and the voiceless." —The Most Rev. Michael B. Curry, presiding bishop of The Episcopal Church and author of Love Is the Way: Holding on to Hope in Troubling Times

"The book is an invitation to reflect in fresh ways on the urgency of faith and on the demanding crisis we face concerning issues of justice. This book is not to be 'scanned.' It is to be lived with while the justice-working, world-transforming Spirit of God does its relentless, indefatigable work." —Walter Brueggemann, Columbia Theological Seminary

"Whether used as a personal devotional or as the foundation for communal discernment, We Cry Justice is an immediate must-have for anyone who takes seriously the biblical call to work for a just and abundant life for all of creation." —Rev. Bruce Reyes-Chow, pastor, First Presbyterian Church of Palo Alto and former moderator of the Presbyterian Church (USA)

"The writers of We Cry Justice bring alive the meaning and the challenge of 'God's preferential option for the poor' for our world today. The message is clear: Doing justice is not an option for people of faith; rather, it is the work of God." —The Very Reverend Kelly Brown Douglas, PhD, dean, Episcopal Divinity School at Union, Bill and Judith Moyers Chair in Theology, Union Theological Seminary

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