Lenten Bible "Detox": Study of Mark 15:1-15 led by Tom Boomershine with Joyce Bressler, respondent

April 05, 2022, 7:30 PM Eastern Time

Each Lent, CLBSJ focuses our attention on the misuse of the Bible to promote and justify violence and oppression. All are welcome on this journey of healing and reclaiming.

In this session, Dr. Tom Boomershine explores the accounts of Jesus’ appearance before Pontius Pilate, governor of the province of Judaea under the Roman Empire. Dr. Boomershine challenges the way this text has been interpreted to justify and perpetuate antisemitism, and he will propose how a rigorously contextual reading exposes this perspective to be unjustifiable, and to the contrary discloses the Gospel’s central and radical call to peacemaking. Joyce Bressler, member of the Jewish circle of the Community of Living Traditions and a longtime peace activist, gives a response based on her experience in multifaith organizing.

This study focuses on Mark’s account, but will also touch on the versions of the story that appear in the other gospels.

After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the meeting.

Rev. Dr. Thomas E. Boomershine (PhD, Union Theological Seminary) is an emeritus professor of New Testament, a United Methodist elder, and a Board member of the Center and Library for the Bible and Social Justice. He has been an activist as a biblical storyteller, educator (New York and United Theological Seminaries), author, and community organizer of the Network of Biblical Storytellers, International, and the Bible in Ancient and Modern Media research group in SBL. His detailed studies of the Gospels as ancient storytelling across the boundaries of the cultures of Israel and the Gentile Greco-Roman world are a foundation for peacemaking in the modern world. His research and advocacy have also helped to initiate the development of performance criticism as a methodology for biblical study. His books, Story Journey: An Introduction to the Gospel as Storytelling (1988) and The Messiah of Peace (2015), are resources for the reconception of the Gospels as stories of peacemaking and of biblical storytelling as a strategy for non-violent resistance to violence and warfare. Read more biographical details at nbsint.org.

Joyce Bressler is co-chair of the Community of Living Traditions, Inc., cofounder of Rockland Jews for Immigrant Justice, and Ads Manager for COMMUNITIES Magazine. She is a longime peace and justice activist, having worked with the Fellowship of Reconciliation, Jewish Peace Fellowship, and the food coop movement. Her current interests are to do more writing from her life experience, and to connect to local movements, especially in the area of environmental justice.