Do you know how deeply Christian roots run in Asian cultures?

OUR COVER STORY THIS WEEK looks at why the new Korean-language version of Dr. David Gushee’s best-selling Changing Our Mind is so important for millions of Americans—and Christians in South Korea as well. The depth of Christianity in Asia may surprise you!

Please, if you are intrigued by this cover story, share it with friends via social media or email. That simple act is a way to spread more of the inspiring news we provide each week into our troubled world.

More good news from our writers—

Another generation is steps up into community leadership

GodSigns columnist Suzy Farbman writes about the bar mitzvah of her grandson—and the moving milestone this represents of generations moving into community leadership.

George A. Mason’s ‘Good God’

Conversations about healing America’s deep divides

IF YOU HAVE NOT DISCOVERED George Mason’s Good God podcast—then this truly is good news for you. Just as he did in his decades preaching from one of the nation’s most prominent pulpits—now, post-“retirement,” George is involved in national conversations about the values that should undergird our nation’s future. Follow this link to the Good God website and you will find three recent podcasts with these headlines:

Brian Kaylor: The Surprising Origin Story of Christian Nationalism
Courageous Conversations; Sandy Ovalle Martinez on Responding to Social Injustice with Courage
Courageous Conversations: Father Michael Lapsley on a Pathway to Wholeness and the Spiritual Wound of Racism

Jeffrey Munroe

‘This Table Hosts a Feast’

WE’VE BEEN TALKING WITH READERS for months about the inspiring power of Jeffrey Munroe’s new book, Telling Stories in the Dark. Now, there’s an eloquent new review of Jeff’s book by Oakland, California, pastor Beth Carroll that wonderfully sums up the book’s unique value for readers. Beth writes about the book, “This table hosts a feast–a feast where all are fed and drink of the same cup–where no one is alone because all are included.”

Howard Brown—

He’s waaaay past 100,000 now

JUST LAST WEEK, we published this cover story about Howard Brown sailing past the 100,000-downloads milestone with his weekly podcast. Well, he’s drawing such a nationwide audience now that he’s already at 120,000 downloads this week. One reason his audience is growing is that Howard features authentic experts on a wide range of issues related to finding hope, health and resilience.

This week, he’s featuring nationally known expert in conflict resolution Amy Armstrong. Here’s her online bio if you don’t immediately recognize her name. To listen to Howard’s half-hour conversation with Amy, visit his ShiningBrightly.com homepage and enjoy this week’s episode No. 79, which is at the top of the podcast list.

Holidays & Festivals

Vesak

HOLIDAYS EXPERT STPEHANIE FENTON writes that, on Thursday: “Lanterns glow in Buddhist communities worldwide, as the collective birth, enlightenment and death of Buddha is observed: it is the holiday known as Vesak.”

Planning ahead for Memorial Day

PLANNING FAMILY TIME? Stephanie Fenton writes: “The unofficial start of summer in America began, less than two centuries ago, as a solemn observance for the war that had consumed more lives than any other U.S. conflict. While memorial services still abound, the national holiday also means picnics, beaches, fireworks and, of course, travel, as Americans enjoy a three-day weekend.”

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

…

Click on this poster image for the PBS American Experience film Nazi Town, USA, to read Ed McNulty’s review.

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 film reviews and discussion guides. This resource is used nationwide 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:

NATZI TOWN, USA—Ed urges our readers to see this documentary from PBS’s American Experience series. He writes, “Forgotten by most Americans, the decade of the Thirties, when the Great Depression threw millions of Americans out of work, saw desperate people willing to give up on democracy in the belief that a strong man was needed to rescue the country.”
THE FALL GUY—Ed writes, “Whatever genre you think director David Leitch’s new film belongs in … it ranks at the top of that genre.”
DOGMAN—Ed is more ambivalent about Luc Bresson’s weird new film—and even warns about the level of violence.
THE ASCENT—As he likes to do, Ed reaches back across the decades to recommend this 1977 film from Ukraine.
HARD MILES—Ed writes, “This film will leave you feeling hopeful that redemption can come to seemingly hopeless youth—and also will leave you with a sense of awe at the grandeur of Nature.”
SUZUME—”Director/writer Makoto Shinkai and his team of animators provide a mythological interpretation for the hundreds of earthquake tremors Japan suffers each year.”
WE GROWN NOW—”Writer/director Minhai Baig’s ‘must-see’ film is an elegiac story of an imaginative boy facing the end of a way of life. It makes me believe all the more that the best of films are being made by independent filmmakers.”
PROBLEMISTA—”In this surrealistic film, writer-director Julio Torres provides an unusual twist to the story of an immigrant struggling mightily to stay in this country but is harrassed by a soulless immigration bureaucracy.”
CIVIL WAR—Ed writes, “Many angry citizens, who are upset over seemingly intractable political disputes, have talked about civil war breaking out in our nation—and would do well to watch writer/director Alex Garland’s film.”
DUNE, PART 2—Ed urges us to continue with this remarkable series. “The incredible production values are matched by the A-list actors.”