Bill Tammeus and Dr. David Gushee on:
‘Do Christian ethics have a place in a post-Christian world?’
GOT BIG QUESTIONS? LET’S START WITH THESE ANSWERS: Journalist and author Bill Tammeus starts 2022 by talking with Christian ethicist Dr. David Gushee. Bill introduces their conversation this way: “I’m going to introduce you today to a forthcoming book that speaks about how followers of the child born on Christmas are to be living today in light of his birth, life, death and resurrection. It’s called Introducing Christian Ethics: Core Convictions for Christians Today, by David P. Gushee, one of the best-known Christian ethicists. It’s a challenging book because it takes Jesus seriously and it takes seriously what it means to be a Christ follower. But it also raises questions that even non-Christians would do well to ponder as together we face a wounded world in need of relief and redemption.”
And please consider pre-ordering a copy of Dr. Gushee’s book. Here’s the Amazon link to do that right now.
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As 2022 opens—
We’ll lift your spirits with new books
WRITING FOR OUR FRONT EDGE PUBLISHING HOUSE, Susan Stitt previews some of the books we will be launching as 2022 unfolds. We can guarantee you’ll find books that will lift your spirits, even in the dark and chill of winter. Please, help our community of writers by reading Susan’s column and then sharing a link to it via your social media—using the easy-to-share buttons that accompany this story.
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From Suzy Farbman in GODSIGNS—
‘Great Art Can Console’
DRAWING ON TWO GREAT POETS, Suzy Farbman shares some of the ups and downs—and ups—of her family’s attempt to celebrate the year-end holidays.
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News about Our Authors
THREE OF OUR AUTHORS found their books included in year-end roundups published in two different online magazines.
Women of WISDOM and Little Pink Houses of Hope founder Jeanine Patten-Coble were included in an Improve Her Health roundup, headlined: 34 Great Life Changing Books To Inspire Women.
Col. Clifford Worthy was included in a Pretty Progressive roundup: 36 Best Books by Black Authors.
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Holidays & Festivals
Twelfth Night, Epiphany and Theophany
And a Special Calendar Request—
IN EARLY JANUARY, Holidays & Festivals columnist Stephanie Fenton prepares a new annual calendar of holidays, festivals, anniversaries, milestones and special observances. Want to help? Want to make sure that your favorite occasion is properly included in our 2022 calendar (which will go public in mid January)? Take a look at our 2021 calendar—go to InterfaithHolidays.com—and see if the holidays and milestones are included. Also, consider major anniversaries coming up in 2022 that we should mark for our readers. Please, email us any suggestions to [email protected].
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2 perspectives on Netflix’s new Don’t Look Up
Two of our writers have reviewed Don’t Look Up this week—
- RODNEY CURTIS gives us his take right here.
- THEN, ED MCNULTY reviews the new film here.
And, pssst! Read both! Rodney and Ed both like the film very much, although for somewhat different reasons.
Faith & Film
ED McNULTY, for decades, has published reviews, magazine articles and books exploring connections between faith and film. Most of his work is freely published. Ed supports his work by selling the Visual Parables Journal, a monthly magazine packed with discussion guides to films. This resource is used coast-to-coast by individuals who love the movies and by educators, clergy and small-group leaders.
Among Ed’s free reviews and columns:
- ENCOUNTER—Ed writes, “Director/Co-writer Michael Pearce has us looking skyward in the first half of this unsettling film about a stressed-out war veteran and his two young sons on the run.”
- WHO KILLED MALCOLM X? Documentarians Phil Bertelsen and Rachel Dretzin focus on the 30-year search by Abdur-Rahman Muhammad for details about the real assassins in Harlem’s Audubon Ballroom on February 21, 1965.
- BEING THE RICARDOS—Ed writes, “Writer-director Aaron Sorkin’s film is a fascinating take on perhaps the most crucial week in the history of the I Love Lucy Show during its second season.”
- BENEDETTA—Director and co-writer Paul Verhoeven takes on a controversial tale of a 17th-century Catholic nun.
- THE POWER OF THE DOG—Ed writes, “Director/writer Jane Campion’s adaptation of Thomas Savage’s 1968 novel is set in Montana, but she has found a region of her native New Zealand as a serviceable stand-in.”
- WEST SIDE STORY—“Director Stephen Spielberg and scriptwriter Tony Kushner have triumphed in their revision of the smash Broadway and film musical West Side Story!”
- ENCANTO—“This time Disney transports us to the mountains of Columbia where the Madrigal family live in an enchanting village called the Encanto.”
- HOUSE OF GUCCI—”Director Ridley Scott’s sprawling film based on the sad history of the glamorous Gucci family and their fashion empire features some over the top performances by a gaggle of A-list actors.”
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Forest Whitaker plays the late Archbishop Desmond Tutu in The Forgiven, a 2017 film.
THE FORGIVEN—“Roland Joffé and co-writer Michael Ashton take us to South Africa where they focus upon the work of Archbishop Desmond Tutu (Forest Whitaker), President of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission shortly after the demise of apartheid.”
- PASSING—Ed writes, “Actress Rebecca Hall steps behind the camera to co-write and direct this adaptation of Nella Larsen’s 1929 Harlem Renaissance novel about two light-skinned black women able to fool a racist society by passing as white.”
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