Liz Theoharis - We Cry Justice: Reading the Bible with the Poor Peoples Campaign

Praise for We Cry Justice: Reading the Bible with the Poor Peoples Campaign

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 clear eyes on Holy Scripture, an electric cord between heaven and earth, a bridge between what Muslims call deen and dunya: the cosmic world and the material world. We Cry Justice will bring you to your knees in prayer, it will connect you more deeply with your neighbor, and it will inspire you to organize for the world that God calls us to create.

Eboo Patel, founder and president, Interfaith Youth Core

Whats just as important as reading the Bible is who we read it with. Our experiences and social location affect what we hear, and what we dont hear, as we read Gods Word. As we read it together, we are reminded that the gospel is good news to the poorif its 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 Peoples Campaign, We Cry Justice is a must-read. It will inspire spiritual practice, scriptural reflection, and social action to transform your lifeand 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 Gods 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 Gods 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

Edited by Liz Theoharis

Broadleaf Books

Minneapolis

WE CRY JUSTICE

Reading the Bible with the Poor Peoples Campaign

Copyright 2021 Liz Theoharis. Printed by Broadleaf Books, an imprint of 1517 Media. All rights reserved. Except for brief quotations in critical articles or reviews, no part of this book may be reproduced in any manner without prior written permission from the publisher. Email or write to Permissions, Broadleaf Books, PO Box 1209, Minneapolis, MN 55440-1209.

All Scripture quotations, unless otherwise indicated, are taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version, NIV. Copyright 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc. Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved worldwide. www.zondervan.com The NIV and New International Version are trademarks registered in the United States Patent and Trademark Office by Biblica, Inc.

Scripture quotations marked (NRSV) are taken from New Revised Standard Version Bible, copyright 1989 National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.

Scripture quotations marked (MSG) are taken from THE MESSAGE, copyright 1993, 2002, 2018 by Eugene H. Peterson. Used by permission of NavPress, represented by Tyndale House Publishers. All rights reserved.

Scripture quotations marked (TLB) are taken from The Living Bible copyright 1971. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.

Cover design by Emily Weigel

Print ISBN: 978-1-5064-7364-2

eBook ISBN: 978-1-5064-7365-9

While the author and 1517 Media have confirmed that all references to website addresses (URLs) were accurate at the time of writing, URLs may have expired or changed since the manuscript was prepared.

Liz Theoharis

Solita Alexander Riley

Jessica C. Williams

Daniel Jones

Melanie Mullen

Colleen Wessel-McCoy

Claire Chadwick

Idalin Luz Montes Bob

Tejai Beulah

Brigitte Kahl

Erica N. Williams

Stephen Pavey

Erica N. Williams

Karenna Gore

Liz Theoharis

Letiah Fraser

Melanie Mullen

Michael Pollack

Adam Barnes

Janelle Bruce

Leonardo Vilchis

Keith M. Bullard II

Liz Theoharis

Aaron Scott

Daniel Jones

Becca Forsyth

Tejai Beulah

Letiah Fraser

Clinton Wright

Aaron Scott

Liz Theoharis

Erica N. Williams

Solita Alexander Riley

Daniel Jones

Claire Chadwick

Adam Barnes

C. Wess Daniels

Jessica C. Williams

Liz Theoharis

Aaron Scott

Charon Hribar

Nicholas Laccetti

Kenia Torres-Alcocer

Savina J. Martin

Tammy Rojas

Solita Alexander Riley

Sarah Monroe

C. Wess Daniels

Tonny H. Algood

Carolyn Jean Foster

Aaron Scott

Marco Saavedra

Noam Sandweiss-Back

When I was growing up, sometimes the preacher was so clearly preaching truth from the Bible and challenging the ways of sin and injustice that somebody would say, Cry loud, reverend. Cry loud! In We Cry Justice: Reading the Bible with the Poor Peoples Campaign, Rev. Dr. Liz Theoharis and the other writers whose work is included in these pages know how to cry for justice. In a skillful and insightful way they instruct us, through the biblical witness, how to cry. They recognize that crying loudcrying out against injusticeis, according to the Bible, nonnegotiable.

This powerful book truly took me down memory lane. My grounding as a child was in a family of church leaders and social activists who saw no separation between the two. My father and mother were both active participants in the civil rights transformation and in the church, so when I consider what it means to read the Bible, my mind travels back to many of the things I heard expressed during my upbringing in the faith.

Im the son of a pastor who was a general evangelist of our denomination; in other words, my father was often sent to build new congregations. Many times this began with a few people gathering for a Bible study. My mother was and is a church musician. Shes a skilled hymnologist. When I accompanied her to choir rehearsal, I saw that she not only taught the hymns but also showed people that every hymn had a scriptural reference that undergirded the theological foundation. My mother taught more than the notes and the words in her rehearsals. She taught the Bible.