Discovering the Sacred in Our Heartland

GREAT FOR INDIVIDUAL READING, FAMILIES AND SMALL GROUPS

What’s the last thing most of our families are thinking about this fall? Taking a road trip. But, that’s exactly what two spiritual guides are inviting us to undertake in a pair of unique, beautifully illustrated volumes that will be a welcome addition to your reading list this autumn and winter. That’s true even if your spiritual “road trip,” for now, is only the start of a plan for yourself as an individual or with your family, friends or congregation. Now is the time to open your horizons, once again, as you think about what defines—and unifies—this vast and diverse nation of ours.

Please, read this week’s cover story and share it with friends via social media, email or your own newsletters.

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And Speaking of American Inspiration …

What Shaped Lincoln’s Soul?

FROM QUIET FIRE—Lincoln scholar Duncan Newcomer takes us from the pages of the current issue of The New Yorker to Lincoln’s nose on Mount Rushmore in a sweeping overview of the many forces that shaped Lincoln’s soul—a reflection that holds out hope for all of us to reinvent ourselves and our nation.

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Milestones and Memorials

Remembering Linda Jarkey’s Love of the Whole World

IN OUR FRONT EDGE PUBLISHING COLUMN—“I miss Linda!” That’s the most appropriate way to begin our remembrance of the first author in our 13 years as a publishing house to die—and leave our worldwide community of authors, journalists and editors feeling such a personal loss. That line is appropriate because the climactic line in her picture book for young readers, Sadie Sees Trouble

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Yom Kippur

THIS YEAR, YOM KIPPUR began at sunset on Sunday September 27. We are marking the Jewish High Holy Days this year with inspiring true stories from Howard Brown. For Yom Kippur, Howard reminds us of the ultimate questions we all share: Who shall live? And, who shall die?

Best Wishes to All of Our Jewish Authors …

IN A SPECIAL FRONT EDGE PUBLISHING COLUMN, we highlight the many Jewish authors who have joined our community of writers and teachers since our publishing house was founded in 2007.

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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.

Among Ed’s free reviews and columns:

1. BORGEN—For years, the Danish series has been praised by critics in the U.S., but the series has not been available to most TV viewers. Now that Netflix is streaming three seasons of Borgen, Ed McNulty offers his own strong praise for these nearly 30 hours of exceptional TV. And, Ed adds some thought-provoking questions to consider as you begin to watch the series.
2. THE CIRCLE—This week, Ed also reaches back across the years to recommend another important film (in this case from 2000). He writes, “Iranian filmmaker Jafar Panahi’s movie begins and ends with a woman peering through a small window with a sliding panel as they seek information from someone in authority. Hence the title refers to a metaphorical circle … of women struggling to survive.”
3. RESIDUE—Merawi Gerima’s debut film explores the complex costs of gentrification—in this case, in Washington DC. Ed compares it to the other 2019 film The Last Black Man in San Francisco.
4. RUBY BRIDGES—Ed writes, “Ruby Bridges tells the story of how a six-year old Black girl integrated a New Orleans segregated school in 1960. … Not expecting a whole lot of it because it was a Disney film, it turned out to soar way beyond my expectations.”
5. ALL IN—THE FIGHT FOR DEMOCRACY—Ed writes, “Directors Lisa Cortes’ and Liz Garbus’s well-produced documentary could not be more timely, coming out just a month or so before the 2020 national elections.“
6. BY THE GRACE OF GOD, originally Grâce à Dieu—”Francois Ozon’s rivetting drama joins two other excellent films—Our Fathers and Spotlight—that personalize the issue of the abuse of boys by priests and its cover-up. The script, written by the director, is based on the real lives of three men abused as boys by Father Bernard Preynat (Bernard Verley).”
7. MILADA—”We should all be grateful to Netflix for bringing us Czech director David Mrnka’s English-language film about a social justice advocate largely unknown in the U.S. Milada Horáková, born in 1901, became a lawyer when few women were able to rise to this status. She championed labor and women’s issues and in the late 1930s tried unsuccessfully to warn the English of Hitler’s true intentions. She returned to her native land to take part with her husband Bohuslav Horák in the resistance to the Nazis.”
8. DANGEROUS LIES—”Director Michael Scott’s mystery can provide an enjoyable time away from the current turmoil, especially if you enjoyed Knives Out, though his tale revolving around a good-hearted caretaker by no means rises to that level.”
9. LOVECRAFT COUNTRY—In his review of the new HBO series, Ed writes: “I love road trip movies, and this series looks like it will rate right up there with the best, judging by the incredibly good first segment called Sundown!” Then, this new series transported Ed way back into the roots of his own fascination with science fiction—so he adds this personal column about early sci-fi fans he knew and the genre’s potential to expand our worlds in helpful ways.
10. PERSONAL HISTORY OF DAVID COPPERFIELD—Ed writes, “Regarded as Charles Dickens’ most autobiographical novel, David Copperfield had been filmed 13 times before Armando Iannucci adapted it. Thoroughly enjoying his political satire, The Death of Stalin, I was looking forward to seeing this new version, noted for its color-blind casting and touch of surrealistic absurdity. I was not disappointed, the director and co-writer Simon Blackwell giving us a whimsical romp through the sprawling novel in just under two hours.”

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