On the Lived Theology Reading List: Always with Us?


Always With Us, Liz Theoharis, Fellow TravelersWhat Jesus Really Said about the Poor

Quoting Jesus, the passage of Matthew 26:11 reads, “the poor you will always have with you,” leading to interpretations surrounding the inevitability of and moral shortcomings resulting in poverty. In Always with Us?, author Liz Theoharis uses both biblical text and the lived reality of the poor to reject these notions as dangerously out of context. Incorporating voices of the marginalized, Theoharis presents poverty instead as systemic sin, a call for the church to faithfully fulfill its mandate to confront the evils of suffering.

Reviews and endorsements of the publication include:

“Be ready to be stirred up by this scriptural exploration of the meaning of poverty. It challenged me with the moral demand to end poverty now.” —Sr. Simone Campbell, SSS, NETWORK Lobby for Catholic Social Justice

“Provocative. Powerful. Persuasive. Liz Theoharis’s fresh reading of a familiar biblical text opens up new ground for preaching, teaching, and activism. This is a book of lived theology and radical compassion.”—Laura Sumner Truax, LaSalle Street Church, Chicago

“Theoharis brings the Bible to life in this exciting study of one of its most famous passages. With a combination of rigorous theological scholarship and personal stories from her life as an organizer, she shows us that the front line in the fight against poverty is not in poor neighborhoods but rather within the assumptions of a society that fosters systemic injustice.”—Karenna Gore, Center for Earth Ethics, Union Theological Seminary

“The contemporary church has become so accommodative to capitalism that its theology is often viewed as a justification of economic injustice. Dr. Theoharis’s work stands as a challenge to such theology and asserts that poverty is an affront to God. The church must be a prophetic witness and actor in the world.” —William J. Barber II, President, North Carolina NAACP

Find book details here.

Fellow travelers are scholars, activists, and practitioners that embody the ideals and commitments of the Project on Lived Theology. We admire their work and are grateful to be walking alongside them in the development and dissemination of Lived Theology.

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