I watched the latest documentary from Journey Films<\/a> about the life of Abraham J. Heschel last night, and realizing that today is Holocaust remembrance day and that Heschel was inspired by, among other things, losing so much of his family in the Holocaust, I thought I would write a blog post and share my enthusiastic recommendation today\u00a0when it seems particularly appropriate to do so. The film covers so many aspects of his life and work. As a biblical scholar I am fully convinced that his two volume classic study of the prophets<\/a> is the most important work written on that subject, probably ever. His proposal that prophets were individuals whose lives were infused with empathy with what they were convinced that God\u00a0felt<\/em> about the injustice in their time, is the key that unlocked those works to me and allowed them to simultaneously make sense to me and inspire me in ways they hadn\u2019t before. But there is so much more to Heschel\u2019s life, and this movie explores it in a condensed way without losing the crucial details or the overall gist in the process. It really is wonderful and inspiring. Here is what Journey Films says about it:<\/p>\n The much anticipated documentary film\u00a0SPIRITUAL AUDACITY: The Abraham Joshua\u00a0Heschel<\/span>\u00a0Story<\/strong><\/em>\u00a0is available today on DVD, exclusively at\u00a0Amazon.com<\/a>. The film is the fourth and final installment in the\u00a0Prophetic Voices<\/em>\u00a0film series that includes profiles of Reinhold Niebuhr, Howard Thurman and Dorothy Day.<\/p>\n Rabbi Abraham Joshua\u00a0Heschel<\/span>\u00a0was one of the most remarkable and inspiring religious figures of the 20th century. After narrowly escaping the Holocaust in Europe,\u00a0Heschel<\/span>\u00a0came to the United States to start a decades-long career as a prolific and influential writer, as well as a social and political activist. He became a personal mentor to Martin Luther King, Jr and the entire Civil Rights Movement, an early voice of resistance to the Vietnam War and a pioneer in interfaith dialogue.<\/p>\n \u201cIt can\u2019t be overstated how courageous\u00a0Heschel<\/span>\u00a0was throughout his life,\u201d says filmmaker Martin Doblmeier. \u201cAgain and again, whether it was challenging Hitler while in Germany, risking his life on the front lines during those dangerous Selma marches, or speaking out against the Vietnam War when so few had the courage to do so,\u00a0Heschel<\/span>\u00a0found himself on the right side of history.\u201d<\/p>\n SPIRITUAL AUDACITY: The Abraham Joshua\u00a0Heschel<\/span>\u00a0Story<\/strong><\/em>\u00a0is the first full length documentary on\u00a0Heschel<\/span>. It features extraordinary archival photographs and film footage, as well as remarkable interviews with Civil Rights icons Andrew Young, late Congressman John Lewis and Jesse Jackson, as well as Pulitzer Prize-winning historian Taylor Branch, celebrated Biblical scholar Walter Brueggemann, public theologian Cornel West,\u00a0Heschel<\/span>\u2019s daughter Susannah\u00a0Heschel<\/span>\u00a0and many others.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n See my previous posts about Martin Doblmeier\u2019s films about Reinhold Niebuhr<\/a> and Howard Thurman<\/a> (the latter including a podcast<\/a> with Doblmeier).<\/p>\n