Curtis A. Bronzan

I picked up Ched Myers’ volume Binding the Strong Man at the Fuller Bookstore today, in preparation for an upcoming sermon series on the Gospel of Mark at the religious community I serve. I’m really looking forward to journeying through Mark – the earliest account of the life of Jesus of Nazareth – and am hoping we can go slowly, taking the entire year to do it.

Myers’ book has been on my wish list for a while, so being able to read it along with fellow companions at the church will be an added bonus for me – and hopefully for those I get to journey with as well. Check out the conclusion to his preface:

It is my hope that this commentary might stimulate further work along similar lines, in Mark or in other biblical texts. But above all it is offered, as the Gospel itself is, to discipleship communities, however discouraged and weary, as part of our ongoing search for renewed direction and hope in our struggle to follow the way of Jesus in difficult times. A true reading of Mark compels us to come to terms afresh with our faith and most certainly our lack of faith (Mk 9:24). I pray that this study might help Mark to speak, and the reader to have “ears to hear,” the good news that promises yet to overthrow the structures of domination in our world.

I’m reading through Colossians Remixed: Subverting the Empire whilst preaching through Paul’s first century letter at [theBridge], which began last Sunday, July 19th. Upon encouragement from a close friend, I purchased the book years ago (like so many others on my shelf), but sadly, am only now reading it.

So far, the married duo Walsh and Keesmaat have quite creatively engaged their purpose, as stated in the preface:

The epistle to the Colossians, we are arguing, was an explosive and subversive tract in the context of the Roman empire, and it can and ought to function in an analogous way in the imperial realities of our time. This letter proclaimed an alternative vision of reality, animating a way of life that was subversive to the ethos of the Roman empire. We believe that Paul’s letter to the Colossians will only be read with integrity in our time when the radical vision of Christian faith encountered in this text engenders a similarly alternative way of life in our midst.