In ‘We Survived the End of the World,’ Native American author Steven Charleston urges readers to become prophets of hope

October 15, 2023 by

Steven Charleston (Photo provided by the author for this story.)

Like Native American prophets voicing hope in the midst of trauma, Charleston asks us—

‘I hope you will see this as a personal invitation to join me and millions of others.’

By DAVID CRUMM
Editor of ReadTheSpirit Magazine

Are you afraid our world is ending?

Polls show that millions of Americans are fearful of the growing effects of climate change, of the rising tide of violence in many forms, of the impact of “wars and rumors of wars” and of the threats to democracies in many parts of our world. A vast number of us living on the planet share a growing sense that an irreversible “apocalypse” is on the horizon that is likely to change the lives of our children and grandchildren.

Click the cover to visit the book’s Amazon page.

That also means millions of us are wondering: Where is hope?

The venerable Native American theologian, teacher and author Steven Charleston reminds us that there are neighbors living among us across North America who—as resilient communities of people—already have survived an apocalypse. His new book is aptly titled, We Survived the End of the World—Lessons from Native America on Apocalypse and Hope.

Just to be clear about this book’s focus: Charleston is referring to the relentless North American genocidal campaign waged by European immigrants against this continent’s original communities. That genocide has ranged from outright murder to the theft of homelands to the long-term policies in the U.S. and Canada of kidnapping Native children and sending them to brutal (and sometimes deadly) boarding schools that attempted to wipe away all memories of their families and their cultures.

In the opening pages of what may be the most important book he has ever written, Charleston writes, “Native American culture in North America has been through the collapse of civilization and lived to tell the tale. My goal is to investigate how my ancestors were able to do that—and what their experience can teach all of us who are living in uncertain times.”

Then, to be clear on a second point: Charleston is saying that our earth already is in the midst of cataclysmic change.

In 2021, our publishing house launched the book God Is Just Love, subtitled Building Spiritual Resilience and Sustainable Communities for the Sake of Our Children and Creation. In that book, author Ken Whitt, a nationally known Christian pastor and educator, wrote about the kinds of knowledge families should be sharing right now about grassroots health, well-being, spiritual practices and resilience because—in Ken’s view—the whole world already is moving through a catastrophic tipping point. In fact, in his book, Ken, who is not Native American, urges his readers to learn from our Native American neighbors about survival in this time of turbulence.

Now, in this new book, Steven Charleston—the former Episcopal Bishop of Alaska, an elder in the Choctaw Nation and a widely quoted Native voice in American media—is saying the same thing.

“Apocalypse is what we are living through,” he writes in his opening pages. “It is the coming true of our worst fears.” We already have crossed enough environmental trigger points that devastating storms and other ecological disasters will continue to unfold—unsettling millions upon millions of new refugees with each passing decade.

The great value that Charleston provides in his new book is what Ken Whitt—and many other wise writers and scholars—have been urging us to consider over the past decade: Charleston has filled this book with Native American wisdom on how a people and a culture can hope to survive the end of one’s world.

This new book shares the visionary wisdom of four real-life Native American prophets—all of whom have living legacies within Native communities—plus wisdom from the entire sweep of Hopi culture—plus, a final call to action from Charleston’s own wisdom as a prophetic elder. In less than 200 pages, Charleston has given us a crash course on this broad-base of indigenous wisdom—from a total of seven Native sources—that will be fresh news to the vast majority of American readers.

‘Cracking open the ability of people to cross boundaries’

The first step toward finding hope and building resilient communities is a clear vision expressed in an honest message.

In our interview, I summarized for Charleston how I was going to open this column. I asked him if I was accurately conveying what he hoped to achieve in this book.

“Yes,” he said, “I am saying that we’re already deep into the midst of change and, now, each of us could play a prophetic role.”

I replied, “So, by using that word ‘prophet’ to describe these great Native American sages in your book—you’re not using that word to describe someone who can predict the future. I find that a lot of Americans confuse the word ‘prophet’ with some kind of ‘futurist’ or ‘psychic’ or ‘seer.’ Your ‘prophets’ are people who are speaking important truths about the catastrophic eras in which they find themselves, right?”

“Yes,” he said again. “When I invite people to become prophets, I am literally asking them to accept the reality we can see in our world today—and then tell others honestly what we see. I’m trying to crack open the ability of people to cross boundaries and to talk to one another and share what they are seeing in the real world around us. That is the prophetic experience that those of us living in an apocalyptic time are trying to develop.”

I countered: “But our readers might ask, ‘How can you expect me—an ordinary, flawed, stressed-out person—to be as prophetic as you are with all of your academic degrees and experiences as a leader? How can we aspire to be prophets?’ Our readers might complain, ‘We’re way too flawed as individuals!'”

Then, Charleston summarized a central theme of his book in a few sentences: “We have to understand that the kinds of prophets I’m talking about don’t start out as anyone special. A person who becomes a prophet is often reluctant to be chosen for this role. Initially, they may not want to carry this burden. The prophets I’m writing about were everyday persons who transformed from the clay of their everyday lives into rather extraordinary people we remember today.”

Christians and Jews who have studied their scriptures are familiar with this foundational truth about the ancient “prophets” we share: Many were reluctant, most had obvious flaws and some were widely disregarded by their neighbors for most of their lives.

When I made that point in our interview, Charleston responded: “You’re not going far enough in your description. Some prophets actually were reviled because of their past behavior. The story of a prophet is a person who—despite those flaws, despite those mistakes and despite whatever their neighbors think about them—begins to speak truthfully about what they are seeing in the world around them. As they begin to speak, they find that their vision is something that they simply cannot contain. Their message must come out.”

Charleston continued, “That’s the key thing to understand about prophets: It’s something that any one of us can become. That’s why my invitation at the end of the book makes sense. With the right time, the right circumstance and the right depth of faith, any one of us can stand up and proclaim what we believe to be the reality of our situation—and we may find that others will share that vision.”

‘People who were broken or confused find themselves transformed’

In this column, we won’t cover all of the seven prophetic figures profiled in Charleston’s book—four individuals and then the Hopi nation as a whole, plus some of Charleston’s own prophetic reflections.

But here’s a good example of a major Native American prophet with a living legacy today: the Seneca spiritual leader whose name is rendered in many ways today.

He’s called Ganiodaiio in Charleston’s English rendering of his original name—or sometimes his name is spelled as Sganyodaio, Ganioda’yo, Skanatalihyo, Conudiu or, as Wikipedia has literally translated his name: Handsome Lake. In at least one other new book about Native American religious groups, his chapter is titled by none of those names but by the word “Longhouse,” because his teachings mainly are preserved by followers of the larger Iroquois Confederacy, also known as “People of the Long House.”

“How do you pronounce this prophet when you talk about him to audiences?” I asked Charleston.

“I’m not a Seneca speaker, but I pronounce his name gah-nee-oh-DAY-oh,” he said. “His legacy is long and I think it is very important for readers—especially readers who are non-Native—to understand that we are talking about a living religion that still is being practiced. His story is not known today to most Americans, nor is his story very well known to all Native people across this continent—but I can say that, across Native America, at least his name is recognized and respected.

“This is such a key point I am making in the book: Our Native culture is not some dusty matter for historians and anthropologists to study. The Native religious world view is an ongoing, contemporary, modern expression of human spirituality—a religious tradition like Islam or Buddhism or Hinduism. We are not a matter of history. I wrote this book to bring awareness that Native people—and our Native religious wisdom—is very contemporary and very future-focused as part of our global dialogue on spirituality.”

He continued, “I am at pains, whenever I write or speak, to tell people that these ancient parts of our indigenous cultures not only have survived, but are continuing to flourish especially as we cross into these difficult times.”

I asked Charleston to give us a very brief summary of this prophet’s life.

“Well, the first thing to understand is that he was a broken man—a person who had just about reached rock bottom in his life largely due to alcoholism. He was restored to health and strength by some mysterious spiritual encounter that released through him a powerful spiritual message that transformed his people. That is the prophetic role we are talking about here throughout all world culture and all of the living faith traditions—people who have been broken or confused or were trying to run away can find themselves transformed by a spiritual force to provide a message that breaks through to the world. This is part and parcel of the apocalyptic experience.”

Avoid ‘the Baloney’ and pick up the ‘seeds’ Charleston is offering

One thing Steven Charleston is not recommending is that non-Native readers try to convert to indigenous cultures. “There are lots of books and programs and retreats by people who claim to have taken the wisdom from Native people and recast it as their own mix of Native American branded herbs or drumming or visions—or whatever else they are selling. And, to all that stuff you can buy from people who aren’t Native American—I say: ‘Avoid all the Baloney!’ Native people don’t want non-Native people to come and appropriate our rituals as their own.

“In this book, I am sharing a deeper wisdom. I wrote this book so that readers—especially non-Native readers—can see that anyone—and I mean anyone from the vastly different cultures around our world—can learn the truth about our tradition. Even though we went through the end of the world, we survived because of the wisdom of our prophets and the strength of our spiritual vision.

“You don’t need to take our rituals. You can find this wisdom, and your own visions, from your own culture. Instead of trying to sell Baloney—I’m trying to inspire prophetic leadership from every community around the world. In this book, I am offering seeds that can give people the confidence they need to avoid hiding in spiritual bunkers as the apocalypse unfolds. I want people to know that there have been crises like this since the time of the Ice Age. Humans have had to deal with apocalyptic crises since the origins of humanity.

“We’re living in an age right now when people are deeply fearful. I want to show people one option they could choose based on Native experience to find new strength. If we do, we can make a real difference. We can prevent this feeling of helplessness and feel, instead, both hope and empowerment.”

.

.

Care to Learn More?

Read our earlier interview with Charleston, headlined: Native American elder Steven Charleston’s ‘Spirit Wheel’ weaves spirituality from ‘common threads of hope and mercy’

Read Steven Charleston’s books! There are so many places to start. This week, we are recommending his newest book: We Survived the End of the World—Lessons from Native America on Apocalypse and Hope.

If you want to dig deeper into Native American reflections on connections between Christian and Native traditions, you’ll also want to read Coming Full Circle—Constructing Native Christian Theology.

Want to learn more about the many other Native American issues our magazine has been covering?

Check out these stories:

Water Walkers series: Carol Trembath debuts her latest Native American book ‘Pass the Feather’

Bill Tammeus on: ‘Land Acknowledgment’ is a first step toward justice for our Native American neighbors

Exposing the horrors of the Indian Boarding Schools: Why we need to read Warren Petoskey’s ‘Dancing My Dream’ now

And: In Native Echoes, Kent Nerburn returns from Indian country with A Liturgy of the Land

 

Dr. David Gushee joins historians and sociologists in warning against the dangers of Christian extremism

October 1, 2023 by

Scholars critical of Donald Trump target the ‘Christian Nationalist’ movement supporting him

By DAVID CRUMM
Editor of ReadTheSpirit magazine

The reason many historians, sociologists and now Christian ethicist Dr. David Gushee are weighing in with dire warnings about the 2024 presidential campaign is that their research shows the re-election of Donald Trump would dramatically alter the course of American democracy. The urgency shared by these scholars who are critical of Trump is palpable and is poised to timely effect.

Gushee’s new book Defending Democracy from its Christian Enemies launches this week, just three months before the January 15, 2024, Iowa caucuses.

“I don’t think that—in the United States today—there is any other single figure who poses as big a threat to democracy and who has anything like the hold on people’s loyalty that we see in Donald Trump,” said Gushee in an interview this week about his new book. “Donald Trump will be a threat to American democracy for as long as he is alive. I think at this point he could be sent to prison and, even in his jail cell, millions of his followers would continue to support him.”

Historians fired a collective shot in 2021 with an open letter describing Trump as “a clear and present danger to democracy.” The 1,432 historians signing the letter include Pulitzer Prize winners Ron Chernow, Garry Wills, Stacy Schiff and Taylor Branch, plus American Book Award winner Michael Eric Dyson and even Teddy Roosevelt’s great-great grandson Kermit Roosevelt, who teaches at the University of Pennsylvania.

Still, Trump ranks as the leading Republican candidate and that’s why the stack of new books warning Americans about threats posed by Trump and his followers is growing—and it’s why scholars from other disciplines are joining historians in raising the alarm.

Some of the most compelling new books with such warnings are coming from sociologists who specialize in the interplay between religion and American life. Like Gushee, they are zeroing in on Trump’s millions of self-identified Christian followers, especially those like the January 6 rioters in Washington D.C. who wove prayer and other Christian invocations into their attack on the U.S. Capitol. These scholars are targeting this major backbone of Trump’s campaign and are labeling it “Christian Nationalism” or as Gushee prefers to describe it: “Authoritarian Reactionary Christianity.”

That fine-tuning of the terminology used to describe this danger is one of the major points in Gushee’s new book that is intended to further develop warnings found in books by sociologists of religion that include:

“What they are describing in these books is the dangerous idea, which we see among some of the groups out there today, that this is a Christian nation that should be under the leadership of white, straight, native-born, heterosexual, Christian men,” Gushee said in our interview. “You have to keep in mind that this area of research is developing right now. In our work, we are trying to answer questions like: Who are these people who want to build exclusively white Christian nations? Does the term Christian Nationalism clearly describe these individuals and groups that are surfacing here and in other countries? One book suggests we use the term Christian Nation-ism to describe this.”

Gushee proposes new terms to describe these movements.

“The category I pioneer in my new book is ‘Authoritarian Reactionary Christianity,’” Gushee said. “I realize that this term may not be as useful in newspaper or magazine headlines as the simpler Christian Nationalism. And I do respect the usefulness of this term Christian Nationalism to get a national conversation going that is much needed right now. But, I think there is more we need to think about, to study and to discuss, if we hope to understand these movements that are raising really ugly forms of hatred and are threatening violence.

“Adding the word ‘reactionary’ to our description is a very important way to name what is often articulated on the Right: These people are reacting to changes in culture that they believe are wrong—which makes them reactionary. And the word ‘authoritarian’ names this desire we are now seeing for the election of a Christian-leaning strongman who will demand or decree the recovery of a world that has been lost. There’s a really troubling loss of confidence in this movement in the democratic process itself to solve the problems they think that only a strongman could address. So, we get this desire to elect someone who will act as a defender of what some people think of as Christian civilization through traditional values—and through opposing modern liberalizing and pluralizing trends. That’s why we we often hear people sum up this appeal as: ‘Taking back our country back.’

“It’s a fierce negative reaction that goes all the way back at least to the Supreme Court’s prayer in schools decision in 1962, to the Civil Rights movement, to the feminist movement, to the sexual revolution, to Roe vs. Wade, to immigration liberalization in the mid 1960s, to the protests against the Vietnam War, to the gay rights movement, to the trans movement—and even that list leaves out a half dozen other movements that have fueled this fierce reaction.

“The reactionary part of this movement isn’t new. We saw it way back with Jerry Falwell and Pat Robertson, but they tried their best to cozy up to the Republican Party in a more traditional strategy of getting people elected. They supported and were working through the democratic process. What we’re seeing in the last few years is a radicalizing that has moved beyond a democratic process. We’re now seeing some of these groups supporting political violence, militia violence—and even trying to set aside an entire national election because you don’t like the results. That’s a dangerous new development and that really is what has motivated me to write my book.

“So those are some reasons I prefer this new phrase I’m using in this book. The other usefulness of this term of ‘Authoritarian Reactionary Christianity’ is that this category applies to what is happening in a number of other countries around the world.”

What’s actually in this new book?

Click the cover to visit the book’s Amazon page.

The first thing that may surprise readers is that there’s relatively little analysis of Trump’s staunchest Christian allies. Gushee does quote, at length, an astonishingly violent prayer from one of the pastors supporting the January 6 attack on the Capitol. It’s a vivid example of the passionate and almost apocalyptic appeal for a Christian strongman to take over America. While Gushee identifies that pastor as an example, he does not address most of Trump’s Christian stalwarts by name—nor does he offer a detailed description of what they have done and said in recent years.

That’s because Gushee has a different purpose in this book. It’s intended to find a home in small-group discussions in thousands of congregations nationwide, which is why Gushee includes a detailed discussion guide in the final pages.

Half of the book—about 100 pages—is valuable background about the meaning of “democracy” and its complicated relationship with religious movements down through the centuries. For readers eager for a writer to rip into specific political enemies—this is not the book you want to buy.

In fact, Gushee explains that on the first page. He promises to:

“Offer descriptive accounts of relevant Christian political movements and historical movements in different countries, mainly involving examples of Christians drifting into authoritarianism and reactionary politics that undercut democracy.” And, he writes, he will “offer a diagnosis of why many Christians are tempted toward or explicitly prefer authoritarian reactionary politics to democracy as part of their negative reaction to modern cultural developments.”

Finally, he will “offer an argument for today’s Christians to support a particular vision of democratic politics, and traditional Christian resources to undergird that vision.”

Significant sections of this book look at the dangers of these authoritarian reactionary Christian movements in Germany that helped fuel the Third Reich, as well as in France before and during World War II, Poland in recent years, Orbán’s Hungary, Bolsonaro’s Brazil and Putin’s Russia.

What about those “traditional Christian resources” that he promises to provide?

Two of the best chapters in this book are titled, “The Baptist Democratic Tadition” and “The Black Christian Democratic Tradition in the United States.” Those will be truly eye-opening chapters for contemporary readers who aren’t aware of the long history of Baptist and Black Christian relationships with democracy in the U.S.

We are highly recommending this new book, because we know that many of our ReadTheSpirit readers are progressive supporters of religious diversity and are worried by the rise of Christian exclusivist movements.

What Gushee—who is one of the most respected scholars at Mercer University—has given us is a book that’s perfectly pitched for small group discussion in congregations. This is an “educational” book in the best sense of that term. What is “democracy”? You’ll know a lot more after reading this book. Why have many religious groups been justified in raising skeptical questions about democracies down through the centuries? What grievances are real and morally justified? And what political grievances amount to a malignant yearning to wield exclusive power over others?

By the end of this book, you’ll see how this problem is not only a crisis in the U.S. today—especially at a time when hate crimes against non-Christians are rising to record rates nationwide. These faith-based movements now circle the globe. One example ripped from daily headlines: Authoritarian reactionary Christianity has become a major pillar in Vladimir Putin’s attempt to convince Russians of the righteousness of his attacks on Ukraine. The Russian Orthodox Church is providing a nostalgic Christian tap root as Putin tries to sell his campaign to his people.

A savvy strategy to persuade Christians who may be ‘flirting with’ extremism

Gushee’s strategy in organizing and writing this book is savvy. What we need right now are books like this that small groups in congregations might choose to discuss. Gushee’s expectation is not that he will suddenly win a war of words with extremist leaders—but that he might convince Christians who he describes as “flirting with” extremism to turn away.

“We really need to talk about this, as a people,” Gushee said at the end of our interview. “There is definitely a shift in the furthest right precincts of American Christianity today. We’re hearing more ethno-nationalist and make-America-white-again voices. There’s a more open and unabashed racism, plus really ugly forms of patriarchy and misogyny, and resurgent forms of contempt for LGBTQ people—even open articulation of abandoning the American tradition of separation of church and state.

“Right now there are Christians who are flirting with setting aside their support for democracy because of their despair. In doing so, they are abandoning the lessons learned by Christians over hundreds of years: the warnings about authoritarian power, the demands for human rights, the demands for the rule of law, and the protection of individual and religious liberties that go back centuries.

“We need to retrieve aspects of our own best history as Christians. We need to remind Americans of these centuries-old lessons. We need to remind people of the idea of a community founded around a covenant of shared commitment to the common good. And we must not forget the magnificent witness of the Black Christian democratic tradition in the United States.”

As we drew to a close, I said to Gushee: “You’re saying that this danger is far larger than the danger posed right now by Donald Trump, specifically.”

“That’s right,” he said. “We are seeing today—especially among some of the really, really conservative Christian groups and some ultra-traditional forms of Catholic groups—that it’s time for radical challenges to the American way of separating church and state. Some of these groups are wide open to reversing the First Amendment and establishing something like an officially Christian nation. Those dangers are real and will outlast Donald Trump. And that’s why I wrote this book—to help readers understand these movements and the Christian alternatives that for centuries have supported democracies.”

.

Care to learn more?

LEARN FROM DR. DAVID GUSHEE—David Gushee is the best-selling author of many books about Christian ethics, including Changing Our Mind and Introducing Christian Ethics. His book on ethics is his magnum opus on the entire field of ethics, including those issues explored in this new book about democracy—plus, Introducing Christian Ethics includes free links to videos and audio of Dr. Gushee delivering these thought-provoking talks that are printed in the book.

Want to connect with Dr. Gushee? He is sought after as a speaker by groups, universities and seminaries around the world. You can learn more about connecting with Gushee via his website. 

LEARN FROM GEORGE A. MASON—Dr. Gushee is not alone in raising this kind of alarm as the 2024 elections loom. The famous Baptist preacher, writer and theologian George A. Mason recently weighed in with a national newsletter on the same theme. You can learn more about George’s work by visiting his Faith Commons website—and by ordering a copy of his new book, The Word Made Fresh.

 

 

Howard Brown takes a different approach to social media to spread a little sunshine with spiritual reflection

August 5, 2023 by

By HOWARD BROWN
Author of Shining Brightly

In my life, I am forever grateful for all the people who brought me a little sunshine, a little hope, when I was at my worst. Whether I was battling stage IV cancer or was facing the ups and inevitable downs of launching a new company or building up a nonprofit—I learned that these are team sports.

When I travel and talk to audiences now, the first thing I tell people about finding the resilience to succeed in life is: You can’t do it alone.

I take that to heart in my social media, too, often thinking of simple questions that may remind my online friends of the many ways people are shining brightly around them, every day.

So, today, I’m sharing two recent posts to show you a couple of ways I have done this. Maybe, after looking at these posts, you might decide to shine a little brighter in your own social media.

I’m sending you this creative sunshine in the form of this ReadTheSpirit column—so that, if you’re inspired, you may pass that sunshine on to others.

Sharing Our Happy Places

The first post is from Facebook. Because basketball is the “happy place” that literally has saved my life more than once, I often post about shooting hoops with friends. My hope is not that everybody is going to start playing basketball, but that each person who sees these posts may decide to get active, may head outside for some exercise and may be more thankful for their own family and friends. I’m modeling that in this Facebook post by also giving a “shout out” to one of my long-time friends Martin Davis, who wrote the book about coaches.

(Want to learn more about hoops as a “happy place”? Head over to Amazon and get a copy of Shining Brightly)

.

Linked-in illustrates that “leadership” is more than a job title

I also use Linked-in posts to illustrate the many challenges of effective leadership. True leadership involves far more than a job title. Authentic leadership depends on understanding and valuing the entire community we represent—shining light on everyone’s role and encouraging everyone to be their best.

Here’s a creative example of a post that you might never have expected to see on Linked-in, which many people regard as a place to celebrate their latest professional accomplishment. As I just explained, above, true leadership is about more than our individual resumes.

So, this Linked-in post is about—Barbie!

My wife and I had fun seeing the Barbie movie and that led to lots of conversations with friends and family. I’m well aware that social media mavens tell us that you shouldn’t use too many hashtags in your posts. But, in this case, I intentionally grouped a lot of the common Barbie hashtags together—along with a fun photo of me inside the giant Barbie box at the theater where we saw the film. My question asked friends to simply think about which of those hashtags mean the most to them.

That kind of reflection is one of the many daily steps toward effective leadership.

.

.

.

Care to learn more?

This is a perfect moment to become one of Howard’s growing global community of friends by ordering your copy of his book.

Here are other articles we have published, exploring the launch of this book:

Take a look at the book’s Foreword: ‘Shining Brightly’ Foreword by Dr. Robert J. Wicks: ‘Learn anew about the American Dream’

And especially read this story: Two-time cancer survivor Howard Brown writes ‘Shining Brightly’ to encourage others to stay healthy

Free Resource Guides

Download (and free-to-share) resource guides for discussing Shining Brightly:

.

.

.

In a world of conflict, Dr. Gustavo Parajón shows us a better way to live

January 21, 2023 by

Click on the cover to visit the book’s Amazon page.

By DAVID CRUMM
Editor of Read the Spirit magazine

In an era when a Russian dictator can declare a war that kills thousands—and when angry political factions around the world routinely touch off deadly violence—millions of us are wondering:

Is there a better way to live?

Indeed, there is: We can look to the life of Gustavo Parajón (1935-2011), a Nicaraguan doctor and pastor who became so well known around the world for his peacemaking efforts that U2’s Bono once disguised himself so that he could quietly slip into a gathering of people listening to one of Parajón’s talks in the UK.

The distinctive nature of Parajón’s message transcended any particular political issue or public health challenge he was facing, say the co-authors of a new biography Healing the World—Gustavo Parajón, Public Health and Peacemaking Pioneer. What drew other global peacemakers to Parajón’s circle—from Bono to former U.S. President Jimmy Carter—was the deep well of faith-based compassion they found in Parajón. As he worked on public health and peacemaking projects, Parajón unfailingly found hope in each person he met—even when those people were men pointing guns at him.

“Dr. Parajón always saw the possibilities in each person he met,” said Damaris Albuquerque, co-author of the new biography. She spoke with us for this article by Zoom from Nicaragua, where she carries on Dr. Parajón’s nonprofit work. “It was when he looked into the lives of the people he met that he started to find the ways that each person could join with him in service.

“When he met a person, he always began with questions about them, their families and the work that they did. He had a phenomenal memory for people and he cared about them so deeply that, when he met them again, he could immediately begin asking about their families and their work. As he talked with people about their lives, he would make connections—connections with other people and connections with the stories he loved from the Bible. As he talked with people, he knew the Bible so well that he could draw on the wisdom from so many different stories! Soon, the people he was talking with found themselves agreeing to do things in service to the community that they never expected they could do.

“When others saw this happening, they were inspired, too. Even people who at first seemed to be enemies—they saw he was showing them a different way to work with others, a different way of living. His calm voice and the way he cared for each person—even his enemies—won them over.”

Daniel Buttry, who served for many years as the international peace trainer for American Baptist Churches, said that he partnered with Damaris on researching and writing this book because Parajón was one of his most influential mentors.

“I did not know him as well as Damaris, because she worked with him on a daily basis for years, but the moment I did encounter him, he became my mentor, too. There was so much he taught me from the way he lived his life, the way he talked about his faith and the way he worked with others. When I took on this new global role for American Baptist Churches in 2003, I came to this new challenge after years of working in more traditional approaches to peacemaking: from writing letters, organizing petitions and lobbying Congress to protesting in the streets.

“Gustavo showed me possibilities that we were not really seeing in the world, where civilian initiatives like the ones Gustavo undertook had not been viewed as an effective way of pursuing change,” Dan said. “When I took on this new work for American Baptist Churches, Gustavo was a mentor to me in the possibilities of nongovernmental players opening avenues for peace talks that had not existed before.”

Leadership Lessons from the life of Dr. Gustavo Parajón

One of he major take-aways in the new biography is this leadership model that Dan and Damaris describe of an ordinary person—who is not an official governmental leader—stepping up as a community leader or even, in Parajón’s case, as a national catalyst for change.  Throughout his life, Parajón worked as a local pastor and a physician on a mission to pioneer public health outreach to the neediest corners of his country—doing all of that despite warring factions that more than once endangered his life.

To illustrate some of the leadership lessons readers will find as they explore Parajón’s life in Healing the World, Damaris summarizes just a few of them this way:

  • Treating each new challenge as one might examine a medical case: first describing the situation and the desired outcome, then the action plan and carefully observing what happens as this plan unfolds.
  • Never giving people advice without, first, helping the person to look for the solution.
  • Starting meetings by asking the participants to help describe the situation and the desired outcome.
  • Paying attention to personal details, including knowing each person’s name and something about their family or personal situation.
  • Remembering people, their names and their relationships.
  • Reminding people of our shared sources of wisdom, as he did when talking about stories from the Bible that illustrated a key message.

And those are just a few of the dozens of take-aways in this inspiring story of Parajón’s life.

“The best words I can think of to describe him are: pioneer and visionary,” said Damaris. “He saw potential in people who he knew could carry on this mission he had started. He was a connector and an enabler, but he also had this way of seeing what was possible in the world—even in the worst of times.”

That’s why all of us can benefit from reading about Parajón’s life, Dan said. One of the greatest lessons from his remarkable life is that “he was not full of himself—he was full of what God was doing in the world and he always was trying to share the possibilities that he could see so clearly. And, right now, that certainly is something we all could use in our world.”

.

Care to Learn More?

GET THE BOOK—Visit Amazon and buy your own copy of Healing the World—Gustavo Parajón, Public Health and Peacemaking Pioneer. The book also is available from Barnes & Noble, from Bookshop.org and from many other online retailers.

ENJOY THESE VIDEOS (and share them with friends)—To spark interest among your friends, congregation, nonprofit or small group, consider sharing the link to this story, as well as some of the following short videos:

READ A REVIEW BY BILL TAMMEUS—Veteran journalist Bill Tammeus published an early review of Healing the World and said, in part:

Gustavo Parajón’s life can serve as a reminder to many of us citizens of the U.S. that there’s a bigger world beyond our borders and that throughout that world we can find amazing people doing amazing things. … And his story can encourage others to devote their lives to being a healing presence in the world, whether or not they are physicians. … This is a story that needed to be told, and one that can help shape young lives today.

.

.

Try carrying ‘Hope’ with you, each day. Roger Babson built a ‘Good Cheer Library’ on that principle.

January 7, 2023 by

Roger Babson loved books. He wrote dozens of them himself and he believed that reading had many healing benefits—including the potential of jotting down and carrying quotations full of “good cheer” throughout one’s day.

Entrepreneur Roger Babson carried his ‘Good Cheer’ in his pockets.

By HOWARD BROWN
Author of Shining Brightly

We can share hope with others.

It’s a powerful pillar in my life. In other words: Hope is not merely one person’s dream in isolation. From the very beginning of human life on earth, hope has been a currency we can give and receive.

At our best, we can do this every day in many ways.

For three decades, people have been talking about Gary Chapman’s The Five Love Languages. What Chapman did in his mega-bestseller was name five kinds of currency people use to share love: giving gifts, words of affirmation, quality time, acts of service and physical touch.

Now, we need to learn that hope also is a currency and it takes as many forms as love. Just as Gary Chapman did not invent the idea of sharing love in various forms, I did not make up the idea that we can share hope in many ways.

A century ago, Roger Babson wrote about this idea in his inspirational books. In fact, each morning he wanted to equip himself with fresh words of hope he could share with others. That’s why he was an avid collector of inspirational books and organized them into what he called his “good cheer library.” Every day, he took quotations from these books to pass along to friends, colleagues and students to boost their spirits.

Sometimes, he wrote out favorite quotations from his good cheer library on slips of paper that he could share during his day—literally stuffing his pockets with a paper currency of hope.

Babson wrote dozens of books and countless newspaper columns, journal articles and pamphlets, each one of them expressing some facet of his core principles for resilience and success—which he measured as the positive impact of a person’s service in the world.

In fact, he was so committed to that idea that he famously paid to have the following slogan carved on a gigantic boulder near his family’s hometown.

He was absolutely relentless in preaching his hope-filled gospel that was distinctively different than the “positive thinking” movement that became so popular in American culture. Babson’s principles for success involved “positive living.” During the Great Depression, he wrote a book titled: Cheer up! It was packed with pragmatic steps individuals could take to endure the hard times plaguing America.

His “Good Cheer” library was an emblem of his prophetic message—not just thinking cheery thoughts, but actively collecting the wisdom of others and then making a practical commitment to spread that wisdom far and wide.

In his 1935 autobiography, Actions and Reactions, Babson described dozens of steps people could take, often through service in their communities, to make the world a little better place each and every day. On his “Good Cheer” library, he wrote that he personally felt the benefits of collecting and passing along hopeful advice:

During periods when I have been convalescing from illness, I have been helped greatly by reading certain modern books, as well as the Bible. I believe that reading should be used by physicians perhaps more than pills. Yet I have never known a physician to prescribe the reading of a book. Different people under various conditions need, of course, to read different kinds of books. Persons who are too ambitious need to read a book which will sober them down. People who are too acquisitive need to read a book showing the foolishness of acquisition. Some sick people should read detective stories, while other sick people should read humor. Poetry is soothing, while the study of astronomy is helpful to one having a nervous breakdown or a selfish complex. Therefore, I have done some work toward collecting a library along these lines. The most important part of this library are those books and pamphlets which awaken within one’s soul, faith, hope, and confidence. I call them my “Good Cheer Library.”

I certainly cannot attest to Babson’s specific diagnoses! Why exactly is astronomy helpful to someone after a “nervous breakdown”? He never explains his reasoning.

But I can attest to the life-saving value of daily doses of hope.

Want to learn more about the irrepressibly creative Roger Babson? He was both a widely praised entrepreneurial genius—and occasionally a headache to some of his neighbors who did not welcome all of his brainstorms. in my memoir, Shining Brightly, you will find a lot more about Babson’s life—including how some neighbors weren’t thrilled by his carving words of wisdom into “their” New England boulders.

In fact, Babson College, which Roger founded, has been so pleased with my creative efforts to promote the school’s founding principles that you can read more about my efforts in this Babson College profile.

As 2023 begins, may my words here send a little hope into your life.

If so, then take a moment to share this hopeful story with a friend.

.

.

.

Care to learn more?

This is a perfect moment to become one of Howard’s growing global community of friends by ordering your copy of his book.

Here are other articles we have published, exploring the launch of this book:

Take a look at the book’s Foreword: ‘Shining Brightly’ Foreword by Dr. Robert J. Wicks: ‘Learn anew about the American Dream’

And especially read this story: Two-time cancer survivor Howard Brown writes ‘Shining Brightly’ to encourage others to stay healthy

Free Resource Guides

Download (and free-to-share) resource guides for discussing Shining Brightly:

.

.

.

From City Pulse: MSU journalism class breaks barriers through books

January 7, 2023 by

MSU School of Journalism Bias Busters team working on a book.

Our community of writers and readers was pleased, as January 2023 dawned, to read coverage of MSU Professor Joe Grimm’s Bias Busters team in the mid-Michigan-based news journal called City Pulse.

The profile of the Bias Busters was especially appreciated because it was prepared by Bill Castanier, Director of the Historical Society of Greater Lansing. Thanks Bill!

Bill’s story begins:

When Joe Grimm arrived on Michigan State University’s campus in 2013 as a visiting editor-in-residence, he had an idea for a new journalism class based on a project he had worked on in his career as an editor and reader advocate for the Detroit Free Press. While there, Grimm confronted racial biases and stereotyping of the Arab-American and Muslim populations of Detroit. Working with other journalists and the aforementioned communities, he published an in-house guide that answered questions about this group of people. Based on his experiences, he created a class called “Bias Busters” at MSU, which began to look at the stereotypes surrounding other groups, including the LGBTQ+ community, veterans, Indian-Americans and Native Americans.

Click here to visit the City Pulse website and read the entire article.

Want to See the Bias Busters’ Array of Books?

Click here to see Amazon’s index of all 20 books.

NOTE: Although that Amazon display defaults to the Kindle versions, all of the books are available in affordable paperback editions as well.

 

Gustavo Parajón shows us the art and courage of peacemaking

December 11, 2022 by

His courage was astonishing,
then his empathy built communities

Our world desperately needs to learn from peacemakers! Just look at the global headlines, each morning, and you’ll agree: There must be a better way to live together.

That’s why our publishing house is launching: Healing the World—Gustavo Parajón, Public Health and Peacemaking Pioneer. In this inspiring, true biography, readers will meet this seemingly ordinary fellow who stepped into situations that the most courageous warrior would fear—except that Gustavo Parajón was armed with his faith in his God-given talent to defuse confrontation with empathy.

This week, our Read The Spirit Cover Story is a 3-minute video in which co-author Daniel Buttry tells about one such confrontation and how Gustavo turned it into a moment of communal grace.

.

Yes, peace is possible,
if we act together as Parajon did.

Click the cover to visit the book’s Amazon page.

Get the book: Please support this effort to spread Gustavo Parajón’s wisdom around the world. Order your own copy of this book, which will ship to readers in January. Readers in North America, Central America and Europe already are pre-ordering their copies via Amazon. Please join them and you’ll discover a wise model for overcoming our fears and building healthy relationships.

Want to know more about Gustavo Parajón’s life? Here’s an overview of his life, including endorsements of the new book by former President Jimmy Carter and Jim Wallis of Sojourners.