‘Empathy is the innate trait that unites us in our common humanity’

NEED SOME GOOD NEWS TO MOTIVATE YOU THIS WEEK? We welcome author and empathy researcher Anita Nowak this week to ReadTheSpirit magazine for an interview about her remarkable new book Purposeful Empathy. Among other things, Anita shows how good it feels to practice empathy each day! Please, read this Cover Story and share it with friends, this week—as you practice empathy in our troubled world.

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From our authors

David Gushee

Speaking of Empathy …
‘Love should be Christianity 101’

THAT’S WHAT DAVID GUSHEE writes about in his Baptist News Global column this week. That emphasis on loving one another—especially love expressed “as care for those who are vulnerable, wounded, hurt”—should be a universally agreed-upon truth in any congregation calling itself Christian, Gushee writes. And yet—he writes—far too many religious leaders and their churches have forgotten that central calling that comes from Jesus himself. Please, read Dr. David Gushee’s column and share it with friends, this week.

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Daniel Buttry and Dámaris Albuquerque

Honoring the global influence of Dr. Gustavo Parajón

THANKS TO OUR FRIENDS IN THE UK! This week, our publishing house and co-authors Daniel Buttry and Dámaris Albuquerque are thanking UK author and broadcaster Malcolm Doney for his enthusiastic review in Church Times of their book, Healing the World: Gustavo Parajón, Public Health and Peacemaking Pioneer. It’s an honor for all of us to read about the enduring importance of a Baptist peacemaker like Dr.Parajón in one of the worldwide Anglican Communion’s most important magazines.

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Howard Brown

Meet two power-house women who help people find their purpose

THIS WEEK, Shining Brightly author Howard Brown introduces us to two power-house women—authors Nim Stant and Orit Ramler—who have developed unique approaches to helping people find their purpose in life. They both are successful leadership coaches whose methods include what Nim Stant calls “Go All In” and what Orit Ramler calls “The Book of Life.” Intrigued? Read Howard’s short introduction to Nim and Orit, then you can listen to his podcasts with Nim and Orit on this same page.

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William Byrnes

Baseball as a family ritual

THIS WEEK, we are bringing our readers a link to a new friend to our community of writers: William Byrnes. We met via our connections in the Goodreads community. (Care to connect with David Crumm on Goodreads? Here’s the profile page.)

For years now, our ReadTheSpirit magazine has published popular columns about sports—as sports relate to family, spirituality and American culture—by two of our authors: Benjamin Pratt and Martin Davis. One of Martin’s most popular columns was headlined A Spiritual Revival in the Field of Dreams. Among Benjamin’s most popular columns was similarly headlined Field of Dreams: In October, our ‘American Odyssey’ calls us home. In addition, Martin went on to interview coaches nationwide and write 30 Days with America’s High School Coaches.

So, when this new friend we met via Goodreads, William Byrnes, invited readers to check out his own wryly titled collection of columns and book reviews, a website called Coots Review, we were intrigued. Then, Will demonstrated what a kindred spirit he is with our colleagues Martin and Benjamin by sending a link to: “Rituals” a column Will wrote some years ago about the legacy of baseball in his own family. Please, enjoy Will’s story over on his website.

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Holidays & Festivals

Ready for Mother’s Day?

“DID YOU KNOW? Mother’s Day yields the highest U.S. church attendance after Christmas Eve and Easter,” writes our Holidays & Festivals columnist Stephanie Fenton. Stephanie’s column is packed with lots of other fascinating background and even some links to Mother’s Day treats and programs that you may want to check out.

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WANT TO SEE ALL OF THE UPCOMING HOLIDAYS & FESTIVALS?—It’s easy to find our annual calendar of global observances. Just remember the web address: InterfaithHolidays.com

 

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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.

Here are some of Ed’s most recent free reviews and columns:

• BILL W—(Streaming) Ed writes, “This is a respectful portrait of the man whose work saved millions of lives, but not a whitewash of his faults.”
• HIS ONLY SON—(In theaters)”Writer/director David Helling tackles one of the most difficult stories in his first feature film, the Genesis story of God’s command to Abraham to sacrifice his only son Isaac.”
• THE BLUE CAFTAN—(In theaters) “Moroccan writer-director Maryam Touzani handles as difficult a question for Muslims in his new film as it is for Christians—the love between members of the same sex that their culture condemns.”
• AIR—(In theaters) “In director Ben Afleck’s fifth film, the race is a heated one—a commercial race between three sneaker shoe companies: Converse, Adidas, and Nike.”
• LET ME HAVE MY SON—(In theaters) “Writer/director Cristobal Kruson’s newest film is a fictionalized story of his own spiritual journey that centers on his son’s descent into mental illness.”
• ON A WING AND A PRAYER—(Streaming on Amazon) “Sean McNamara’s film is based on a true story in which a seasoned pilot of a private twin-engined plane suffers a fatal heart attack.”
• THE LOST KING—(In theaters) “That truth is sometimes more bizarre than fiction is well demonstrated in Director Stephen Frears latest film, a historical detective story.”
• OPERATION MINCEMEAT—(Streaming on Netflix) “For those of us who missed 1956’s The Man Who Never Was, Netflix’s current film will introduce us to one of the great deceptions of WWII.”

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