Books
We Cry Justice: Reading the Bible with the Poor People’s Campaign
Edited by Liz Theoharis
Foreword by William J. Barber II
Broadleaf Press, 2021
Organized into fifty-two chapters, each focusing on a key Scripture passage, We Cry Justice offers comfort and challenge from the many stories of the poor taking action together. Read anew the story of the exodus that frees people from debt and slavery, the prophets who denounce the rich and ruling classes, the stories of Jesus’s healing and parables about fair wages, and the early church’s sharing of goods. Reflection questions and a short prayer at the end of each chapter offer the opportunity to use the book devotionally through a year.
Always with Us?: What Jesus Really Said about the Poor
by Liz Theoharis
Forward by William J. Barber II
Wm. B. Eerdmans, 2017
A strong theological call for ending the abomination of systemic poverty.
Theoharis reinterprets “the poor you will always have with you” to show that it is actually one of the strongest biblical mandates to end poverty. She documents stories of poor people themselves organizing to improve their lot and illuminates the implications for the church. Poverty is not inevitable, Theoharis argues. It is a systemic sin, and all Christians have a responsibility to partner with the poor to end poverty once and for all.
Revive Us Again: Vision and Action in Moral Organizing
By The Rev. Dr. William J. Barber II, with The Rev. Dr. Liz Theoharis and The Rev. Dr. Rick Lowery
Beacon Press
2018
In this collection of sermons and speeches, Rev. Barber lays out his groundbreaking vision for organizing across racial, economic, and religious lines, paired with essays from leading activists in his Moral Mondays movement who write about implementing his ideas in an age of division. The Rev. Dr. William J. Barber II has been called “the closest person we have to Martin Luther King Jr. in our midst” (Cornel West) and “one of the most gifted organizers and orators in the country today” (Ari Berman).