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Rating
4.9from
This podcast has
114 episodes
Language
EnglishPublisher
Brandon Johnson & Brandon RhodesExplicit
No
Date created
2021/09/21
Latest episode
2026/09/15
Average duration
50 min.
Release period
29 days
Description
A weekly-ish exploration of language, liberation, literature, and longing through one fellow’s translation of the Christian scriptures, one chapter at a time.
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Check latest episodes from Found in Translation podcast
Is Marriage an Idol? - 1 Corinthians 7 with Jenna DeWitt
2026/09/15
Jenna DeWitt (she/her) is a writer, editor, and resource curator working primarily in queer Christian spaces, and centering aromanticism & asexuality. You can find her work at www.invisiblecakesociety.com and on Threads as @jennadewitt.
Episode Highlights
Paul is doing pastoral triage, not writing a universal marriage doctrine;Marriage is about mutuality, not male entitlement;Economic vulnerability is a key ingredient to the chapter.Paul reads more clearly as ace and possibly aro.Making an idol of family and marriage is nothing new....
Read LIT online: litbible.net/1corinthians-7
LIT Bible apps: Download for iPhone/iPad, and on Android
Liberating Scripture Collective: www.liberatingscripture.org
Support LIT & FIT: liberatingscripture.org/support/
Stop Using Purity Culture to Hide Abuse – 1 Corinthians 5 & 6 with Anthony Parrott
2026/09/01
Our guest for 1 Corinthians 3 & 4 is Anthony Parrott. Anthony is the co-pastor at the Table Church in Washington, DC, an affirming, multiracial community committed to following Jesus without the baggage of white Christian nationalism. Anthony writes at parrott.ink about the Bible, books, and what it means to be human, with a bias toward love and liberation. He's also doing his own translation work in the Christian and Hebrew scriptures, with commitments that rhymes nicely with the LIT Bible.
Follow Anthony on Threads
Episode Highlights
Why porneia means sexual exploitation, not generic "sexual sin"How vague translations of "sexual immorality" can actually enable exploitationPaul's anger and consequence fall solely on the exploiter, never on the exploited partyReframing sarx as a self-preservation drive out of balance, rather than "the flesh is evil""Handed over to the adversary" as redemptive discipline aimed at restoration, not eternal punishmentJudging behavior without judging a person's worth — and why real community safety still requires firm boundaries and consequencesWhat the lexicons actually say about malakoi and arsenokoitai...
Read LIT online: litbible.net/1corinthians-5 and litbible.net/1corinthians-6
LIT Bible apps: Download for iPhone/iPad, and on Android
Liberating Scripture Collective: www.liberatingscripture.org
Support LIT & FIT: liberatingscripture.org/support/
Life After Rivalry, Scarcity, & Power – 1 Corinthians 3 & 4 with Dr. Drew Hart
2026/08/22
Our guest for 1 Corinthians 3 & 4 is Dr. Drew Hart, Associate Professor of Theology at Messiah University, director of Messiah's Thriving Together: Congregations for Racial Justice program, and co-host with Jared McKenna of the amazing Inverse podcast. Dr. Hart is the author of Trouble I've Seen: Changing the Way the Church Views Racism, Who Will Be a Witness: Igniting Activism for God's Justice, Love, and Deliverance, and most recently, Making It Plain Why We Need Anabaptism in the Black Church.
Follow Dr. Hart on Threads
Episode Highlights
Why Black Church & Anabaptism have more in common than you might thinkHow rivalry, status, and self-preservation distort church lifePaul's insistence that the church is built on Jesus, not favoritism, flex, or hierarchyGod’s wisdom is cruciform and surprisingHow the light of Christ exposes the “successful” way of ego & empire as foolishnessWhy marginalized communities often see more clearlyThe church should measure itself by liberation, healing, and communal flourishingTrue spiritual authority comes from the scandal of Jesus, not from prestige...
Read LIT online: litbible.net/1corinthians-3
LIT Bible apps: Download for iPhone/iPad, and on Android
Liberating Scripture Collective: www.liberatingscripture.org
Support LIT & FIT: liberatingscripture.org/support/
The Wisdom of the Marginalized – 1 Corinthians 1 & 2 with Dr. Miguel A. De La Torre
2026/08/14
Welcome to Season 9, where we'll be exploring Paul's expansive pastoral concerns and pleas to the Jesus huddle in Corinth. The letter has its share of landmines, which we can't wait to explore with you in the months ahead.
Our guest for 1 Corinthians 1 & 2 is Dr. Miguel A. De La Torre, one of the most influential liberation ethicists and theologians alive today. He is the author of 50 books, including Doing Christian Ethics from the Margins, Decolonizing Christianity: Becoming Badass Believers, and Embracing Hopelessness. Dr. De La Torre is Professor of Social Ethics and Latinx Studies at Iliff School of Theology in Denver, Colorado.
Episode Highlights
1 Corinthians 1–2 flips the all of the power structure's ideas of wisdomThe cross challenges our ego and empire ideas of power or statusWhat the world rejects comes to reveal divine power.A “spiritual” way of knowing that is different from elite knowledgeWhy the oppressed can read reality with unusual clarityScripture must be read in community, not by gatekeepers aloneQuestions about God matter at least as much as answers about GodFaithfulness of a translation is measured by whether it leads to life...
Read LIT online: litbible.net/1corinthians-1
LIT Bible apps: Download for iPhone/iPad, and on Android
Liberating Scripture Collective: www.liberatingscripture.org
Support LIT & FIT: liberatingscripture.org/support/
The LIT Bible app is here!
2026/07/21
Introducing the LIT Bible appNow you can read, highlight, and annotate the Liberation & Inclusion Translation from your iPhone or Android.
Download on iPhone and iPadDownload on AndroidIt's a Bible app that we actually want to use. They're free, no ads, and no tracking. Your LIT Bible updates as Brandon adds chapters and books to litbible.net, and each week's lectionary readings are available in its own tab.
In this episode Brandon and Brandon talk about the work behind this app, and what to poke around for once you've got it on your device.
A special thank you to all of our beta testers who helped make each app shine. Your enthusiasm for the LIT and for quality apps was invaluable.
One more thing: Brandon Rhodes paused editing this show for a few months to focus on these apps, so expect our next season, 1 Corinthians, to debut later this summer.
....
Found in Translation is a production of the Liberating Scripture Collective.
Exposing Wealth & Social Control (James 5)
2026/04/27
Episode Highlights
Perseverance amidst systemic injustice and economic exploitation;Importance of communal care and addressing chronic illness with dignity;Wealth as a chronic illness in spiritual and social realms;Church discipline and communal accountability for the wealthy;False security of hoarding wealth and exploitative systems.Allegiance to people and justice over economic stability.Reimagining economic security rooted in community care.Jesus' ethic—breaking powers that exploit and marginalize.Loving kindness, womb love, and compassionate care....
Read LIT online: litbible.net/james-5
Liberating Scripture Collective: www.liberatingscripture.org
More about the LIT Bible: litbible.net/translation-commitments
Support LIT & FIT: donorbox.org/found-in-translation-1
Desire, Defection, and Detainees - James 4
2026/03/25
Episode Highlights
The "desire for pleasures" James condemns isn't about sex — it's about golden toilets, rent-gouging, and union-busting.Your 401(k) might be morally complicated."The world" James warns against isn't a vague spiritual fog — it's redlining, ICE raids, and every system where one human decides they matter more than another.Public prayer was never meant to be a private hotline to God — it's how a community surfaces each other's needs and volunteers to meet them.There's a reason the jet-ski buyer doesn't ask permission from the congregation first."If you support ICE, you are an enemy of God. That's according to James."Judging someone's worth as a human is forbidden. Judging whether their actions cause harm is not only allowed — it's required."If God wills it" is not a verbal get-out-of-jail-free card you can staple to a business plan.James asks you to let other people's suffering actually land on you — and the hosts connect that to people laughing about Alligator Alcatraz....
Read LIT online: litbible.net/james-4
More about the LIT Bible: litbible.net/translation-commitments
Support LIT & FIT: donorbox.org/found-in-translation-1
No More Sacrifice! (LIVE from QCF Conference 2026)
2026/02/15
We had an absolute blast recording this episode at the Queer Christian Fellowship Conference in Portland, Oregon. Rather than talk about the clobber passages used against queer folk, we wanted to explore how the LIT Bible opens up new insights into moral courage and resisting scapegoating in Hebrews 6.
...
Follow the slide deck: https://tinyurl.com/NoMoreSacrifice
Read LIT online: https://litbible.net/hebrews-6
More about the LIT Bible: https://www.litbible.net/translation-commitments
Support LIT & FIT: https://donorbox.org/found-in-translation-1
The One Where We Curse a Lot – James 3
2026/02/06
Episode Highlights
Dehumanizing words vs taboo words;What kind of speech disqualifies someone from church leadership;"you piece of 💩" vs "look at that 💩"Competitive self-promotion in tension with maturity;Open-mindedness, not certainty, as a mark of Christian maturity;The role of power and hierarchy in how we speak....
Read LIT online: https://litbible.net/james-3
More about the LIT Bible: https://www.litbible.net/translation-commitments
Support LIT & FIT: https://donorbox.org/found-in-translation-1
What if "Faith vs Works" isn't about heaven? – James 2
2026/01/31
Episode Highlights
The importance of avoiding the word faith in translation;What James probably meant by faith;Comparing what James and Paul each meant by works;Classism and power's role in James' exhortations about modesty;The importance of solidarity with the poor in shaping our faithfulness....
Read LIT online: https://litbible.net/james-2
More about the LIT Bible: https://www.litbible.net/translation-commitments
Support LIT & FIT: https://donorbox.org/found-in-translation-1
Cutting the Oppressor-Brain Vibes – James 1
2026/01/23
Episode Highlights
The Letter of James is best understood through the lens of 1:27.Doubt in James is not about uncertainty in belief.Caring for orphans and widows is a central call of the faith.Avoiding the oppressor's mindset is the flipside to helping widows and orphans....
Read LIT online: https://litbible.net/james-1
More about the LIT Bible: https://www.litbible.net/translation-commitments
Support LIT & FIT: https://donorbox.org/found-in-translation-1
The Subversive Religion of Jesus' Little Brother – Introducing James
2026/01/16
Episode Highlights
Is there a unifying theme behind James' meandering letter?Why did this letter piss off so many church leaders over the millennia?What can we learn about early Christianity from James?Why was James so fixated on power relationships?...
Welcome to Season 8 of Found in Translation! We're thrilled to spend the next several weeks exploring the memorable, passionate, no-BS, seemingly-meandering, hotly contested letter attributed to Jesus' little brother.
One of our favorite aspects of the Christian scriptures is how much better it is when heard in stereo: all of its authors are working out the meaning and beauty and scandal of Jesus. Each of the four evangelists have their own insights, Paul's pile of letters tease out what he learned about Jesus as a nationalist-turned-racial-justice advocate, Priscilla riffs on Paul's stuff in her own way, and so many more. Here we have the long-time leader of the Way in Jerusalem working out what he understood was the legacy and meaning of his older brother.
...
Read LIT online: https://litbible.net/james-intro
More about the LIT Bible: https://www.litbible.net/translation-commitments
Support LIT & FIT: https://donorbox.org/found-in-translation-1
Three Seasons and a Live Show! Previewing 2026
2026/01/13
We've been recording three seasons at once! James is coming soon, then 1 Corinthians and some bonus episodes on the translation commitments. We're so, so stoked.
Most exciting: we're recording our first LIVE episode at the Queer Christian Fellowship Conference in Portland, happening January 22-25. www.qcfconf.org for more! We hope to see you there.
Read more of the Liberation & Inclusion Translation at www.litbible.net.
What is the Great Commission? – Matthew 28 & Recap with Kalie May Hargrove
2025/08/12
Episode Highlights
Anti-Caesar coding throughout the story;how much better the gospel is apart from Christian supremacism;how to understand the great commission through a liberation & inclusion hermeneutic;identifying the inclusive center in the literary structure of Matthew;empathy and compassion are central to the gospel....
Our returning guest co-host today 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 is currently writing a commentary on the Gospel According to Matthew using the LIT Bible. Kalie has been part of LGBTQ+ activism bringing awareness of the legalized discrimination queer 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.
...
Read LIT online: https://www.litbible.net/matthew-28
More about the Liberation & Inclusion Translation: https://www.litbible.net/translation-commitments
Support LIT & FIT: https://donorbox.org/found-in-translation-1
What Was Jesus' Atonement Theory? – Matthew 27 with Mae Forrest Barnes
2025/08/08
Episode Highlights for Matthew 27
Pilate and the banality of evil;The enduring temptation of revering the violent;Disability injustice in the church and the Bible;Solidarity is central to salvation;Manipulating crowds into bloodlust is as old as time;Scapegoating vibes on Good Friday;Jesus' crucifixion was (like) a lynching;The varying reasons for Jesus' crucifixion;The meaning Jesus seemed to ascribe to his state murder;Resisting antisemitism as a core hermeneutical commitment.
Our returning guest co-host today is Mae Forrest Barnes! She is completing her PhD on disability justice in the church, cohosts The Anarchodox Podcast, and can be found on Bluesky @dr-maeforrest.bsky.social . Her Substack is at https://maeforrestbarnes.substack.com/.
Read LIT online: https://www.litbible.net/matthew-27
More about the Liberation & Inclusion Translation: https://www.litbible.net/translation-commitments
Support LIT & FIT: https://donorbox.org/found-in-translation-1
Podcast reviews
Read Found in Translation podcast reviews
Kontrarian 2025/07/18
Excellent!
Explores the Gospel in its ancient context with a refreshingly precise new translation, and contextualizes it in our world too. The guest hosts are di...
CathyD2629 2023/03/04
Thank you!
Thanks to both of you for talking about this idea of Mary and Lazarus. And working out the oldest translations. We need more of this today!!
B-Jelly 2021/10/05
Fabulous!
Thank you! Paradigm shifting!
Bob Holmes/Contemplative Monk 2021/09/26
Awesome! FINALLY!
I’ve been waiting for you guys!
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