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Enjoy 12 Movie Perspectives on Jesus with Film Critic Ed McNulty

PERFECT FOR REFLECTIONS IN LENT—What could be more appropriate for Lent than to study the life of Christ? For Western Christians, including Protestants and Catholics across the U.S., Lent begins with Ash Wednesday on March 2, this year. In our Cover Story this week, Faith & Film writer Edward McNulty tells us why he chose the 12 Jesus-themed films for the discussion guides in his book, Jesus Christ Movie Star. Please, enjoy this story and share it with friends, especially those who might want to join you in reading and viewing these movies with you.

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Religious Holidays

Are You Ready for Lent 2022?

RELIGIOUS HOLIDAYS columnist Stephanie Fenton reports on the upcoming start of Western Christian Lent and the Eastern Orthodox fast of Great Lent.

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WANT TO SEE ALL 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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From Our Authors—

John E. Harnish

News Is Spreading Worldwide … 

IN OUR FRONT EDGE PUBLISHING COLUMN, this week, we explain how news about John E. Harnish’s upcoming book, 30 Days with E. Stanley Jones, is spreading around the world. Our team reaches out in many ways from short videos to making connections with organizations that we know will have an interest in this news. Are you eager to know what all this buzz is about right now? Hop over to Amazon and pre-order your own copy, which will arrive next week.

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Martin Davis

… and speaking of news that’s trending

MARTIN DAVIS’s NEW BOOK, 30 Days with America’s High School Coaches, also is sparking fresh news media every week. We are especially thankful this week for two interviews about the book.

Steve Rauch’s Sports and Spirituality Show includes Martin Davis in Episode 23. Steve and his co-host Kelsey Bohl chat with listeners for a bit, at the start of this podcast, then Martin is introduced around minute 13.

Or, to actually see Martin, check out this video interview with our author Larry Buxton, who wrote the second book in this ongoing series, 30 Days with King David.

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Dr. David Gushee

‘Christian Ethics in a Pluralistic World’

THAT’S THE TITLE of a new podcast featuring leading Christian ethicist Dr. David Gushee, hosted by the Christian media community known as Gravity Commons.

AND THERE’S STILL TIME to register for a free webinar with Dr. Gushee on February 17 hosted by Baptist News Global Executive Director Mark Wingfield.
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Rabbi Joseph Krakoff

Why We Need to Talk about End of Life

AN INTERFAITH PODCAST hosted by Aging Today‘s Mark Turnbull is an opportunity to hear two clergy—Turnbull is a Protestant pastor with similar interests in his own ministry—discuss the importance of end-of-life decisions from their unique perspectives. It’s a topic that many people want to avoid, Turnbull and Krakoff tell us, but eventually we all find ourselves facing these questions. Please, listen to this podcast and share it with friends who may also find it helpful.

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Major General James Dozier

His story of resilience circles the globe

40 YEARS AGO, Major General James Dozier was on newspaper front pages around the world as the highest ranking American military leader ever captured by terrorists. He tells the story of his resiliency in the memoir, Finding My Pole Star. As this anniversary is marked, his story once again is circling the globe. La Stampa, one of Italy’s oldest and most respected newspapers, published this overview of his story. It’s in Italian, of course, and illustrates the global reach of this inspiring story at a time when terrorism once again is in our daily news.

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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:

• BINTI—Ed McNulty writes, “Tanzanian director and writer Seko Shamte, with fellow writer Angela Ruhinda, decries the plight of four women whose stories are loosely connected by their gender that leaves them almost powerless in a male-dominated society. The title means ‘young woman’ in Swahili.”
• CASABLANCA—This is the 80th anniversary of the movie classic, so Ed reached back into his own archives and has posted this thoughtful column about the movie.
• THE LAST DUEL—”Director Ridley Scott may have entered his 8th decade, but this film, his best period piece since Gladiator, shows that he has not slowed down artistically. And the screenplay is the result of stars Mat Damon and Ben Affleck (remember Good Will Hunting?) reuniting as writers”
• MY BEST FRIEND ANNE FRANK—”Based on the book Memories of Anne Frank: Reflections of a Childhood Friend by Alison Leslie Gold, the film tells the story of the friendship between Anne and Hanneli Goslar from 1942 to 1945.”
• A HERO—”Iranian director Asghar Farhadi has given us a very different film from his 2012 film, A Separation, the first Iranian film to win the Academy Award for best foreign language film. This new one centers on the divorced father of a stuttering boy whose life is turned upside down by social media. “
• AMEND: THE FIGHT FOR AMERICA—”This is an excellent primer on a US Constitutional amendment that often is overshadowed by debates over the First or the Second Amendment rights. Robe Imbriano, creator and co-writer of this 6-part TV miniseries takes us on a journey into the past that truly illuminates the present.”
• THE TRAGEDY OF MACBETH—“Working without his brother this time, Joel Coen adapts and directs this new version of Shakespeare’s great tragedy of ambition overwhelming decency and leading to destruction.”
• AMERICAN UNDERDOG—”Brothers Andrew and John Erwin, adapting football player Kurt Warner’s same-titled memoir, American Underdog, have given us an underdog story to beat all such unlikely stories.”
• MUNICH: THE EDGE OF WAR—”In Christian Schwochow’s what-if movie, fact and fiction are mixed together in a compelling way. Based on the bestseller by Robert Harris, the film transports us to the halls of Whitehall and Munich in 1938 when Europe stood on the precipice of war.”
• LUCY—”Available on Amazon, This made for TV film will expand the story of Lucille Ball for those who enjoyed the recent Being the Ricardos.”
• BEING THE RICARDOS—”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.”

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