Celebrate with our authors Debra Darvick and Joe Grimm!

July 8, 2013 by

AT READ THE SPIRIT, we celebrate great authors every week. From N.T. Wright and Barbara Brown Taylor to Jimmy Carter and Eileen Flanagan—we have published hundreds of book reviews and author interviews. Today, it’s time to celebrate with two of our own authors, published by Read the Spirit Books.

DEBRA DARVICK:
Named among ‘Best Detroit Writers’

Thanks go to southeast Michigan CBS affiliate, Channel 62, and to regional arts writer Romero Anton Montalban-Anderssen for including Debra Darvick in the new “Best Local Authors in Detroit.” In this part of the U.S., news media use “Detroit” to describe the whole metro-Detroit region. Montalban-Anderssen chose a diverse short list, including the author of a children’s novelty book and the creator of a fictional veterinarian-detective. Read the Spirit Books publishes Debra Darvick’s highly praised This Jewish Life: Stories of Discovery, Connection and Joy. Each week, you also can enjoy Debra’s columns in her own section of our Read the Spirit magazine.

JOE GRIMM:
Hot dog! Multi-talented author honored for covering Coneys

Coney Detroit by Katherine Yung and Read the Spirit author Joe Grimm, has won the bronze medal for regional adult non-fiction in ForeWord Reviews’ book-of-the-year competition. ForeWord was founded as a trade review journal to cover the independent, alternative, university and self-publishing industries. Coney Detroit covers the history, lore and people of Detroit’s signature food, the coney island hot dog. Coney islands are great equalizers where people from all walks of life can sit side by side and enjoy a steamed bun, a natural casing hot dog, beanless chili, diced onion and yellow mustard. The book features more than 120 color photographs by a dozen photographers and is based on interviews with many of the principal figures in the coney business. The book was published by Wayne State University Press. All author and photographer royalties are being donated to the Gleaners Food Bank of Southeast Michigan.

Joe Grimm also is nationally known as an educator, columnist and consultant in journalism. As a professor in the Michigan State University School of Journalism, Joe has developed innovative projects involving journalism students to produce books with Read the Spirit.

 

Shavuot: Festival connecting harvest with the giving of the Torah

May 13, 2013 by

PLEASE ENJOY this sample chapter from Debra Darvick’s This Jewish Life, which tells about the season of Shavuot. Click the book cover image to learn more about her complete collection of stories.

All souls stood at Sinai, each accepting its share in the Torah.
Alshek. q Ragoler, Maalot HaTorah

While there is no Biblical link between the Shavuot holiday and the giving of the Torah on Mount Sinai, the Talmud does draw a connection between the two. The rabbis calculated the dates of the agricultural festival of Shavuot and the time of the Revelation and deemed them to be one and the same. This link enabled the rabbis to bring new relevance to an agricultural holiday at a time when many Jews were living in urban areas.

Shavuot, literally “Festival of Weeks,” is so named because it occurs seven weeks and one day after the beginning of Passover. Shavout is also called Chag Habikurim, Festival of the First Fruits, and Chag HaKatzir, Harvest Festival. These names reflect the holiday’s origin as the time marking the end of the spring wheat harvest. The 50 days between the second day of Passover and Shavuot are called the counting of the omer, omer being a unit of measure. In Temple times, on the second day of Passover, the priests would offer up for sacrifice an omer of wheat, to mark the start of the seven-week wheat-growing season.

Tikkun Leil Shavuot

Many communities hold a Tikkun Leil Shavuot, an all-night study session that enables those present to prepare spiritually for the morning’s service, when the Ten Commandments are read. During the recitation of the Ten Commandments, the congregation stands, thus symbolically receiving them, as our ancestors did at Sinai.

Ruth’s Role

The Book of Ruth is included in the Shavuot morning service for several reasons. Ruth’s loyalty to her mother-in-law, Naomi, was such that she converted to Judaism. By consequence of that conversion and her subsequent marriage to Boaz (their court- ship is said to have taken place during Shavuot), Ruth became the ancestor of King David, who, according to the Talmud, was born and died on Shavuot.

The Debra Darvick Interview: Why the stories in ‘This Jewish Life’ make it a part of your life, too

May 5, 2013 by

TODAY, ReadTheSpirit is proud to welcome author and columnist Debra Darvick into our online magazine and our bookstore. You may have enjoyed her columns in national magazines, including Good Housekeeping.  Now, you can enjoy her wide-ranging stories every week. Plus, starting today, you can order her signature collection of real-life Jewish stories: This Jewish Life.

VISIT DEBRA’S NEW ONLINE HOME: Debra brings hundreds of stories with her in the relaunch of her Debra Darvick online home today. Please, get to know Debra and, when you  have time, explore her rich array of online stories.

READ DEBRA’S BOOK: As you will discover right here—in our author interview with Debra today—This Jewish Life is for everyone. But, let’s invite Debra to speak for herself. This is our weekly author interview with ReadTheSpirit Editor David Crumm.

HIGHLIGHTS OF OUR INTERVIEW WITH DEBRA DARVICK
ON THE LAUNCH OF THIS JEWISH LIFE

DAVID: Jewish families are a tiny minority in the world. Why are millions of people still so fascinated with Jewish faith and culture?

DEBRA: But let me answer your question in another way. The Jewish people have something to say that is valuable in our world today. Judaism’s ancient wisdom survives because it speaks to every generation of people, not just to Jews.

DAVID: Let me underline that point you’re making. The Gallup Poll occasionally asks Americans to name their favorite books of the Bible. Far and away, the Bible’s most popular book is always Psalms, followed by Genesis. Gallup finds that the majority of Americans say they read the Bible at least occasionally and their first choices after Psalms and Genesis are Matthew, John, Revelation, Proverbs, Job and Luke. That means 4 of the 8 most popular books of the Bible are from the original Jewish collection of scriptures. You do, indeed, have something to say.

DEBRA: That Gallup Poll doesn’t surprise me at all. Genesis is the fist book in the Bible; it has the most lively, visual stories: the Garden of Eden, the snake, the flood, animals two by two. Millions of little children grow up on these stories. And Psalms? They are comforting. Throughout human history, people have wanted to know—needed to know—that there is a force bigger than we are as mere humans. Where do people turn when horrible things happen to find words calling out in faith and hope? They turn to Psalms.

DAVID: Of course, we’re also talking about something much deeper than a popularity poll. Scholars widely credit Judaism as a foundation of Western tradition. That may sound like a startling conclusion if our readers haven’t thought about that before. But I can tell you that you’ll find such conclusions in world histories—and it’s a point made by Pope John Paul II, as well, as he wrote about the origins of Western faith and culture.

DEBRA: The Jewish religion’s ethical and social principles are inseparable from the watershed concept of monotheism—one God—that Judaism gave to the Western world. Think about the power of these ideas: Billions of people now believe that there is one God who set the world in motion. For the Jewish people, this was a singular Divine Force who gave a people a set of laws—the 10 Commandments—to model in the world and to share with others. This was a historic break with the religious and cultural norms of the era in which the Jewish religion emerged.

DAVID: The influence is even larger than these associations, right? We see Judaism’s wisdom among great artists and writers—and even in our governance.

DEBRA: Yes, that’s right, there are people who like to say that America is a Christian nation. And we also can recognize Jewish wisdom in our tradition of law and deliberation. America is a nation of law. The writers of the Constitution were well grounded in the Hebrew Bible. Our Supreme Court’s process of deliberation and interpreting the Constitution echoes the rabbinic process of deliberating and interpreting what the laws in the Torah really meant.

‘This Jewish Life’: Marking Our Sacred Time

DAVID: We also have inherited the Jewish approach to marking our sacred time. Of course, since Jesus and all of his first followers were Jewish, it’s natural that the Christian calendar is associated with a number of Jewish milestones in the calendar. More importantly, I think, Jewish holidays and festivals highlight major themes that matter to millions of families around the world, whether they are Jewish or not.

I know that a festival like Hanukkah is actually a relatively minor observance in the Jewish calendar—but the Hanukkah theme of religious freedom is an issue shared by people all around the world.

DEBRA: That’s true with many of the seasons and holidays included in the book. On the Jewish calendar right now, we are in a period called the counting of the Omer. This is a seven-week period between Passover (and the Exodus from Egypt) and the holiday of Shavuot which celebrates the giving of the Ten Commandments on Mount Sinai. On the Christian calendar, Shavuot, which literally means weeks, is called Pentecost.

In the book, the Passover story is that of a Russian family who were immigrants to America. The theme of Passover is liberation—the Exodus story that is so important in African-American churches. You can imagine the painful situation of Russian Jews for so many decades under Communism. This family you will meet in the book could only walk past a locked synagogue on Jewish holidays. Passover is the story of liberation and here is a family who lived through one of the world’s most dramatic times of liberation. The foundational text reading for Shavuot is the Book of Ruth. In This Jewish Life, the Shavuot story is that of a convert to Judaism (like the Biblical Ruth).

DAVID: These are good examples about the way we mark sacred time and use those periods to remember our most important shared stories. Judaism also established even larger spiritual themes that have shaped world religion to this day—like monotheism, the faith in a single God as opposed to many gods. In your book, I think another big theme readers will discover is the universal yearning for home. A famous Christian writer, Frederick Buechner, says that all religious journeys really are about a yearning for home. That’s something we inherit from the Jewish people.

DEBRA: The Hanukkah story is a great example of that. It’s a soldier’s story that I’m sure any soldier or veteran who reads this book will understand.

DAVID: I love that story, too. It’s set in the First Gulf War, more than 20 years ago, and is told by a young American Jewish soldier who finds himself stationed in the deserts of Saudi Arabia, awaiting battle. Then, it’s Hanukkah, and he finds his way to a small gathering of U.S. soldiers about to mark the holiday.

Here’s part of what he says: “I had tucked a trio of letters addressed to ‘Any Jewish Soldier’ in my back pocket. There we were in the desert about to go to war, singing songs of praise to God who had saved my ancestors in battle. The feeling of unity was as pervasive as our apprehension, as real as the sand that found its way into everything from our socks to our toothbrushes. … That Hanukkah in the desert solidified for me the urge to reconnect with my Judaism.”

Now, Debra, I think so many readers who have family members connected with the military will read a chapter like that and feel a strong emotional connection to these men and women.

Debra Darvick: ‘We all long for home.’

DEBRA: I agree and I’ve been really pleased when non-Jews come up to me and tell me how much they have enjoyed this book. This book does serve to educate people about Jewish life, but these stories also inspire, soothe and make people rethink the really important values in their own lives.

That’s an important truth you’ll find in this book. We share so much. We all long for home. We all weep sometimes. We all have moments of great joy. We all know about kids who make decisions we’re not happy about. Families. Homes. Love. Tragedy. Forgiveness. If you’re not Jewish and you read this book, you will realize right away that these are universal experiences, universal truths.

I like to think of this book as similar to Abraham’s tent—open on all four sides. If you’re not familiar with some of the terms, there is an extensive glossary of Hebrew and Yiddish words to help people quickly discover those words. There are short introductions to each section of the book to help people understand the major themes in these seasons.

DAVID: The stories are so well told! And, the pacing is perfect. Even busy readers can enjoy meeting these people in the pages of your book—a little bit each day.

DEBRA: The stories are short; most are about five pages long. You can read them out loud and even kids as young as 8 or 9 might enjoy sitting around and listening. There are stories about young people, too. The Rosh Hashanah story is about a college student who spends the new year’s holiday on a boat during a semester at sea.

DAVID: That’s another story about the yearning for home—combined with a story of dramatic self-discovery. This girl actually is suffering from a deep home sickness as the big holiday approaches, knowing how her family back home would be celebrating. She’s off the coast of Asia at that point. But, instead, she and some other students—Jewish and non-Jewish—wind up sharing the holiday. It becomes a new starting point in her life.

I could name a dozen stories that I would call my favorites in your book. How about you? Do you have a favorite story in the book?

DEBRA: That’s like asking which of your children is your favorite. But, yes, among these stories some do stand out. There is one story about a man who was in Paris at the liberation as World War II was ending. He describes what it was like to be part of the first Jewish service when the ark was opened again. I get shivers just retelling that story. He describes what it was like to bring out the Torah—so much outpouring of feeling that people ran up to kiss the Torah. They were so overjoyed. He recalls the moment when a young girl ran up to him, pulled the yellow star from her coat and placed it in his hands. So dramatic! But that’s just one story in the book. Many are appropriate to the seasons of the year; many are appropriate to different settings in which people may read the book.

‘This Jewish Life’: Experiencing gratitude

DAVID: What did you learn while writing This Jewish Life?

DEBRA: One of the most important things I learned is gratitude. This definitely was not a one-woman endeavor. As I spoke to all of the people who appear in the book, I had to think about my identity as a writer. Over time, I realized that this wasn’t about me seeing my name on the cover of a book but about the gift God gave me to listen and help people express their deepest selves.

As I worked on a person’s story, we would talk and I would write up a draft. Then, I would call each one on the telephone and read the story to see if I had told it right. Sometimes, I would get to the end and there would be silence on the phone. The first couple of times that happened, I would freak out, thinking that the silence meant I had blown it. But, no, they were silent because they were crying. They were feeling such emotion because their story finally was brought to light—their story was made cohesive so that others could now share in it. It was deeply moving to know I was helping people to make their inner-most experiences real in these stories.

Want to read some stories by Debra?

Check out Debra Darvick’s new online home at ReadTheSpirit. Or, visit the Bookstore page for This Jewish Life.

(This interview originally published at readthespirit.com, an online magazine covering religion, values and cultural diversity.)

Passover 2013: Eliminating—and Welcoming—Bread

March 24, 2013 by

By Lynne Meredith Golodner

THIS PASSOVER comes at such an interesting time. Just days before my new book about bread debuts, I am emptying my cupboards of anything leavened.

This year, as my collaborative book The Flavors of Faith: Holy Breads, is published by ReadTheSpirit Books, I am more in the mindset than ever before about the significance and symbolism of bread to elevate our lives or plunge us into the depths of despair.

I used to feather-dust under and inside my cupboards, ferreting out any last crumbs before the arrival of the Passover holiday. In my more religious days, we spent weeks cleaning, emptying freezers and cupboards and ridding our lives of the arrogance represented by leavened foods for an eight-day holiday that transformed our perspective.

I don’t do that anymore.

While I am no longer rigidly religious, I am intensely spiritual in a more universally accepting and enlightened way than ever before. And after spending the last two years creating Holy Breads, I am more aware than ever about how we make the simple sustaining presence of bread something magical, mystical or mythical in our spiritual lives every day.

Passover is the Jewish holiday that commemorates the Jews’ Exodus from Egypt millennia ago. Every year, we are commanded to retell the story around our beautiful tables and feel as if we ourselves had fled slavery under the harsh rule of Pharoah. We are to sit on pillows to remind us that we are free. We are to clear out any crumbs from our homes and eat only approved foods for a week.

The night before the holiday, we hide several pieces of bread throughout the house and by candlelight, have the children look for them, so we can finally and poetically burn the last pieces of leaven before commencing the holiday.

Holidays are as much about religious revelation and reverence as they are about family connection. Last week, I pulled out the yellowed, crisp piece of lined paper on which I wrote my grandmother’s chicken soup recipe more than 15 years ago. The blue ink is smeared in places where drops of water tainted the writing.

I’ve made my big pot of Grandma’s chicken soup, flavored with dill so I know it is hers. I can almost hear my grandfather’s voice as he breaks the middle matzah, or Afikoman, to place under his pillow at the head of the table and entice the children to steal it and hide it. Somewhere in my closet, I have squirreled away the silver dollars I received every year when negotiating the return of this precious symbolic “dessert” so we could end the Seder meal.

‘Part of Something Bigger’

My connections to identity and legacy come through the holiday table. While I cannot quite feel like I was a slave in the desert, I can relate to some of the commentaries in the collection of Haggadahs that we use in my house every Passover. When I read about equating the slavery of Egypt to ways we enslave ourselves today (think: iPhone, workplace, our over-burdened schedules), I come close.

But the greatest lesson I take from these holidays is that I am part of something bigger, a community, a mindset, a belief system that is universal in its desire to spread peace through the world.

I can’t even say it’s ironic that my debut book on how bread is symbolic and significant in many faith communities comes back from the printer in the midst of the one holiday of the year when we Jews don’t eat, touch or look at bread.

For one week, we rid our homes, our bellies and our thoughts of the rising in a food we take for granted year round. It is a food that represents simultaneously holiness and extravagance, dependence and redemption, and one that brings with it the sustenance of life, the bare minimum we need to sustain our bodies.

What bread symbolizes is the most basic sustenance and the extravagance with which we feed ourselves every day. It seems so easy to spend a week without this most basic of foods. A week. Eight days. There are so many other foods to eat.

But what it becomes for so many is a burden and an ache. The focus is not on the freedom of doing without but the prison of restriction.

I don’t live that way. Long ago, I gave myself permission to observe what is meaningful to me and leave what is not. That is the lesson of spirituality – it is a deeply personal thing, a way to live one’s life, with only the Self to answer to.

‘With less, we see more, we shine brighter.’

Recently, I hired a stylist to guide me in choosing clothing that is flattering for my body size and shape. For years, I’d walk into my packed closet, shirts pressed tightly together, so many things to choose from and no clue what to wear and what matched. I invited Jessica into my closet and let her loose.

The result was a mountain of discarded clothing that either made me look too old or too young, that didn’t fit properly or was long since out of style. Of course, I maintained veto power and there were 2 or 3 items that found their way back inside my closet.

But at the end of that day, I was left with a closet in which I could breathe. Clothes hung comfortably on the rods; one shelf lay bare. Everything I owned could be seen easily, and folded well, rather than stuffed into shelves close to overflowing. Jessica and I later went shopping, and she found pants and tops and boots for me that fit the way they should. (What a revelation that I’d been buying jeans two sizes too big!) Now, I have a greatly reduced collection of clothing to choose from—but everything I put on fits me well and I feel so good when I step outside.

Passover is a similar quest. We eliminate so much from our lives. It’s a shame that it takes a religious mandate to do a massive spring cleaning—but whatever gets us there is useful, to be sure. It’s a huge undertaking, emotionally and physically, to let go of what is not needed and a huge revelation to realize that we are just fine without all of it. Perhaps even better off.

Simplicity is a gift to treasure. With less, we see more, we shine brighter. Years ago, I hated the burden of preparing for a religious Passover—nights of cooking in my basement, using the laundry tub as a sink, and scrubbing every room of the house to rid my family of leavened products.

And then, after all the cleaning and cooking was done, I was left with the most basic of ingredients. We couldn’t use bottled salad dressings, so I whisked the juice of a lemon with olive oil, salt and pepper. We bought cases of fruit and baked apples and pears as dessert. We traded complex and manufactured for whole and simple.

I don’t mind Passover because I see it for what it is: an opportunity to slow down and focus on the meaning behind the words. An opportunity to pare down, to simplify. A time to gather together and remember our roots.

Lynne Meredith Golodner is the author of the soon-to-be-released The Flavors of Faith: Holy Breads. She blogs at www.lynnegolodner.com and owns Your People LLC (www.yourppl.com), a Michigan company that provides public relations and marketing/communications consulting services.

Passover, by Debra Darvick from This Jewish Life

March 21, 2013 by

Click the book cover to visit its webpage.DEBRA DARVICK is a nationally known columnist (you may have seen her stories in Good Housekeeping and other magazines) as well as an author who has just released This Jewish Life: Stories of Discovery, Connection & Joy. That book contains dozens of true stories about Jewish families as they move through a typical year. The following overview of Passover is from the introduction to that section of her book. (Learn more about Debra’s book by clicking here or on the book cover at right.)

Passover

Passover affirms the great truth that liberty is the inalienable right of every human being.
M. Joseph

By Debra Darvick

Pesach, Passover, follows Purim by a month and a day and commemorates the liberation of the People of Israel from Egyptian slavery. Outside of the High Holidays, Passover is likely the most widely observed holiday of the Jewish calendar. Celebrated for eight days—seven in Israel and by Reform Jews—Passover begins with a ritual meal called a Seder, an hours-long celebration filled with food, discussion and singing that enables Jews to fulfill the commandment to retell the story of our going out from Egypt.

The most distinguishing feature of Passover is matzah, a flat cracker that substitutes for bread during the holiday. When the People of Israel fled Egypt, there was no time to allow their dough to rise. The flattened cakes they ate come down to us as matzah. The laws of Passover dictate that prior to the beginning of the holiday, the home must be cleaned of all chametz, that is, any food that might have any leavening in it whatsoever. No bread, no noodles, no cereal or cookies. The night before the holiday begins, some families conduct a chametz search. By candlelight, children se tout with a wooden spoon and feather to collect bits of chametz that their parents have set out around the house for them to find. These last bits of chametz are set aside to be burned the following morning. Those who observe the law in the strictest sense will have in their homes only those foods that ahve been certified kosher for Passover.

On the Seder table are other foods symbolic of the Passover story—saltwater simulates the tears of the Hebrew slaves; horseradish represents the bitterness of their lives. An egg symbolizes the cycle of life; charoset, a savory mixture of wine, cinnamon, apples and walnuts, symbolizes the mortar used in construction of the Egyptian cities. Greens, called karpas, symbolize spring; a shank bone, zeroah, symbolizes the sacrifice of the Pascal lamb. Four glasses of wine are drunk, at prescribed times during the meal.

To entertain the children during the long meal, a tradition developed to hide a small piece of matzah called the afrikomen during the early part of the meal. Toward the close of the evening, all children present are invited to search for the afrikomen and then ransom it back to the head of the household.

The Passover story is told in a book called a Haggadah. Haggadot, the plural form of the word, may be simple or ornately illustrated. They have long been an art form in and of themselves; there are hundreds of Haggadot to choose from.

The Tom Block Interview: Breaking ‘A Fatal Addiction’

March 17, 2013 by

A Tom Block studio installation.

CLICK THE BOOK COVER to visit its Amazon page.ARTIST, WRITER and peace activist Tom Block keeps surprising the world. From eye-opening paintings of great spiritual leaders to unusual theatrical works to historical analysis to activist manifestos, Tom is hammering away at a core flaw in civilization: the intersection of religion and violence. Drawing on centuries of spiritual prophets—including Maimonidies and St. Francis—Tom speaks to audiences worldwide through many forms of media.

TODAY, ReadTheSpirit Editor David Crumm talks with Tom Block about his ongoing peacemaking efforts—and his newest book, A Fatal Addiction: War in the Name of God:

HIGHLIGHTS OF OUR
INTERVIEW WITH TOM BLOCK
ON ‘A FATAL ADDICTION:
WAR IN THE NAME OF GOD’

DAVID: This new book draws hard conclusions for people of faith. For example, you write: “There are many painful truths that we might have a difficult time understanding and internalizing. This book is about one of them: our fatal attraction to violence and war. And even more confusing, the manner in which war and God are intertwined in most religions and throughout all human time, even into our own.” Compared with your earlier work, which inspired readers with fascinating connections between early Jewish and Muslim mystics—this book about religion and violence is tough stuff.

TOM: This book is the starkest thing I have done, without a doubt. It’s stark because I believe our activism has to start with honesty. This book is Step 1 for me as an activist. I can’t offer a response to the intertwining of religion and violence in the world if I don’t, first, stop and look at this problem in a clear light.

DAVID: So, you’ve written a book that you find helpful to true peace activists—a vocation you have pursued through your art and your work as a playwright and a scholar writing nonfiction books like this one. What do you hope general readers will find in this volume?

Artist Tom Block.TOM: I hope people will take the time to read this book, because it opens the doorway to admitting that we all share this fatal addiction to violence. As I travel and work with people in so many places, I hear them saying: Mine is a religion of peace—but their religion? Their religion is violent. This new book is a response to all of the religious people who say: We are for peace—but they are not. The truth is that this addiction to violence unifies all of us.

DAVID: Do you consider yourself religious? I know that you identify as Jewish, right?

TOM: I put myself into a category that no religious person seems to want to accept these days: I’m spiritual but not religious. I am Jewish. That’s a moniker I accept, but spiritually I don’t see myself as the follower of a specific creed.

DAVID: Our regular readers will have just met the Irish philosopher and theologian Peter Rollins in last week’s author interview. When I consider the way that you carefully use words like “Jewish” and “spiritual-but-not-religious”—I see parallels in the way Peter describes himself as “Christian”—then says “but obviously in a different way than a lot of other people call themselves Christian.” Peter argues that what passes for religion today has become one more product for sale in our cultural vending machine. He argues that what is sold as “God” in most congregations today is nothing short of an idol. There are huge differences between your work and Peter’s work, obviously—but I also see strong parallels. In fact, I would recommend that readers who bought Peter’s book last week strongly consider buying yours as well. One thing Peter has discovered is: Some people love his message; some flat out reject it.

TOM: Some people reject what I’m saying. People within religious traditions tell me that you have to have a religious structure, tradition, liturgy and prayers to reach into spirit. I don’t believe that. I frame my whole life through a deeply spiritual understanding, born through my work as an artist, a writer, a historian. In fact, this new book grew out of a profound frustration with religion’s ability to take people out of the political system and put them into the spiritual realm. Too often, religion becomes just another political arm.

DAVID: Again, strong parallels here with Peter’s work. He aims his harshest criticism at the global economic system that thrives on preaching to people that they need the God-product religions are selling. But God is far bigger than that, he argues. Tom, you’re arguing that global political powers and religious authorities are joined at the hip in justifying self-serving violence. You’re speaking especially to readers concerned about world peace, right?

TOM: Yes, but as I have traveled, I have come to the conclusion that as pacifism is constituted these days, it’s irrelevant. It’s meaningless in the larger world. The people who consider themselves pacifists tend to be active mainly in church basements, meeting in discussion groups that say: Why can’t we all just get along? We can’t be relevant if we spend most of our time drinking coffee, sitting with our same friends and refusing to confront the larger issue. Very few people are willing to say that the entire system is ill.

DAVID: The once vigorous anti-war movement certainly has faded.

TOM: We are too tempted to talk about war, now, in ways that find honor and glory and truth and a positive ability to shape reality.

I’m calling for muscular pacifists like Gandhi to arise again. In my work, I don’t want to be a weak, irrelevant person simply saying: Oh, can’t we just get along? These times call for muscular pacifism like Gandhi, Aung San Suu Kyi and activists like them. These are people raising their ideals above their own safety and above their own personal interest. They are people willing to die for their beliefs.

MYSTICS AND PROPHETS LIKE ST. FRANCIS, MAIMONIDES

DAVID: As this interview with you is published, the world suddenly is refocused on the example of St. Francis of Assisi. He’s widely known in America as an animal lover. But in his day, he was a hugely controversial advocate for the poor. He also was one of the first major Christian leaders to hold a peaceful dialogue with Muslim leaders—in the midst of the Crusades, no less! (Here is an analysis by Thomas Reese SJ of Pope Francis I’s choice of St. Francis’s name.)

Moses Maimonides by Tom Block.I think this connects with your own ongoing work, Tom. You’ve often held up St. Francis as a model for religious activists. Here’s a passage you wrote in an international journal about this issue: “Mystics of the 13th century developed a conception of prophecy that moved beyond simply acting as society’s conscience. Medieval prophets such as Moses Maimonides, a Jew, Muhyiddin Ibn Arabi, a Muslim, and St. Francis of Assisi, a Christian, all believed in an activist prophecy, in which a socio-political role was demanded of the prophet, instead of their simply providing societal oversight. It was no longer enough for a seer to simply point out the ills of society, understood through their own personal relationship with God. The new paradigm demanded that he or she propose concrete steps to help remake the society in the moral, caring image of a spiritually conscious world.”

(You can read Tom’s entire article on Prophetic Activist Art as it appeared in the International Journal of the Arts in Society, as posted within Tom Block’s website.)

TOM: Yes, I believe that prophetic activist art connects with medieval concepts of prophecy. I’ve studied a lot about past mystical thinkers. In the 12th and 13th centuries, Jewish and Muslim mystical thinkers developed ideas about prophecy that went into something called prophetic activism. They considered it their prophetic job to translate these ineffable messages they received into tangible action. And I am pointing toward people like Maimonides and Francis.

That’s what I’m talking about when I use a phrase like “spiritual but not religious.” These mystics and prophets showed how we can raise the gaze of humanity to the ineffable and focus people again on matters of the spirit. As an artist, I also connect with the tradition that says we can do this through art. Of course, over the past 150 years, art has lost this role. We can talk about why that happened—and, for that discussion I refer people to some of the articles on my website—but the point is not to go back and spend all our time arguing about the past. I want people to reclaim the purpose of art and to wed it with this kind of prophetic action we need to revive today.

TOM BLOCK: MUCH MORE ART AND WISDOM ONLINE

DAVID: We’re going to include links to your website, which really is a treasure trove. So, please, tell readers a little more about what they’ll find.

TOM: My website has a lot of materials that will help to introduce readers to my overall body of work. On my homepage, you’ll find an introduction to my painting and writing and, then, down the right side there are current events in which I’m involved. If you click on some of the topics on my home page, you’ll find much, much more. Under Visual Art, you’ll find a series of art I’ve done dating back to the early 1990s. There are maybe 15 different series of art shown here. And, each series includes 10-15 images. There are more than 200 images to look at on my website. Plus, all of my published writing in magazines, journals and websites is posted in its entirety. Understanding the philosophical basis of my art and writing takes a while and I have provided lots of material to explore.

DAVID: I appreciate discovering rich, deep websites like your collection, Tom. At ReadTheSpirit, we also maintain our entire archive of stories, which readers can access through our Search box or other links. This area in which we jointly work is not something people can pick up at a glance.

TOM: We live in a culture where, if you can’t say it in 140 characters, it isn’t worth listening to. There are other parts of the world where that isn’t the case. I have worked in Scotland.

DAVID: In fact, let’s also provide a link to the Center for Human Ecology in Glasgow. Later this year, they plan to publish your manifesto: Prophetic Activist Art: A Handbook for a Spiritual Revolution. At ReadTheSpirit, we’ve done a lot of coverage and cooperative sharing with the Iona Community and the creative folks at Wild Goose publishing in Glasgow. All spiritual roads seem to lead to Scotland these days, hmmm?

TOM: I find people in places like Scotland to be distinctively caring and politically mature in ways that leave them open to the kinds of things I talk and write about. This is true in a number of other countries. I was over in Barcelona working in a residency program when another artist told me: “Man, you were born in the wrong culture.” When I talk about America being the most warlike nation since Rome, this is difficult for a lot of Americans to accept. No country can get a clear vision of itself. We need distance. But let me stress something right here: I am not trying to bash America in this new book. That’s not the point.

TOM BLOCK: ‘AN ETHICAL FULCRUM’ TO NURTURE EQUITY, JUSTICE

DAVID: I don’t want to leave readers with the impression that you’re a fringe figure way out there on your own. I’ve known you for years and, while you’re not a household name, you’re certainly active around the world as a guest artist, writer and speaker for many organizations and institutions. One of the people endorsing your work is retired Air Force General Charles Tucker, who has spearheaded a number of nonprofit groups concerned with human rights and global security. He wrote this: “Tom Block is a visionary at the intersection of art and conscience. His vivid representations and sagacious convictions merge to form a coherent, cogent and compelling world-view. Written with style and conviction, his new work is a ‘must read’ for those searching for an ethical fulcrum from which to nurture equity, justice and human security.”

High praise, indeed, from a significant figure!

TOM: He is a fascinating man and I appreciate his very positive words. We do not always see eye to eye on every issue, but I appreciate his work. He hosted a conference of activist artists in Chicago and I met him there. Then, he also had me come out and run an art festival around some work he was coordinating on Iraq. We were part of a whole week of events—a mini art festival, discussion groups, films, and panels. He and I are coming at this, we might say, from opposite ends and meeting somewhere in the middle. His support is important because I do believe we need far more than artistic actors in the world buying into these ideas.

DAVID: There are very dark conclusions that you draw throughout your work about the fundamental ills within religion and world culture. Yet, the very fact that you pursue this activism with such passion and creativity, I think, is a hopeful sign.

TOM: This is difficult work. I am calling for people to confront the world in a new way. I’m frustrated with people expressing general hopes, but not acting. I can see a profound ecological disaster in my children’s lifetime—changing life around the planet—and I see no tangible hope that this can be avoided. Meanwhile, look at what we’re arguing about in our country: Whether we should raise taxes a couple of percent. What an absolutely irrelevant issue in terms of the major dangers ahead of us in the world! So, I can’t see the mature choices taking place that will help us make the leaps we need.

Humanity has a responsibility that we have not accepted. There’s a wonderful line from Nelson Mandela, who says: “If God isn’t going to come along and save the world soon—then we have to do it ourselves.” That’s my point. Unless you’re a Quaker or Amish today, you can’t claim your religion is a religion of peace. We need to dig deep into what is wrong at the core of our civilization and culture.

Originally published at readthespirit.com, an online magazine covering religion and cultural diversity.

Everybody’s buzzing ’bout The Bible (As Seen on TV)

March 1, 2013 by

THE BIBLE—As Seen on TV. Those six words capture what faith-and-film writer Edward McNulty describes as a “spectacular new series”—great for individual viewing and small-group discussion—if we watch with a bit of skepticism.

UPDATE FOR MONDAY APRIL 1, 2013: Don’t miss McNulty’s fourth column on The Bible series—just in time to catch the fourth part of the series on the Lifetime network tonight. Today, McNulty writes: “I can say that this series has really hit its stride.”

The Final Week: The New Testament portions are “far superior” to earlier episodes.

For Week 4: Highlights of the TV epic now focusing on the life of Jesus.
For Week 3: Here is McNulty’s analysis of Week 3 in the History Channel epic.
For Week 2: Here is McNulty’s analysis of Week 2 in the series.
For Part 1: Continue reading—this article (below) is McNulty’s series overview and look at Part 1.

McNulty and ReadTheSpirit are not alone in reporting on this phenomenon. The Bible is truly—”show biz.” Executive Producer Mark Burnett is the man behind Survivor, The Voice and Celebrity Apprentice. Best-selling pastor Rick Warren is publicly promoting the series. The New York Times’ Neil Genzlinger, like McNulty, gives the series a mixed review. More important than Genzlinger’s text was the buzz behind it: The Times splashed full-color coverage across the front page of its Arts section.

Here is Edward McNulty’s original overview and invitation to our readers …

‘The Bible’ As Seen on TV:
Spectacle, Skepticism and
A Great Opportunity for Congregations

By Edward McNulty

PHOTOS FROM ‘THE BIBLE’: Top shows Jesus walking on water from an unusual perspective. Here is Moses during the Exodus period of the story. Below is Samson and his mother. Photos by Joe Alblas, released for public use with the series.AN AMBITIOUS and spectacular new series, The Bible, begins on the History Channel this Sunday, March 3. The 10-hour series covers highlights of the Old and New Testaments, beginning with stories from Genesis (Abraham is prominent here), the saga of King David, the life, death and resurrection of Jesus, and the beginning of the work of the apostle Paul’s ministry.

My review today is based on seeing portions, but not all, of the series. My advice to viewers is this: There is much to admire—but you will want to take some parts of this drama with a grain of salt.

Today, I invite you to bookmark this article and come back periodically to add your comments. I’d like to know what you think and I’m sure many other readers will welcome your thoughts. I will update my own thoughts and questions as we go through the series. This is a great time to invite friends to view with you.

WHERE AND WHEN TO SEE THE BIBLE:
SUNDAYS on HISTORY: Each episode debuts in prime time on Sunday nights, but “History” repeats itself, so this series is easy to watch or record.
MONDAYS on LIFETIME: Both the History Channel and Lifetime are owned by A&E Networks—so each episode also will air Monday nights in prime time on Lifetime.
DVD SET: The Bible series has not yet been released on DVD, but is available for pre-order.

HIGHLIGHTS OF THE BIBLE SERIES TO WATCH FOR:

SACRIFICE OF ABRAHAM: This sequence is very well done and brings out the drama of the father’s agony over carrying out what he perceives to be the will of God—as well as the boy’s puzzlement and fear over what his father is doing. Added to this is the cutaway to mother Sarah, becoming aware of her husband’s intention and rushing frantically up the mountain to stop the terrible proceedings. Viewers are likely to gain a deeper appreciation of the humanity of the biblical characters.

This portion of the series is a great discussion-starter with friends: What do you think about this epic story that is a sacred junction point in Jewish, Christian and Muslim traditions? What does your particular tradition say about Abraham? (Versions of this story can be quite different, even within a single faith.) Today, tell us what you think in a comment, below.

THE SAGA OF MOSES: The other major story in the first week’s two-hour presentation is that of Moses. I appreciate the special effects in this sequence, although some viewers may wonder why the voice from the bush doesn’t tell Moses to take off his shoes. That’s what I mean about skepticism. This is a made-for-TV version of the Bible, not the Bible itself. I also like the flashback sequences we see from Egypt, where the young Moses kills a man.

Like Abraham, Moses is a patriarch spanning all three Abrahamic faiths. If you have a chance to discuss this series with a diverse circle of friends, Moses is another good choice for starting the conversation. You may be surprised by the perspectives you will hear on this figure you thought you knew so well.

WEEK 2—SAMSON and DAVID & GOLIATH: Adventure lovers will appreciate the stories of Samson and David and Goliath. Especially intriguing is the choice of black actors in portraying Sampson and his mother. Once again, remember my advice: Enjoy the series but take some details with a grain of salt. For example, on his way to meet the huge Philistine champion, David recites Psalm 23. Not historically accurate—but certainly a nice dramatic touch.

WEEKS 3, 4 and 5—LIFE OF JESUS: This History Channel series lines up nicely with the current Western and the later Eastern Lenten seasons this year. The stories of Jesus coincide with the conclusion of Western Lent. Eastern Christians will have just started their Great Lent. So, from East to West, this series becomes a welcome opportunity for congregations.

While some characters, such as Samson, are cast in innovative ways for this production—the actor playing Jesus is the usual Euro-American actor. Obviously, Jesus was Jewish and of Middle Eastern descent. The actor playing Jesus this time is Diogo Morgado, born in Portugal and currently a very popular TV star across Spain, Portugal and Brazil. Nevertheless, Morgado gives us a dramatically satisfying portrayal of a strong leader. One interesting touch in the Jesus episodes is the inclusion of Mary Magdalene with Jesus’s followers in the boat during the walking-on-water scene. That is historically justifiable, since women were a close part of Jesus’s inner circle, and it may please many TV viewers to see her in such a prominent role.

WANT MORE STUDY AND DISCUSSION RESOURCES?

The series website is packed with helpful features. Look for the Questions to Reflect Upon and other materials. Clearly, producers Mark Burnett and his wife Roma Downey are hoping millions of us will discuss these stories. It is good to see the History Channel getting back to its original purpose—the entertaining presentation of history.

Where to find more from Edward McNulty …