In ‘We Survived the End of the World,’ Native American author Steven Charleston urges readers to become prophets of hope

Steven Charleston (Photo provided by the author for this story.)


Like Native American prophets voicing hope in the midst of trauma, Charleston asks us—

‘I hope you will see this as a personal invitation to join me and millions of others.’


By DAVID CRUMM
Editor of ReadTheSpirit Magazine

Are you afraid our world is ending?

Polls show that millions of Americans are fearful of the growing effects of climate change, of the rising tide of violence in many forms, of the impact of “wars and rumors of wars” and of the threats to democracies in many parts of our world. A vast number of us living on the planet share a growing sense that an irreversible “apocalypse” is on the horizon that is likely to change the lives of our children and grandchildren.

Click the cover to visit the book’s Amazon page.

That also means millions of us are wondering: Where is hope?

The venerable Native American theologian, teacher and author Steven Charleston reminds us that there are neighbors living among us across North America who—as resilient communities of people—already have survived an apocalypse. His new book is aptly titled, We Survived the End of the World—Lessons from Native America on Apocalypse and Hope.

Just to be clear about this book’s focus: Charleston is referring to the relentless North American genocidal campaign waged by European immigrants against this continent’s original communities. That genocide has ranged from outright murder to the theft of homelands to the long-term policies in the U.S. and Canada of kidnapping Native children and sending them to brutal (and sometimes deadly) boarding schools that attempted to wipe away all memories of their families and their cultures.

In the opening pages of what may be the most important book he has ever written, Charleston writes, “Native American culture in North America has been through the collapse of civilization and lived to tell the tale. My goal is to investigate how my ancestors were able to do that—and what their experience can teach all of us who are living in uncertain times.”

Then, to be clear on a second point: Charleston is saying that our earth already is in the midst of cataclysmic change.

In 2021, our publishing house launched the book God Is Just Love, subtitled Building Spiritual Resilience and Sustainable Communities for the Sake of Our Children and Creation. In that book, author Ken Whitt, a nationally known Christian pastor and educator, wrote about the kinds of knowledge families should be sharing right now about grassroots health, well-being, spiritual practices and resilience because—in Ken’s view—the whole world already is moving through a catastrophic tipping point. In fact, in his book, Ken, who is not Native American, urges his readers to learn from our Native American neighbors about survival in this time of turbulence.

Now, in this new book, Steven Charleston—the former Episcopal Bishop of Alaska, an elder in the Choctaw Nation and a widely quoted Native voice in American media—is saying the same thing.

“Apocalypse is what we are living through,” he writes in his opening pages. “It is the coming true of our worst fears.” We already have crossed enough environmental trigger points that devastating storms and other ecological disasters will continue to unfold—unsettling millions upon millions of new refugees with each passing decade.

The great value that Charleston provides in his new book is what Ken Whitt—and many other wise writers and scholars—have been urging us to consider over the past decade: Charleston has filled this book with Native American wisdom on how a people and a culture can hope to survive the end of one’s world.

This new book shares the visionary wisdom of four real-life Native American prophets—all of whom have living legacies within Native communities—plus wisdom from the entire sweep of Hopi culture—plus, a final call to action from Charleston’s own wisdom as a prophetic elder. In less than 200 pages, Charleston has given us a crash course on this broad-base of indigenous wisdom—from a total of seven Native sources—that will be fresh news to the vast majority of American readers.

‘Cracking open the ability of people to cross boundaries’

The first step toward finding hope and building resilient communities is a clear vision expressed in an honest message.

In our interview, I summarized for Charleston how I was going to open this column. I asked him if I was accurately conveying what he hoped to achieve in this book.

“Yes,” he said, “I am saying that we’re already deep into the midst of change and, now, each of us could play a prophetic role.”

I replied, “So, by using that word ‘prophet’ to describe these great Native American sages in your book—you’re not using that word to describe someone who can predict the future. I find that a lot of Americans confuse the word ‘prophet’ with some kind of ‘futurist’ or ‘psychic’ or ‘seer.’ Your ‘prophets’ are people who are speaking important truths about the catastrophic eras in which they find themselves, right?”

“Yes,” he said again. “When I invite people to become prophets, I am literally asking them to accept the reality we can see in our world today—and then tell others honestly what we see. I’m trying to crack open the ability of people to cross boundaries and to talk to one another and share what they are seeing in the real world around us. That is the prophetic experience that those of us living in an apocalyptic time are trying to develop.”

I countered: “But our readers might ask, ‘How can you expect me—an ordinary, flawed, stressed-out person—to be as prophetic as you are with all of your academic degrees and experiences as a leader? How can we aspire to be prophets?’ Our readers might complain, ‘We’re way too flawed as individuals!'”

Then, Charleston summarized a central theme of his book in a few sentences: “We have to understand that the kinds of prophets I’m talking about don’t start out as anyone special. A person who becomes a prophet is often reluctant to be chosen for this role. Initially, they may not want to carry this burden. The prophets I’m writing about were everyday persons who transformed from the clay of their everyday lives into rather extraordinary people we remember today.”

Christians and Jews who have studied their scriptures are familiar with this foundational truth about the ancient “prophets” we share: Many were reluctant, most had obvious flaws and some were widely disregarded by their neighbors for most of their lives.

When I made that point in our interview, Charleston responded: “You’re not going far enough in your description. Some prophets actually were reviled because of their past behavior. The story of a prophet is a person who—despite those flaws, despite those mistakes and despite whatever their neighbors think about them—begins to speak truthfully about what they are seeing in the world around them. As they begin to speak, they find that their vision is something that they simply cannot contain. Their message must come out.”

Charleston continued, “That’s the key thing to understand about prophets: It’s something that any one of us can become. That’s why my invitation at the end of the book makes sense. With the right time, the right circumstance and the right depth of faith, any one of us can stand up and proclaim what we believe to be the reality of our situation—and we may find that others will share that vision.”

‘People who were broken or confused find themselves transformed’

In this column, we won’t cover all of the seven prophetic figures profiled in Charleston’s book—four individuals and then the Hopi nation as a whole, plus some of Charleston’s own prophetic reflections.

But here’s a good example of a major Native American prophet with a living legacy today: the Seneca spiritual leader whose name is rendered in many ways today.

He’s called Ganiodaiio in Charleston’s English rendering of his original name—or sometimes his name is spelled as Sganyodaio, Ganioda’yo, Skanatalihyo, Conudiu or, as Wikipedia has literally translated his name: Handsome Lake. In at least one other new book about Native American religious groups, his chapter is titled by none of those names but by the word “Longhouse,” because his teachings mainly are preserved by followers of the larger Iroquois Confederacy, also known as “People of the Long House.”

“How do you pronounce this prophet when you talk about him to audiences?” I asked Charleston.

“I’m not a Seneca speaker, but I pronounce his name gah-nee-oh-DAY-oh,” he said. “His legacy is long and I think it is very important for readers—especially readers who are non-Native—to understand that we are talking about a living religion that still is being practiced. His story is not known today to most Americans, nor is his story very well known to all Native people across this continent—but I can say that, across Native America, at least his name is recognized and respected.

“This is such a key point I am making in the book: Our Native culture is not some dusty matter for historians and anthropologists to study. The Native religious world view is an ongoing, contemporary, modern expression of human spirituality—a religious tradition like Islam or Buddhism or Hinduism. We are not a matter of history. I wrote this book to bring awareness that Native people—and our Native religious wisdom—is very contemporary and very future-focused as part of our global dialogue on spirituality.”

He continued, “I am at pains, whenever I write or speak, to tell people that these ancient parts of our indigenous cultures not only have survived, but are continuing to flourish especially as we cross into these difficult times.”

I asked Charleston to give us a very brief summary of this prophet’s life.

“Well, the first thing to understand is that he was a broken man—a person who had just about reached rock bottom in his life largely due to alcoholism. He was restored to health and strength by some mysterious spiritual encounter that released through him a powerful spiritual message that transformed his people. That is the prophetic role we are talking about here throughout all world culture and all of the living faith traditions—people who have been broken or confused or were trying to run away can find themselves transformed by a spiritual force to provide a message that breaks through to the world. This is part and parcel of the apocalyptic experience.”

Avoid ‘the Baloney’ and pick up the ‘seeds’ Charleston is offering

One thing Steven Charleston is not recommending is that non-Native readers try to convert to indigenous cultures. “There are lots of books and programs and retreats by people who claim to have taken the wisdom from Native people and recast it as their own mix of Native American branded herbs or drumming or visions—or whatever else they are selling. And, to all that stuff you can buy from people who aren’t Native American—I say: ‘Avoid all the Baloney!’ Native people don’t want non-Native people to come and appropriate our rituals as their own.

“In this book, I am sharing a deeper wisdom. I wrote this book so that readers—especially non-Native readers—can see that anyone—and I mean anyone from the vastly different cultures around our world—can learn the truth about our tradition. Even though we went through the end of the world, we survived because of the wisdom of our prophets and the strength of our spiritual vision.

“You don’t need to take our rituals. You can find this wisdom, and your own visions, from your own culture. Instead of trying to sell Baloney—I’m trying to inspire prophetic leadership from every community around the world. In this book, I am offering seeds that can give people the confidence they need to avoid hiding in spiritual bunkers as the apocalypse unfolds. I want people to know that there have been crises like this since the time of the Ice Age. Humans have had to deal with apocalyptic crises since the origins of humanity.

“We’re living in an age right now when people are deeply fearful. I want to show people one option they could choose based on Native experience to find new strength. If we do, we can make a real difference. We can prevent this feeling of helplessness and feel, instead, both hope and empowerment.”

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Care to Learn More?

Read our earlier interview with Charleston, headlined: Native American elder Steven Charleston’s ‘Spirit Wheel’ weaves spirituality from ‘common threads of hope and mercy’

Read Steven Charleston’s books! There are so many places to start. This week, we are recommending his newest book: We Survived the End of the World—Lessons from Native America on Apocalypse and Hope.

If you want to dig deeper into Native American reflections on connections between Christian and Native traditions, you’ll also want to read Coming Full Circle—Constructing Native Christian Theology.

Want to learn more about the many other Native American issues our magazine has been covering?

Check out these stories:

Water Walkers series: Carol Trembath debuts her latest Native American book ‘Pass the Feather’

Bill Tammeus on: ‘Land Acknowledgment’ is a first step toward justice for our Native American neighbors

Exposing the horrors of the Indian Boarding Schools: Why we need to read Warren Petoskey’s ‘Dancing My Dream’ now

And: In Native Echoes, Kent Nerburn returns from Indian country with A Liturgy of the Land

 

Hersch Wilson’s ‘Dog Lessons’ is a warm-hearted human biography measured in 18 dogs

From left: Hersch, Toby and Maisie. (Photo provided by Hersch Wilson for this article.)

Love dogs? You’ll love this book!

By DAVID CRUMM
Editor of ReadTheSpirit magazine

Click the cover to visit the book’s Amazon page.

I read this entire book aloud to my wife, cover to cover, during a road trip in which she drove, I read—and together we smiled, sometimes laughed and even cried a few times. Why the tears? Because dogs’ lives are so short in comparison with ours, most dog books involve the passing of a beloved companion—and this one does, as well.

Reading an entire book aloud is exceedingly rare for us.

And, that’s why I’m certain that—if you’re a dog lover like we are—you will want to get a copy of this book. You’ll fall in love so quickly that, like us, you’ll feel compelled to share passages with a friend or loved one. Here’s a quick test: If you’ve ever enjoyed James Herriot’s autobiographical books or either of the two TV series made from his writings—you’ll definitely enjoy Hersch Wilson’s new Dog Lessons: Learning the Important Stuff from Our Best Friends.

In an interview with Hersch about this new memoir, I told him about another writer I worked with a decade ago. John Gillis was a larger-than-life Midwest radio personality whose home base was Indianapolis, Indiana. John wanted to write a memoir and, as we talked about how to structure such a book, I was struck by how deeply he and his dogs had shaped each other’s lives. Like Hersch, John discovered the wonders of dogs while growing up in the rural Midwest, which meant that John always was accompanied by fairly large dogs, also like Hersch. And, like Hersch’s four-pawed friends, John’s dogs were far more than “pets”—they defined each season of John’s colorful life.

Finally, as we talked about his dogs, I told John: “How about writing a five-part memoir called My Life in 5 Dogs?”

He loved the idea! Unfortunately, 11 years ago, before he had written much, John died.

One reason my wife and I responded so whole-heartedly to Hersch’s memoir is that Hersch essentially has written what I would call My Life in 18 Dogs.

When I told John’s story to Hersch, he nodded across the Zoom screen.

He said, “I like that. But for me, it’s My Life in 18 Dogs. That really is the idea of this book: I tell how each one of those 18 relationships has taught me something important about love and loyalty—and so many other things.”

I told Hersch that I read his entire book aloud, because we fell in love with the first section of the book about his childhood. “After the first 20 pages, we were hooked on reading the whole thing like this—me reading and both of us enjoying the stories,” I told him. “I think you organized this book perfectly by starting with those childhood experiences.”

“I think you’re right about the book’s structure,” he said. “It’s because those early stories in the book are filled with an almost miraculous relationship between a boy and a dog. That’s how I learned to trust a dog and let a dog take me into the wilderness and really see and experience the wilderness. From that start, I wanted to have a dog with me for the rest of my life.”

My wife and I feel the same way.

If you do, then this book could be the next big smile (with a few tears here and there) that you’ll want to enjoy this autumn.

Who Is Hersch Wilson?

(Photo provided by Hersch Wilson for this article.)

When New World Library mailed me a review copy of Hersch’s book, the other thing that intrigued me—beyond the subject of dogs—was the quirky “bio” of the author: “Hersch Wilson is an organizational consultant, pilot, former professional dancer, newspaper columnist, and volunteer firefighter. He lives in Santa Fe, New Mexico, with his wife, Laurie; two daughters; and two dogs, a Great Pyrenees and a Chihuahua-terrier mix.”

When I Googled Hersch to learn more about him, one of the first photos that popped up showed him standing proudly next to the instrument panel of a fire truck. That’s an image he used to promote his 2020 memoir, Firefighter Zen: A Field Guide to Living in Tough Times.

For all of the surprising professional twists and turns Hersch has followed over the years, his instinct as a master storyteller is to compartmentalize and focus each of his book-length narratives. For example, I own a copy of Firefighter Zen and can recommend that book as well—but there’s very little about Hersch’s life with dogs in that book. There’s one exception in Firefighter Zen, a horrifying true story mid-way through that memoir about a house fire to which Hersch’s volunteer firefighter crew responded in which dogs perished. As you can imagine, that’s one of the most haunting memories from Hersch’s career in firefighting.

And, then, this new book is laser focused as well. It includes almost nothing about firefighting.

In weighing which stories to include, this time, he chose only those involving dogs. Another example of this focus: Readers of this new book learn almost nothing about Hersch’s main “family business.” As he was growing up, Hersch’s father was a salesman and became a nationally known pioneer in corporate training programs. Following his father’s example, Hersch has “paid the bills” for years through his own work in developing training programs and other forms of corporate consulting.

“For years, we had a company that developed courses, training and leadership consulting,” Hersch said in our interview. “We were pioneers in building ropes courses back in the ’80s, when that became very popular in corporate training. And, then, I worked in consulting all over the world until the big crash in 2008, when everything seemed to slow down. Fortunately, my wife Laurie started a retail store in Santa Fe that’s done great business in recent years. So, we’ve paid the bills over the years in a variety of ways.”

If you’re passing through Santa Fe, you may want to check out Laurie’s award-winning Teca Tu Pawsworthy Pet Emporium. (Visit the shop’s website and you’ll find a few more photos of the Wilsons’ dogs as well.)

Oh—and are you still wondering about the “professional dancer” part of Hersch’s life? Well, first of all, that’s not a fanciful exaggeration. Hersch was a professional dancer in the U.S. and Europe during his 20s. It’s barely mentioned in this new book—but, someday, I’ll certainly be among the first to buy a copy of Hersch’s memoir about a dancer’s life.

If you’re wanting to read some of Hersch’s writing immediately, you also can check out The Santa Fe New Mexican website, where he occasionally appears as a columnist.

The Tricky Business of Describing Dogs

As I mentioned in the opening of this column, my wife and I are fascinated by animals, especially dogs, and we read a lot about animal-human relationships. If you have read this far in this column, you probably are aware that, today, there is a debate among humans about what words best describe our relationships with the animals we welcome into our homes.

“I like the phrase ‘dog guardian.’ I don’t mind the word ‘pet;’ that doesn’t bother me. But I like to use the word guardian because it explains clearly that we are the guardians of our dogs,” Hersch told me.  “I don’t use the phrase ‘dog owner,’ because the word ‘owner’ implies that you can do anything you want with what you own. If I own a car, but don’t like it anymore, I can get rid of it. No problem. I own the car. But dogs aren’t cars. They feel pain and joy and think. They’re sentient beings and it becomes our responsibility to protect them and give them as happy a life as we can possibly give them. Their lives are short. We have a big responsibility to them. That’s wholly different than owning something.”

I told Hersch that I would include a link to his Santa Fe newspaper columns.

“Well, if people do read those columns, you’ll see that I talk a lot about what it means to be a guardian. It means two important things: You’ve stopped taking dogs for granted and you’re trying to understand and communicate with your dog. Dogs can use language in ways that we’ve never imagined before. I’m not a scientist, but it’s clear that we are in a renaissance of studies about dog cognition and ways that we can understand dogs. My job as a columnist is to simplify and explain that research so others can understand what we can learn.”

“And that’s really the central theme of this book as well: Appreciating what we can learn from our dogs,” I said.

“Yes, that’s right,” he said. “Even though we are seeing a lot of new research today, the power of the dog-human relationship goes back thousands of years. I’m in a part of the country where we are reminded of the indigenous wisdom from which we also can learn. I talk in the book about how I live just five miles from Arroyo Hondo Pueblo, a historical site where skeletons of humans have been found with their dogs. These relationships were part of indigenous life and I find that indigenous culture can teach us a lot about the larger relationship we have with our natural world—whether we appreciate it or not.”

“You’re also emphasizing that building a relationship with a dog takes a lot of care and time and energy and patience, right?” I asked.

“That’s right,” he said. “And I hope people will consider thinking about whether they can adopt a dog—and, if they feel they can—then start by considering shelter or rescue dogs. These dogs, depending on what their experiences have been, may take even more time and patience and commitment—but I can tell you: Building a lifetime relationship with a dog can be one of the best experiences you’ll ever have in your life.”

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Dr. David Gushee joins historians and sociologists in warning against the dangers of Christian extremism

Scholars critical of Donald Trump target the ‘Christian Nationalist’ movement supporting him

By DAVID CRUMM
Editor of ReadTheSpirit magazine

The reason many historians, sociologists and now Christian ethicist Dr. David Gushee are weighing in with dire warnings about the 2024 presidential campaign is that their research shows the re-election of Donald Trump would dramatically alter the course of American democracy. The urgency shared by these scholars who are critical of Trump is palpable and is poised to timely effect.

Gushee’s new book Defending Democracy from its Christian Enemies launches this week, just three months before the January 15, 2024, Iowa caucuses.

“I don’t think that—in the United States today—there is any other single figure who poses as big a threat to democracy and who has anything like the hold on people’s loyalty that we see in Donald Trump,” said Gushee in an interview this week about his new book. “Donald Trump will be a threat to American democracy for as long as he is alive. I think at this point he could be sent to prison and, even in his jail cell, millions of his followers would continue to support him.”

Historians fired a collective shot in 2021 with an open letter describing Trump as “a clear and present danger to democracy.” The 1,432 historians signing the letter include Pulitzer Prize winners Ron Chernow, Garry Wills, Stacy Schiff and Taylor Branch, plus American Book Award winner Michael Eric Dyson and even Teddy Roosevelt’s great-great grandson Kermit Roosevelt, who teaches at the University of Pennsylvania.

Still, Trump ranks as the leading Republican candidate and that’s why the stack of new books warning Americans about threats posed by Trump and his followers is growing—and it’s why scholars from other disciplines are joining historians in raising the alarm.

Some of the most compelling new books with such warnings are coming from sociologists who specialize in the interplay between religion and American life. Like Gushee, they are zeroing in on Trump’s millions of self-identified Christian followers, especially those like the January 6 rioters in Washington D.C. who wove prayer and other Christian invocations into their attack on the U.S. Capitol. These scholars are targeting this major backbone of Trump’s campaign and are labeling it “Christian Nationalism” or as Gushee prefers to describe it: “Authoritarian Reactionary Christianity.”

That fine-tuning of the terminology used to describe this danger is one of the major points in Gushee’s new book that is intended to further develop warnings found in books by sociologists of religion that include:

“What they are describing in these books is the dangerous idea, which we see among some of the groups out there today, that this is a Christian nation that should be under the leadership of white, straight, native-born, heterosexual, Christian men,” Gushee said in our interview. “You have to keep in mind that this area of research is developing right now. In our work, we are trying to answer questions like: Who are these people who want to build exclusively white Christian nations? Does the term Christian Nationalism clearly describe these individuals and groups that are surfacing here and in other countries? One book suggests we use the term Christian Nation-ism to describe this.”

Gushee proposes new terms to describe these movements.

“The category I pioneer in my new book is ‘Authoritarian Reactionary Christianity,’” Gushee said. “I realize that this term may not be as useful in newspaper or magazine headlines as the simpler Christian Nationalism. And I do respect the usefulness of this term Christian Nationalism to get a national conversation going that is much needed right now. But, I think there is more we need to think about, to study and to discuss, if we hope to understand these movements that are raising really ugly forms of hatred and are threatening violence.

“Adding the word ‘reactionary’ to our description is a very important way to name what is often articulated on the Right: These people are reacting to changes in culture that they believe are wrong—which makes them reactionary. And the word ‘authoritarian’ names this desire we are now seeing for the election of a Christian-leaning strongman who will demand or decree the recovery of a world that has been lost. There’s a really troubling loss of confidence in this movement in the democratic process itself to solve the problems they think that only a strongman could address. So, we get this desire to elect someone who will act as a defender of what some people think of as Christian civilization through traditional values—and through opposing modern liberalizing and pluralizing trends. That’s why we we often hear people sum up this appeal as: ‘Taking back our country back.’

“It’s a fierce negative reaction that goes all the way back at least to the Supreme Court’s prayer in schools decision in 1962, to the Civil Rights movement, to the feminist movement, to the sexual revolution, to Roe vs. Wade, to immigration liberalization in the mid 1960s, to the protests against the Vietnam War, to the gay rights movement, to the trans movement—and even that list leaves out a half dozen other movements that have fueled this fierce reaction.

“The reactionary part of this movement isn’t new. We saw it way back with Jerry Falwell and Pat Robertson, but they tried their best to cozy up to the Republican Party in a more traditional strategy of getting people elected. They supported and were working through the democratic process. What we’re seeing in the last few years is a radicalizing that has moved beyond a democratic process. We’re now seeing some of these groups supporting political violence, militia violence—and even trying to set aside an entire national election because you don’t like the results. That’s a dangerous new development and that really is what has motivated me to write my book.

“So those are some reasons I prefer this new phrase I’m using in this book. The other usefulness of this term of ‘Authoritarian Reactionary Christianity’ is that this category applies to what is happening in a number of other countries around the world.”

What’s actually in this new book?

Click the cover to visit the book’s Amazon page.

The first thing that may surprise readers is that there’s relatively little analysis of Trump’s staunchest Christian allies. Gushee does quote, at length, an astonishingly violent prayer from one of the pastors supporting the January 6 attack on the Capitol. It’s a vivid example of the passionate and almost apocalyptic appeal for a Christian strongman to take over America. While Gushee identifies that pastor as an example, he does not address most of Trump’s Christian stalwarts by name—nor does he offer a detailed description of what they have done and said in recent years.

That’s because Gushee has a different purpose in this book. It’s intended to find a home in small-group discussions in thousands of congregations nationwide, which is why Gushee includes a detailed discussion guide in the final pages.

Half of the book—about 100 pages—is valuable background about the meaning of “democracy” and its complicated relationship with religious movements down through the centuries. For readers eager for a writer to rip into specific political enemies—this is not the book you want to buy.

In fact, Gushee explains that on the first page. He promises to:

“Offer descriptive accounts of relevant Christian political movements and historical movements in different countries, mainly involving examples of Christians drifting into authoritarianism and reactionary politics that undercut democracy.” And, he writes, he will “offer a diagnosis of why many Christians are tempted toward or explicitly prefer authoritarian reactionary politics to democracy as part of their negative reaction to modern cultural developments.”

Finally, he will “offer an argument for today’s Christians to support a particular vision of democratic politics, and traditional Christian resources to undergird that vision.”

Significant sections of this book look at the dangers of these authoritarian reactionary Christian movements in Germany that helped fuel the Third Reich, as well as in France before and during World War II, Poland in recent years, Orbán’s Hungary, Bolsonaro’s Brazil and Putin’s Russia.

What about those “traditional Christian resources” that he promises to provide?

Two of the best chapters in this book are titled, “The Baptist Democratic Tadition” and “The Black Christian Democratic Tradition in the United States.” Those will be truly eye-opening chapters for contemporary readers who aren’t aware of the long history of Baptist and Black Christian relationships with democracy in the U.S.

We are highly recommending this new book, because we know that many of our ReadTheSpirit readers are progressive supporters of religious diversity and are worried by the rise of Christian exclusivist movements.

What Gushee—who is one of the most respected scholars at Mercer University—has given us is a book that’s perfectly pitched for small group discussion in congregations. This is an “educational” book in the best sense of that term. What is “democracy”? You’ll know a lot more after reading this book. Why have many religious groups been justified in raising skeptical questions about democracies down through the centuries? What grievances are real and morally justified? And what political grievances amount to a malignant yearning to wield exclusive power over others?

By the end of this book, you’ll see how this problem is not only a crisis in the U.S. today—especially at a time when hate crimes against non-Christians are rising to record rates nationwide. These faith-based movements now circle the globe. One example ripped from daily headlines: Authoritarian reactionary Christianity has become a major pillar in Vladimir Putin’s attempt to convince Russians of the righteousness of his attacks on Ukraine. The Russian Orthodox Church is providing a nostalgic Christian tap root as Putin tries to sell his campaign to his people.

A savvy strategy to persuade Christians who may be ‘flirting with’ extremism

Gushee’s strategy in organizing and writing this book is savvy. What we need right now are books like this that small groups in congregations might choose to discuss. Gushee’s expectation is not that he will suddenly win a war of words with extremist leaders—but that he might convince Christians who he describes as “flirting with” extremism to turn away.

“We really need to talk about this, as a people,” Gushee said at the end of our interview. “There is definitely a shift in the furthest right precincts of American Christianity today. We’re hearing more ethno-nationalist and make-America-white-again voices. There’s a more open and unabashed racism, plus really ugly forms of patriarchy and misogyny, and resurgent forms of contempt for LGBTQ people—even open articulation of abandoning the American tradition of separation of church and state.

“Right now there are Christians who are flirting with setting aside their support for democracy because of their despair. In doing so, they are abandoning the lessons learned by Christians over hundreds of years: the warnings about authoritarian power, the demands for human rights, the demands for the rule of law, and the protection of individual and religious liberties that go back centuries.

“We need to retrieve aspects of our own best history as Christians. We need to remind Americans of these centuries-old lessons. We need to remind people of the idea of a community founded around a covenant of shared commitment to the common good. And we must not forget the magnificent witness of the Black Christian democratic tradition in the United States.”

As we drew to a close, I said to Gushee: “You’re saying that this danger is far larger than the danger posed right now by Donald Trump, specifically.”

“That’s right,” he said. “We are seeing today—especially among some of the really, really conservative Christian groups and some ultra-traditional forms of Catholic groups—that it’s time for radical challenges to the American way of separating church and state. Some of these groups are wide open to reversing the First Amendment and establishing something like an officially Christian nation. Those dangers are real and will outlast Donald Trump. And that’s why I wrote this book—to help readers understand these movements and the Christian alternatives that for centuries have supported democracies.”

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Care to learn more?

LEARN FROM DR. DAVID GUSHEE—David Gushee is the best-selling author of many books about Christian ethics, including Changing Our Mind and Introducing Christian EthicsHis book on ethics is his magnum opus on the entire field of ethics, including those issues explored in this new book about democracy—plus, Introducing Christian Ethics includes free links to videos and audio of Dr. Gushee delivering these thought-provoking talks that are printed in the book.

Want to connect with Dr. Gushee? He is sought after as a speaker by groups, universities and seminaries around the world. You can learn more about connecting with Gushee via his website

LEARN FROM GEORGE A. MASON—Dr. Gushee is not alone in raising this kind of alarm as the 2024 elections loom. The famous Baptist preacher, writer and theologian George A. Mason recently weighed in with a national newsletter on the same theme. You can learn more about George’s work by visiting his Faith Commons website—and by ordering a copy of his new book, The Word Made Fresh.

 

 

Lynne Golodner’s ‘Woman of Valor’ is a five-senses immersion into a rich world of Jewish faith and family life

By DAVID CRUMM
Editor of ReadTheSpirit magazine

Click on the cover to visit the book’s Amazon page.

A novel is a community between two covers.

The best novels invite us to enter these communities accompanied by people we care about and whose adventures we are eager to follow—even if that involves facing perils along the way. To fully enjoy these adventures, we hope the author has authentically recreated the community on the page, faithfully enough that the things we see, touch, smell, hear and taste seem believable to us.

Lynne Golodner knows the Orthodox Jewish world of Woman of Valor so well that she weaves around us the beauty of Orthodox family life in America with all five senses from the flavors of fresh-baked challah to all the other rich sensations of a fully immersive Sabbath. That’s why we care so much about the people we meet—Sally, the main character, and her husband Barry and their children along with their close friends. And that’s why we keep turning pages when the suspense of two quite different predators threatens the future of their home in Skokie, Illinois.

After reading a preview copy of the novel—which officially launches on September 26, the day after Yom Kippur 2023—I interviewed Lynne via Zoom about this vivid story.

I began by explaining to Lynne how important I think this novel is right now. This spring, the Anti-Defamation League issued its analysis of the calendar year 2022, which set a record for antisemitic incidents since the ADL’s tracking began in the 1970s. The New York Times reported that the ADL’s data matches what Times reporters are seeing. Times correspondent Ruth Graham concluded, “The cumulative effect is an atmosphere in which threats, slurs and conspiracy theories brew online but are increasingly visible offline, too.”

Beyond a rise in hateful provocations and crimes, as a journalist who covers religious diversity myself, I’ve seen too many negative portrayals of Orthodox communities in popular fiction. Lots of contemporary fiction writers can’t understand anyone actually choosing to live in a community with such daily boundaries and demands on family life. Case in point: The most popular portrayal of Orthodox Judaism streaming on TV now is the fictional Unorthodox, adapted from Deborah Feldman’s memoir about fleeing an abusive Orthodox enclave in Brooklyn.

In sharp contrast to these negative portrayals in popular media—the overall arc of Lynne’s novel feels like breathing fresh air!

That’s true even when a couple of bad guys are looming along the way. From the opening scenes in Woman of Valor, we don’t want Sally or Barry to be forced away from their home. We’re cheering for them to find some way to remain, despite mounting threats. From the opening pages of this book, we become friends with the wide array of folks in this Orthodox neighborhood and we care about what happens to them.

An Entrepreneurial Writer and Coach

Readers who have enjoyed Lynne’s other books (which you can find on Amazon) know that her body of work touches on a wide array of issues. She is nationally respected as a journalist and author whose home website is LynneGolodner.com. In more recent years, she launched the podcast Make:Meaning, which we also can recommend to you. And, now, she is launching a new hybrid publishing house, Scotia Road Books, with this debut novel.

At one time, she was an active part of the Orthodox community in southeast Michigan. She remains deeply immersed in the Jewish world, but as her professional life expanded over the years she decided to live a less-strict version of that religious life. Still, she and her family are observant of beloved Jewish traditions. For example, she told me that she loves to prepare big shabbat dinners for her family and friends. And she continues to have a deep admiration and affection for her stricter Orthodox neighbors.

‘A strong woman defining her role’

In our interview—after I mentioned the context of the other more disturbing portrayals of Orthodox life in popular media—Lynne told me: “That’s why I wanted this novel to be about the beauty of the Orthodox world, featuring a strong woman who is defining her own role in that world. Also, while I was sharing lots of details about daily life in the Orthodox world, I wanted the book to be accessible to all readers, even if they’re not Jewish.”

I did surprise Lynne in our interview by describing her book as “a suspense novel”. While this is, indeed, a story that welcomes us into the rich tapestry of Orthodox family life—from raising kids to making friends to preparing distinctive foods and planning ahead for the weekly shabbat—this also is a page turner.

“I had not thought of this as a suspense novel, but I like what you’re saying about the suspense you found here,” Lynne said.

I told her that in my own first reading (I’ve now read it twice), I could not put it down because of the ongoing threats from two predators and, in my mind, that’s the classic definition of suspense.

Who are these predators? I want to walk a fine line in this magazine story by affirming that Woman of Valor is a beautifully evocative novel about Jewish life—and also giving prospective readers a “heads up” about the bad guys they will discover lurking in these pages.

Who are the predators?

The first predator is a teacher at the family’s local school who Sally and Barry discover has been physically abusing their young son—and other boys. Multiple tensions are unleashed by this news: What exactly did this teacher do? Will community leaders circle around the teacher to avoid scandal or decide to protect their children? And how will this teacher and his wife react within the community, since they are living in the Skokie neighborhood as well?

As a journalist, I have covered secretive patterns of abuse within religious groups—especially within Catholic and insular evangelical churches. I commended Lynne for accurately writing this particular storyline. (If you are interested in helping to promote awareness of the four basic forms of child abuse, the CDC provides a helpful summary—as well as a free info-graphic outlining these challenges that anyone can download, print and post in their community.)

In choosing her two fictional predators for this drama, I asked Lynne why she chose to highlight this particular issue?

“There’s nothing more important than protecting children and the vulnerable—period,” Lynne said. “This is an issue in every corner of our world. There are abusers who turn up in schools all around the world in both secular and religious settings. It’s an issue lots of families face.”

The second predator is a former lover from the years before Sally decided to become Orthodox and marry Barry. He resurfaces in the midst of the emotional turmoil of the abuse crisis at the family’s school—just when Sally and Barry are at their most vulnerable. He reveals himself to be a dangerous stalker.

And that’s why I’m describing Woman of Valor as a suspense novel as well as a family drama. I know that I had a hard time putting down this book while I was reading it, because I kept wondering: How can this family hope to survive as their beloved community seems to erupt around them?

Beautiful Sights, Sounds, Smells and Tastes of Skokie

Until my own adult children moved into a home just across the city line from Skokie a few years ago, I had never visited that area north of Chicago. However, one of the first news stories I reported as a young journalist was about reactions in southeast Michigan’s Jewish community to attempts by Nazis to march in Skokie in 1977. That’s pretty much all I knew about Skokie until several long summer visits my wife and I now have made to spend time with our adult children and our preschool granddaughters. Because Skokie is such a wonderfully walkable town, we’ve spent hours in the same neighborhood playgrounds and shopping centers where Sally and her family live in Woman of Valor.

“You absolutely nailed the setting,” I said to Lynne in our interview. “I felt like I was reading about a family we might have interacted with in a Skokie playground this summer.”

“I’m glad to hear you say that,” Lynne said, “because that was a challenge. I know the southeast Michigan Jewish community very well, but I wanted to venture out and write about a place that I didn’t know as well. Sally is from Michigan and moves to the Chicago area and, of course, there’s always been a pretty natural progression for Detroit area youth to move to Chicago. You’ve seen it in your family. It made sense to have Sally move to Chicago after she finished the University of Michigan and that’s how she winds up in Skokie.”

And as Lynne is planning her second novel, will Skokie be the home base for her new characters?

“No, the next novel I’m writing is set partially in Michigan and partially in Scotland,” Lynne said. “I had to travel to Scotland to learn that landscape well enough to write about it.”

“Jews in Scotland?” I asked. “Certainly, they’re there, but it’s not the first ethnic group I think of in Scotland. Once again, you’ve chosen a place that’s family turf for our family. What’s the Jewish connection in your Scottish setting?”

“I don’t want to spoil the new novel, but it involves a woman who is a researcher, an archivist in Edinburgh, and she discovers some writings by a Jewish woman. I don’t want to say much more about it now, but it’s something readers can look forward to, if they like this first novel.”

I agreed. My wife and I definitely are going to be early readers of the new book. We’re sold on Lynne’s storytelling abilities in Woman of Valor.

“What’s your hope for launch of Woman of Valor?” I asked Lynne finally. “How do you hope it will affect readers?”

“I hope that people love reading it. I hope that they can’t put it down,” she said. “I hope that it makes people think about who they are and how they want to live their lives—and I hope it sparks conversations. I’m excited to speak to groups of readers. One thing that impressed me is that—there are lots of foods, lots of dishes, in the book—and I know one book club that is hosting me is planning to make some of the things in the book for that night.

“I hope that lots of great conversations will grow out of this book.”

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Care to Read More?

Lynne Golodner at a recent book event with her new novel and earlier books she has written as well.

Want to meet Lyne or invite her to your organization?

Lynne Golodner is the author of eight books and thousands of articles. If you are intrigued by this interview about her new book, Woman of Valor, you can order your copy from Amazon today.

If you are intrigued about our mention of food in this article, please check out Lynne’s book The Flavors of Faith—Holy Breads, which also is available from Amazon.

Or, you can learn much more about her work through her home website, LynneGolodner.com. If you explore that website, you’ll learn how to contact her and ask about future events.

If you’ve read this far, you’ll almost certainly enjoy her podcast series, as well, which you can learn about at Make:Meaning.

Come to a beautiful island with Laura Elizabeth’s new cozy mystery, ‘All Is Now Lost’

A shoreline on Daufuskie Island this week in a photo from Laura Elizabeth.

By DAVID CRUMM
Editor of ReadTheSpirit magazine

Please click on this cover to visit the book’s Amazon page.

DAUFUSKIE ISLAND, Georgia—Even before this week’s official launch of Laura Elizabeth’s new cozy mystery, All Is Now Lostearly buzz about the novel prompted a Georgia-based community theater group to select this compelling tale to create a new production later this year. Laura already is collaborating with that group by drafting a theatrical script, which she eventually will make available to other theater groups at her website TheIslandMysteries.com. Stay tuned to ReadTheSpirit magazine this autumn for further news about that project.

And—also before this week’s launch, the positive buzz about this cozy mystery reached a young book-selling entrepreneur in Arizona who selected Laura’s mystery for inclusion in a popular books-and-themed-accessories-in-a-box program. That young woman is Cynthia Wasko, who proudly describes her new cozy-box business as both minority and woman run. We know that our readers care about supporting such businesses, so you can read more about that cozy box in our Front Edge Publishing column this week.

Clearly, reader interest in All Is Now Lost is spreading nationwide.

Today, as we reach the official launch week for the novel, we are inviting our magazine readers to visit Amazon and buy a copy. Your interest—and your help in spreading this news—will enable our Front Edge Publishing team to bring readers more cozy mysteries in the future. Even if you aren’t a cozy reader yourself, you probably have a friend who is a fan. Millions of readers enjoy this genre. So, consider ordering a copy as a perfect gift—the first volume of an inviting new series that transports readers to one of the most fascinating, historic islands on America’s Atlantic coast.

In fact, Laura is on the island this week. The “real” island is Daufuskie, made famous decades ago by best-selling novelist Pat Conroy. Both Pat and Laura decided to write about their beloved island under a fictional name. Pat called it Yamacraw; Laura calls it Mongin. By using a fictional name for the island, Laura is making the distinction that her murder-mystery series is, indeed, fictional. She doesn’t want people to be afraid of taking a vacation on the island she has worked so hard to promote.

In July, we posted this column about Laura’s real-life efforts to promote Daufuskie and to help redevelop its historic centerpiece, a stately mansion-turned-resort that fell on hard times some years ago. Laura’s alma mater, Babson College, published that news story about her ongoing efforts to help the island.

Naturally, this week, Laura wanted to be in her island home (she and her family own both their main residence near Atlanta and a home on Daufuskie) for the book’s launch.

When she arrived on the island, she soon sent us the photograph at the top of today’s story with this note to share with our readers:

“It’s a beautiful day on the island—and my heart is so full!”

Then, the Daufuskie community helped to celebrate the book’s launch and Laura wrote:

“Two events were hosted for me, which gave me a chance to connect with friends and readers. There was so much interest in and support for All Is Now Lost! This was truly an incredible day I will treasure always. Having these events, where this adventure all started for me, has been such a gift.”

Now, we are inviting readers to join this growing nationwide community of island-loving readers by visiting Amazon and getting your own copy of All Is Now Lost.

And, don’t forget: There’s a second story this week about Laura’s new cozy mystery—introducing Cynthia Wasko, a young minority entrepreneur who is offering a “gift box” of fun extras along with Laura’s novel.

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Want to connect with Laura?

Laura on Daufuskie this week.

MEET LAURA—To learn much more about Laura’s work, to see her beautiful merchandise reflecting island themes—or to learn about inviting her to speak to your book club or discussion group, please visit TheIslandMysteries.com.

FUN PODCASTS—Laura also has been appearing on podcasts and, as of this week, you can find links to three of those programs on her “Media” page within her website. In her free, monthly email newsletter, Laura tells readers that she enjoys the podcast format and welcomes invitations from podcasters. She writes, “I have enjoyed this fun way to get the word out about All Is Now Lost. I’ve already met some incredible hosts interested in learning more about Carr, Barb, Tripp, and of course Mongin Island and its magic! I am excited to record more podcasts (several are already on the calendar!) and would welcome more of these opportunities.”

DELICIOUS, TOO—Here’s one last delicious tip. If you visit her website and sign up for her free newsletters, you will discover that Laura occasionally shares recipes. In one earlier issue of her newsletter, she shared a recipe for a special pie that is featured in the novel and, in her September issue, she included a recipe for a yummy red velvet cake with cream cheese frosting. This is fitting for readers, because her main character in the novel runs the Books & Brew bookstore on the island—and her cast of characters also includes one of the island’s best bakers.

Lives continue to change as Dr. David Gushee reaches a milestone of 30,000 with his LGBTQ-affirming ‘Changing Our Mind’

Finding Christian pathways for LGBTQ friends and families

By DAVID CRUMM
Editor of ReadTheSpirit magazine

In our publishing house, we say, “A book is a community between two covers—and good books connect with real communities in the world.” That vocation for our authors defines the remarkable global growth of Dr. David Gushee’s landmark book, Changing Our MindAnd, this week, Dr. Gushee is celebrating with our publishing house reaching the milestone of 30,000 copies sold. We’re not only marking the sheer number of books sold—we’re celebrating with thousands of individuals and their families who have been helped by this book.

Click on the cover to visit the book’s Amazon page.

“This book has opened up a whole field of ministry for me,” Gushee said in an interview this week. “I realize now what an enormous need there is among so many people and their families to connect with ministers with serious Christian perspectives in counseling—people who understand how sexuality works and who accept LGBTQ people for who they are. I have learned through my journey with this book—and with people I have met around the world because of this book—that, when we as Christians are able to accept all people, then so many LGBTQ people and their families are able to find their own pathways forward in life that allow them to remain in relationship with Christ.

“I often talk about three callings in my life: my calling as a Christian, as a pastor and as an academic. In this book, and all of the talks and writings that have come from this book over the years, I have been able to exercise all three of those callings. I have found it immensely rewarding that my academic work in Christian ethics has been able to be of such pastoral significance to people who have told me this has helped them to put their lives and in many cases their families back together again and put them back in relationship with God.”

Since his book first was published in 2014, Gushee has heard from thousands of readers around the world, ranging from angry evangelical critics who are furious that he broke ranks with them—to people who have thanked him because they desperately needed this sign of hope.

“And within that larger response, there are probably 600 individuals with whom I’ve had even deeper conversations. With some, I’ve even formed ongoing pastoral connections and friendships,” he said. “These are people all over the world.”

Asked to share some examples, Gushee said, “Oh, there are so many! One example: I was particularly moved to hear from a woman in Indonesia who had been suffering from her family’s attempts to try to ‘beat the lesbian out of me.’ My book was a sign of hope to her that helped her to see a different way of understanding her life and new possibilities for a relationship with God.”

‘I Need to Tell You My Story …’

Usually, these new conversations begin with he words: “I need to tell you my story—”

As Gushee travels around the world to this day, he tells his audiences that listening is often more important than speaking. So, despite his jam-packed schedule and never-ending deadlines for writing and teaching, he has found himself devoting countless hours to listening.

He vividly recalls an event in San Francisco in late June 2015, when the Supreme Court announced its decision in Obergefell v. Hodges, the ruling that declared the fundamental right to marry is guaranteed to same-sex couples by both the Due Process Clause and the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment of the Constitution.

“I was invited to speak at a vesper service at Grace Episcopal Cathedral in San Francisco, when the ruling was coming. The invitation was: ‘If the court votes against us, then lament with us. If the vote goes for us, then celebrate with us.’ And, as it turned out, this became a big celebration.”

The pioneering San Francisco Gay Men’s Chorus, which helped to foster the LGBTQ choral movement in the 1970s, sang during that service.

“It was quite a celebration, very festive. There were robes—the choir was robed and I was wearing this Episcopal-style robe—and there was this gala event after the service with deserts so we could talk with people. And I’ll never forget one of the leaders of the chorus coming up to me, saying, ‘I need to tell you my story—’ And, of course, I am glad that I listened to his story, even though his experiences had been painful.

“He had been a minister of music in a Texas Southern Baptist church. Then, when he came out, he found himself cut off like so many LGBTQ people do if they have been part of an evangelical community. He said, ‘I lost everything. I lost my job. And I wound up out here.’ That’s a story I have heard from so many LGBTQ Christians who have come out. They lose their church, their community, often their friends and family. They lose their whole world.

“The difference in this case was that we were talking long after those painful experiences in his life. He said, ‘I was booted out of the evangelical culture in Texas, but I wound up finding a new home in San Francisco.’ And he had enough distance from that pain to say, ‘Now, I think it’s funny how happy my life is in this community. And I’m so glad you came out here to be with us on this night, so we can celebrate together.’ ”

In that journey, Texas lost one of its most talented Christian musicians, relationships were shattered, there was lingering trauma—and it took years for that talented musician to build relationships in a new supportive community.

“It’s so hard for people and their families to try to put their lives back together again,” Gushee said.

‘Conversations I didn’t expect to have’

Gushee himself is now known around the world as an “ally.” He’s “straight” and married, so he often tells audiences that the past decade of new friendships with LGBTQ folks has been a revelation of how complex and sometimes traumatic human relationships can be. Then, he tells people that two important values that anyone—whether LGBTQ or a “straight” ally—should model are openness and honesty.

That has led him to a relentlessly public affirmation of this inclusive journey in ministry—despite the years of attacks from evangelicals who are angry that he left their circle.

“Despite all of the criticism I have received from former colleagues, some of them friends I knew for many years, I would not change this path I have taken. I have never been tempted to change course. And, because I have remained true to this course, there have been many things—including many conversations—I didn’t expect along the way,” he said.

Just one example, he said, “Is an airline pilot from Chicago who reached out to me and told me his story of living for many years as a closeted gay man. He told me that he had read my book. And, after reading the book, he said, ‘I need to tell you my story—'”

He had grown up in a Christian family and had excelled in doing all the things that were expected of him as a promising young man in such a community. He became a successful pilot, but as he reached his 50s, he realized that his life was about to implode. At the end of his story, he told Gushee, “I just can’t live a lie anymore.”

“These are the kinds of conversations that, even as a pastor and as a teacher for many years, I was never invited into before writing this book,” Gushee said. “That’s not surprising, because people who are LGBTQ are well aware that non-affirming straight ministers are not safe people for them to have conversations with. That kind of conversation will only lead to more pain. So, this book suddenly put my name out there in the world as someone who is safe to talk with.

“What surprised me in talking with the pilot is that he flew down here to Atlanta and came to the Sunday School class I teach—and we wound up becoming friends,” Gushee said. “I’m so glad I was able to play that kind of role in his life.”

The warmest thanks: ‘This book changed my life.’

But the biggest surprise since Changing Our Mind was published in 2014?

“The biggest surprise is that for so many people—the book itself is enough,” Gushee said. “We’ve been talking about people who contact me, either at an event or in other ways, and conversations I’ve had with hundreds of people. But that’s not the case with most readers—and I’m so proud that this tells me: The book itself tells the story effectively.

“For all the people I’ve had conversations with, there are far more readers who simply say: ‘Your book helped.’ Or: ‘Your book is what I needed.’ And that’s amazing to me—touching lives through the book itself, not even a conversation was needed. Of all the responses I’ve received from these 30,000 books that are now out there in the world—that kind of response still moves me: ‘This book changed my life. Thanks.’ ”

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Care to Learn More?

Click on the cover to visit the book’s Amazon page.

GET THE BOOK—It’s available in hardcover, paperback and Kindle from Amazon—as well as through Barnes & Noble, the Walmart website and bookstores everywhere. On Amazon, the book has earned an average of 4.7 out of 5 stars from 365 reviews—and it has earned a “Great on Kindle” badge from Amazon. On Goodreads, the book averages 4.3 stars, based on 962 ratings.

TO LEARN MORE ABOUT THE CONTEXT OF THIS BOOK—Order a copy of Gushee’s magnum opus from his decades of teaching Christian Ethics at Mercer. It’s a book called, Introducing Christian Ethicsand this unique multi-media book includes both video and audio of Gushee delivering the talks included in the book.

CONNECT WITH DR. GUSHEE by visiting his website (davidpgushee.com), where you also can learn about his upcoming book, Defending Democracy from its Christian Enemies, which will be launched in October 2023. While on his website, you will find links to his latest Articles and Podcasts. You also can learn more about his extensive public speaking and, on that same page you will find a link to invite him to speak in your community or event.

LEARN MORE ABOUT SEXUALITY AND GENDER through the award-winning “100 Questions & Answers About—” series from the Michigan State University School of Journalism’s “Bias Busters” program. These guides are prepared by student reporters, guided by blue-ribbon national panels of experts, and are a perfect way to start discussions about topics ranging from race and ethnicity to religion and gender.

The Rev. Dr. George A. Mason takes us to a very different kind of ‘Sunday Service’ complete with skateboards and fresh vegetables

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By DAVID CRUMM
Editor of Read the Spirit magazine

Here’s why the Rev. Dr. George A. Mason—author of the new book Word Made Fresh—is nationally celebrated as a prophet among preachers: Like the great prophets of old in Jewish, Christian and Muslim tradition, George Mason carries his faith into the real world and shares the Good News he finds there every week. Mason’s parish truly is the whole world.

This week, he’s taking all of us—via a video feature you can see below—to the Sunday Service at the 4DWN skateboard park in South Dallas. The moment we saw the headline on this new video episode in George’s ongoing podcast series—titled “A Different Kind of Sunday Service”—we guessed that George would show us some kind of trendy evangelical worship service with a rock band and a casually attired speaker maybe spouting skater slang in his sermon.

No!

And that’s why George’s latest video is our magazine Cover Story this week. This is a story from one small corner of Dallas that the world needs to know about. George’s mission for many years—at his own home church, Wilshire Baptist and in his book The Word Made Freshhas been sharing a vision of what “church” can become in our increasingly diverse world.

The Sunday Service in the video, below, is a very compelling vision, indeed.

The big surprise in this video is that it’s a weekly congregation of people who 4DWN co-founder Rob Cahill lovingly describes as “weirdos”—as in: “If you come here on a Sunday and look at all these people working on sorting and packaging food, you wonder: Who are all these weirdos who come together on a Sunday to give their time to this? A lot of these people are lawyers, doctors, movers and shakers—but they come here and they are working side by side with people, some of whom don’t even have a home. What unites these people are the values we share.”

Remember our recent Cover Story by Duncan Newcomer about Braver Angels, another small group that is making a big difference in bridging America’s dangerous divides? Well, this week, George is bringing us another innovative idea from an at-risk neighborhood in Texas. We are covering these stories for our national audience because the world will be a better place if more people learn from these examples—and perhaps try something like these ideas in their own communities.

Come on! Right now, you could share this story across your social media or via email—and perhaps that idea will spring to life in another community.

Here’s the video from Dallas!

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Care to Learn More?

First, order your own copy of George’s book—and consider ordering a second copy to give to a friend. Amazon offers both hardcover and paperback editions for gift giving.

Connect with George yourself via www.GeorgeAMason.com—which is a gateway both to his new book and to all of George’s ongoing work now that he has moved to emeritus status with Wilshire. When you first visit, sign up for his free email updates. (It’s easy to cancel anytime, but we doubt you’ll want to cancel.) Then, the website also makes it easy to Contact George, if you’re interested in an invitation to speak or have other questions.