On January 21, ChurchNext will launch Luke the Liberator, a 5-course curriculum focusing on the Gospel of Luke that will be free to anyone who wants to take it during the entire Lenten season.

As many of you know, Presiding Bishop Michael Curry has invited Episcopalians and other Christians to read and contemplate the Gospel of Luke and the Acts of the Apostles as part of the Good Book Club from Feb. 11-May 20. We’ve created Luke the Liberator as part of the Good Book Club’s mission. The curriculum’s title emphasizes Luke’s drive to set captives free through the message of Jesus.

The Luke the Liberator curriculum will include five courses, each of which will consist of four short video lectures, brief introductions, and opportunities for discussion. The curriculum will include the following courses:

Introduction to Luke: John Lewis, a teacher and scholar of the gospels from The Seminary of the Southwest, introduces the Gospel of Luke and discusses who its author was, the audience to which its author is writing, and its most important themes.

                              Liberation for Women: The Rev. Lindsay Hardin Freeman, an award-winning religion journalist who has written extensively on women in the Bible, discusses the Gospel of Luke in the context of women. She examines women’s voices in Luke, Luke’s message about women in its historical context, and Luke’s Gospel as it applies to gender and social justice in the 21st century.

Liberation from Wealth: The Rev. Ron Spann, a longtime social justice advocate, examines issues related to wealth in Luke’s Gospel. How does wealth enslave us? How does Christ free us from that enslavement? Ron addresses these questions and others in this class.

                              Liberated to Share: The Rev. Nurya Love Parrish teaches this course. Nurya started the Christian Food Movement, the mission of which is to create sustainable food production methods and ensure that all people have access to good, healthy food. She talks about Luke’s Gospel in the context of giving — what it means to give; how Christ frees us to give freely.

Liberated to Preach: The Rev. Jay Sidebotham, founder of Renewalworks, focuses his work on church renewal — on freeing churches to grow in the spirit of Christ. In this class, he discusses Luke’s approach to spreading the good news of Jesus and what that means for 21st century Christians.

We hope that these courses will help enrich your Lenten season as you read and study the Gospel of Luke and the Acts of the Apostles.

Image 1: Detail depicting St. Luke from a 15th-century altarpiece. Photograph provided by The Yorck Project. Public Domain.