Dr. David Gushee brings ‘a breath of fresh air’

COVER STORY—This week, one of our most popular authors, Ken Wilson, writes about how deeply Dr. David Gushee’s new book, Introducing Christian Ethics, has affected his life. What Dr. Gushee has produced is “like a breath of fresh air,” Ken writes. Dr. Gushee welcomes all of us to a clearer vision of Christianity at its best—through multimedia storytelling. Please, read this inspiring story by Ken Wilson about Dr. Gushee and share it with friends who might be interested in this remarkable new multimedia book.

WANT TO STREAM WITH DR. GUSHEE? On Thursday June 9 from 7 to 9 pm (ET), the nonprofit Embracing the Journey will stream a free program with Dr. Gushee about LGBTQ inclusion. Dr. Gushee’s topic that evening will be “Transformative Encounters and Paradigm Leaps.” The group reports, as of this week: About 200 individuals from 33 states, Austria, Canada, and the United Kingdom, have registered for this event. We anticipate having 400 registrations by June 9.” Here’s the link to register.
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Coming to terms with our past—

THAT’S A MAJOR THEME in Dr. Gushee’s new book—and it’s also true of an unfolding North American news story our magazine has been covering closely over the past year: Canadian and American leaders are investigating the centuries of trauma and death that occurred in North American “Indian boarding schools.” Canada’s national reckoning began earlier. Now, American leaders are catching up with the long process of documenting this government-sponsored and often church-run campaign.

New this week is Bill Tammeus’s reporting on the release of a preliminary American report. His column is headlined: Finally, a start on an accounting of a shameful page of U.S. history. One reason that Bill remains one of the most-respected religion writers in the U.S. is his practice of sharing helpful links with readers. His new report includes a dozen fascinating links that will help readers learn much more about this historic milestone. Please, after reading Bill’s story, share it with friends via social media and email to help encourage a robust national conversation about a topic that many Americans still would prefer to forget.

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Want some good news?

‘Now What?’ Caring for Caregivers

IN EASTERN TENNESSEE, the Rev. Charles Ensminger organized and hosted a day-long conference for resource people involved in caregiving programs—themed around our guidebook, Now What? A Guide to the Gifts and Challenges of Aging. Our publishing house helped Charles to adapt the paperback books distributed to his group with additional information specific to their region of the country. Please, read Charles’ column about how this project unfolded and share this story with friends. You could organize such an event in your part of the country as well. If you’re interested: Contact us. We can help.

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And, ‘Shining Brightly’ with a ‘Healthy Perspective’

HOWARD BROWN’s inspiring new book, Shining Brightly, will debut soon on Amazon for presale—but the buzz surrounding this book already is sparking media coverage nationwide. Just this week, Chris Bowman is featuring a conversation with Howard on his podcast The Healthy Perspective. Howard’s remarkable life story is multifaceted—from the success of a Silicon Valley entrepreneur to the behind-the-scenes skills of an interfaith peacemaker to the resilience of a two-time Stage IV cancer survivor. In this week’s podcast, Chris focuses on Howard’s hard-earned wisdom as a cancer survivor. If you’d like to learn more about Howard right now, visit his home on line: ShiningBrightly.com

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Celebrating Daniel Berrigan

CELEBRANT’S FLAME is the title of Bill Wylie-Kellermann’s latest book—about the crusading priest Daniel Berrigan—which is receiving glowing reviews this spring. Here’s a link to a National Catholic Reporter review by Coleman McCarthy. Bill, who is based in Detroit, has been a supporter of our online magazine for many years. Our publishing house released Bill’s 2008 book, Dying Well: The Resurrected Life of Jeanie Wylie-Kellermann. His new book about Berrigan is published by Cascade, an imprint of Wipf and Stock.

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Demise of Catholic News Service

ALERT READER TERRY GALLAGHER sent us the news that Catholic News Service—with a legacy that extends back a century into the 1920s—is closing down. That’s a tragedy because the world needs fair, balanced and accurate coverage of the impact of religion in our lives. This is why both Read The Spirit online magazine and our parent company, Front Edge Publishing, have made such a serious commitment to publishing journalism about the world’s religious and cultural diversity. We’ve now produced more than 750 weekly issues of our online magazine. Thanks Terry for spotting this news story! Here are two RNS news reports about CNS’s demise:

Catholic News Service to cease domestic operations at year’s end

Officials across US church, Vatican lament closing of Catholic News Service

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Holidays & Festivals

Two Baha’i holidays

HOLIDAYS & FESTIVALS columnist Stephanie Fenton reports on two important Baha’i observances that fall in the second half of May this year: The Declaration of the Bab marks the anniversary of the Bab’s announcement of his mission, in 1844; the Ascension of Baha’u’llah recalls the passing of Baha’u’llah, in 1892.

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A lively outdoor festival

STEPHANIE also reports this week on the Jewish festival of Lag B’Omer, which features outdoor bonfires in Israel—as well as in many Jewish communities around the world.

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And, an ancient Christian celebration

TOWARD THE END OF MAY, Christians around the world will celebrate one of their faith’s ancient holidays: the Feast of the Ascension, known also as Ascension Day. Though no documents give testament to the feast’s existence prior to the 5th century, St. Augustine referred to it as a universal observance of Apostolic origin.
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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.

Among Ed’s free reviews and columns:

• THE LAST DAYS OF PTOLEMY GREY—Ed writes, “In the twilight of his years Samuel Jackson again proves what a consummate actor he is in this adaptation of Walter Mosley’s novel, one that focuses more on character development than on crime.”
• FIREBIRD—”This British-Estonian LGBTQ+ love story is adapted by director and co-writer Peeter Rebane from The Story of Roman, a memoir by Russian actor Sergey Fetisov. It has been suggested that it is a Broke Back Mountain meets Top Gun.”
• THE GUERNSEY LITERARY AND POTATO PEEL SOCIETY—”I was delighted to find on Netflix this production directed by one of my favorite English directors, Mike Newell. We learn of the book club with the unwieldly name through a series of flashbacks to World War II.”
• FATHER STU—“Mark Wahlberg’s new movie, Father Stu, is an R-rated, faith-based movie that tells the story of a real life priest named Father Stuart Long. The actor/producer is taking a chance, because many fans of faith-based film will never attend an R-rated film.”
• SEVERANCE—“For those looking for mind-teasing and challenging viewing, I highly recommend the new 9-episode TV series Severance, now streaming on Apple + TV. Actor Ben Stiller steps behind the camera to direct six of the episodes.”
• THE UNBEARABLE WEIGHT OF MASSIVE TALENT—“This is sort of a cinematic banana split, great fun but of slight nutritional value. If you need a break from reality and its worries, this might be your movie.”
• SERVANT OF THE PEOPLE—Netflix now is streaming two dozen episodes of Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s 2015-19 TV series, Servant of the People. Ed McNulty writes about the “life-imitates-art” experience of watching this series in the midst of Russia’s attack on Ukraine. There are two parts: Here is Part 1: Ed’s commentary on the opening episodes. Then, here is Part 2: Ed’s follow up, focusing on later episodes.

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