Well, we kicked off our Advent Against Empire series with Diana Butler Bass diving deep into Matthew’s birth narrative, and wow—it did not disappoint. Diana brought her three signature lenses (anti-imperialism, non-violence, and eco-wholeness) to the most Jewish of all the gospels, and things got delightfully nerdy. We explored how Matthew’s genealogy isn’t just a boring list of “begats”—it’s a subversive royal document packed with scandalous women and outsiders that announces Jesus as the true king in direct confrontation with Rome and Herod. Diana walked us through a brilliant two-act structure: Act One is all about the birth of Wisdom and Joseph (a dreamer who winds up in Egypt—sound familiar?) receiving divine announcements. Act Two gives us the Apocalyptic clash between the World as it is and the World to come, with the Magi’s cosmic rebellion against Herod, the horrific violence that follows when the empire doesn’t get its way, and the holy family’s return. We also geeked out on Jesus as the embodiment of Sophia—Wisdom incarnate—and how Matthew’s five-discourse structure mirrors the Torah itself. If you’ve always thought of Matthew as the “Christmas pageant gospel,” prepare to have your assumptions lovingly dismantled.
Want to go deeper? Join Diana and me for our full four-week Advent journey, The Beginning of Another World: Advent Against Empire. Each week we’re letting a different gospel speak its revolutionary word—no harmonizing, no smoothing over the rough edges. The class is fully asynchronous so that you can participate on your own schedule or join us live for our recordings. Sign up HERE and contribute whatever you can (including 0). Come get nerdy with us!
Diana Butler Bass, Ph.D., is an award-winning author, popular speaker, inspiring preacher, and one of America’s most trusted commentators on religion and contemporary spirituality.
Previous Episodes with Diana & Tripp How the Lectionary Kept Me Christian: Diana Butler Bass on Practicing the Year * Two Books, One Night: Finding Beauty in What We Can’t Control * Religious Liberty & Violence – Unpacking the First 100 Days of Trump 2.0 * The Interlocking Crises of Religion & Democracy * Faith in a Toxic Public Square * The Resurrection of Jesus * 2024: The Sequel * The Christology Ladder * The Indictment Edition of Ruining Dinner * American Saints in a Cynical Age * Ruining Dinner… and Date Nights * Welcome to the Post-Christian Century * Ruining Christmas Dinner * Ruining Election Night Dinner * The Over-Rated Genie God * Bad Blood, Civil War, and other Soothing Topics * Shall the Fundies (Keep) Winning?, Abortion, and Black Holes * Theology and Spirituality in a Time of Rupture * White Evangelical Theopolitics, John Shelby Spong, & Jesus * 20 Years of Religious Decline * Jesus After Religion and Beyond Fear * Ruining Dinner with Diana Butler Bass and Robyn Henderson-Espinoza * Evangelical Decline, the Supreme Court, and the Horizon of Possibility * Debating, Praying, and Living with Tyrants * Religion, Politics, & the Elephant in the Room*
ONLINE CLASS w/ Diana Butler BassJoin us for a transformative four-week Advent journey exploring how the four gospels speak their own revolutionary word against empire—both in their ancient context under Roman occupation and for our contemporary world shaped by capitalism, militarism, and nationalism.Advent marks the beginning of the church year—an invitation to step out of the empire’s time and into God’s time, where the last are first, the mighty are scattered, and a child born in occupied territory changes everything.This course invites you into an alternative calendar and rhythm. While our modern world races through December toward consumption and productivity, Advent calls us to a different time—a counter-imperial waiting, a subversive hope, a radical reimagining of how God enters the world.What will we experience? Each week, we’ll hear one gospel’s unique vision of the birth narrative, allowing Matthew, Luke, John, and Mark to speak in their own voices about what it means for God to show up when empires think they’re in control. We’ll discover how these ancient texts of resistance offer wisdom for our own moment of political turmoil, economic inequality, and ecological crisis.This class is donation-based, including 0. You can sign-up at www.HomebrewedClasses.comThis podcast is a Homebrewed Christianity production. Follow the Homebrewed Christianity, Theology Nerd Throwdown, & The Rise of Bonhoeffer podcasts for more theological goodness for your earbuds. Join over 70,000 other people by joining our Substack – Process This! Get instant access to over 50 classes at www.TheologyClass.com
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