Interview: The New ‘Harriet’ Biopic Is Faithful to Tubman’s Faith

Biographer Kate Clifford Larson talks about the famous female abolitionist and the cinematic portrayal of her life.

Harriet Tubman is one of America’s most iconic figures, as evidenced by the proposed (and still delayed) Harriet Tubman 20-dollar bill and the new biopic Harriet, produced by Focus Features.

After she escaped slavery in 1849, Tubman worked as the only female conductor on the Underground Railroad, assisting escapees along a short route through free states. She was one of the few who at great risk entered slave-holding states to extract slaves and lead them north to freedom. Nicknamed “Moses” by abolitionist William Lloyd Garrison, very few knew Harriet’s real identity; most assumed a man was making these voyages. Tubman also served in the US army as a nurse, advisor, scout, and spy. Her greatest feat in the service was leading the charge that freed over 750 slaves in the Combahee River Raid in South Carolina.

The film, which covers her life from 1849 to 1864, releases nationwide this weekend. Jenny McGill spoke recently with Kate Clifford Larson, author of Bound for the Promised Land: Harriet Tubman, Portrait of an American Hero, about the historical accuracy of the film, Tubman’s deep Christian faith, and the African American spirituals that were key to her rescue missions.

As a Harriet Tubman scholar, what were your overall impressions of the film?

I consulted on the script more than a year ago. I tried to keep the filmmakers as close to historically accurate as possible, and director Kasi Lemmons was very generous and wanted to do the right thing as much as she could.

They do get Tubman right. Cynthia Erivo plays a militant, headstrong Tubman, and I love that. The film has some wonderful personal touches that show Tubman as a woman, not just as a freedom fighter superhero. Lemmons had to make some ...

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Fuller Seminary Won’t Leave Pasadena After All

The school backed out of its move to Pomona—where administrators hoped to save money and upgrade to high-tech facilities—due to holdups with selling its property.

Citing restrictions on selling its current Pasadena property and unexpectedly high construction costs, Fuller Theological Seminary officials announced it won’t be moving to Pomona, California, in 2021 as planned.

Fuller president Mark Labberton said Southern California’s high construction costs—higher than the school’s conservative estimates—and “differences with the City of Pasadena” over the sale of the land led the board on October 24 to vote unanimously to stay at its 13-acre Pasadena location.

“Our board just decided … that though our plans were so full of promise and hope and our welcome in Pomona had been so great, that the better and wiser decision for the long-term wellbeing of Fuller is to stay here in Pasadena,” Labberton said in a statement posted last week on the Fuller website.

In May 2018, the Fuller board had unanimously voted to leave its main campus, which had been home since its founding more than 70 years ago, and move about 30 miles east to Pomona. The decision to leave Pasadena followed downsizing efforts the year before, when Fuller closed three of its eight satellite campuses and cut degree options at two more.

Leaders hoped a relocation to Pomona would alleviate financial pressures. The high cost of living in Pasadena had created hardships for many Fuller students and faculty and limited the school’s ability to reach potential students, according to its website.

But Pasadena Now reported that the plan was halted when Fuller could not sell some of its buildings for prices previously expected because of a development deal the school made with the City of Pasadena over 10 years ago.

“While the decision to remain in Pasadena is more complex ...

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Meet the Protestant Exorcists

How fighting the devil became an ecumenical pursuit.

Anglican Erich Junger has seen a lot in his wide-ranging career as an enlisted sailor in the US Navy, a medical examiner, a police detective, and a crime scene analyst.

More than a decade ago, his calling shifted to a different kind of investigation. It’s careful work, sometimes secretive and sensitive. He goes after a master manipulator, an enemy responsible for physical, psychological, and spiritual havoc.

Well, not just any enemy. The Enemy.

An exorcist in the Anglican Church of North America, Junger now dons a clerical collar as he advises fellow believers to “put on the full armor of God, so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes” (Eph. 6:11).

Scriptural directives to defend against the Devil take on a heavy urgency once you have seen the twisted work of Satan up close, again and again. Junger dedicated his ministry to studying spiritual warfare—specifically, the physiological effects of demonic activities—back in 2007. Ten years later, he became licensed as an exorcist.

To outsiders, the work of exorcism carries significant cultural baggage, whether due to misperceptions gleaned from the movies or the many real-life cases where possession had been faked or confused with mental illness. This is tricky spiritual territory to navigate. That’s why exorcists like Junger would say their expertise in identifying and combating the presence of the demonic is so crucial right now.

This realm of ministry remains particularly mystifying in the United States, where most Christians see Satan as a symbol of evil rather than a living being, according to Barna Research.

“Many priests and ministers of most all denominations have lost their sense of the reality of Satan as a ...

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One-on-One with Rob Gallaty on Addiction, Alcohol, and God’s Ability to Heal

“If you surrender your life to Christ, he can do more in a moment than anyone can manufacture in a lifetime.”

Ed: This book is different from any other you’ve written. What was the process of writing it like?

Rob: I’ve had the privilege of counseling people wanting to experience sobriety from drugs and alcohol since I surrendered my life to Christ. Most ask me for resources or books to help them experience freedom. Unfortunately, I’ve been hard pressed to find a resource that is both practical and biblical in recovery.

My goal in writing this book was to provide encouragement and hope for anyone personally battling addiction and the family members who are affected. When I was in the midst of my addiction, I was weary of anyone giving me advice, especially someone who didn't understand what I was dealing with. In Recovered, I walk the reader through my journey of taking one step forward and two steps backward.

Also, I showed the role my parents played in my recovery. Even when they were unbelievers, they extended the grace of God to me in their unconditional love and support. My prayer is that parents will read this book and be encouraged to never give up on their children, knowing that God is working even during the worst times.

The lessons I learned along the way have helped me remain sober for the past 17 years. In addition to sprinkling those lessons throughout the book, I’ve also included an entire chapter with a step-by-step process for staying sober.

Ed: Our country has been in a much-publicized opioid crisis for several years. Having walked through this yourself, how do you think this book can speak to this issue? What would you say is a missing part of this conversation nationally?

Rob: More people die from drug overdoses than car crashes in our country. One group analyzed preventable injuries and deaths ...

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The New Testament Teaches Us Not to Second-Guess Conversions

Long before Kanye, even the most unexpected believers—like Paul himself—point us toward acceptance over suspicion.

Kanye West’s move from saying “Jesus walks” to confessing “Jesus is King” has divided Christians.

Some are overjoyed that such a prominent figure has made public turn to faith. Others are more hesitant, taking the “let’s see if this sticks” approach. Kanye himself expected the latter, singing on his new album, “What have you been hearin’ from the Christians? They’ll be the first one to judge me. Make it feel like nobody love me.”

While some believers want to wait and see whether his faith is genuine, we don’t find much evidence for this strategy in the Scriptures.

The early church in Acts had its share of surprising transformations and celebrity conversions, which stirred a range of reactions. But ultimately, the text points to acceptance over distrust. It also emphasizes the importance of perseverance for these unexpected converts.

These accounts suggest that with Kanye, there is room for the church to rejoice without suspicion, while also pleading for endurance and mentorship in the faith.

Paul’s Sudden Transformation

Paul represents the first surprising conversion in Acts. He was killer of Christians, but then Jesus appeared to him. Understandably, Paul’s conversion is met with some hesitation and fear. Some readers today may take this response as a case for wariness when someone does an about-face. Ananias questions whether he should go to Paul when the Lord comes to him (Acts 9:13-16). The crowd in Damascus is amazed, wondering what has happened (9:21). In Jerusalem, the disciples were afraid and did not believe he was a disciple (9:26).

Each reaction is different based on context. But it helps to consider their concerns in light of the ...

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Lord, We Don’t Know What We Should Be Asking of You

For anyone who struggles to pray, Pete Greig’s new book offers an easy and approachable guide.

When I was six, I started praying in earnest for a snowspeeder. Every night after my parents said goodnight, I knelt beside the bed and prayed. A snowspeeder is a vehicle from the Star Wars movies, specifically The Empire Strikes Back. Imagine a sort of wingless jet with two laser cannons on the front and another on the back. Each night I explained in great detail why I wanted this machine and asked God to provide it. In the mornings I leapt out of bed and raced to my bedroom window, expecting to see a spaceship on the lawn.

Christmas morning I awoke to find a toy version of a snowspeeder under the tree, and I remember thinking either I had not been sufficiently clear with the Lord or that he was playing a genie trick on me because I hadn’t been specific enough. I wasn’t doing it right. Prayer worked, sort of, but it didn’t get me what I wanted. Not really.

I’ve been a minister for 20 years now, and I still find myself with some childlike apprehension about prayer. God has spoken to me often in prayer, has provided for my family, has done amazing, unexpected things that were more than I hoped for or imagined. But there were also times when I prayed and nothing came from it. Or I went to a corporate prayer time and experienced only immense boredom. Or I offered up deep, important prayers, especially prayers for the healing of loved ones, which were met with silence. And sometimes, like it or not, the thought of prayer fills me only with feelings of obligation and guilt.

So it was with some trepidation that I picked up Pete Greig’s How to Pray: A Simple Guide for Normal People. I’ve read a lot of books on prayer. Some are deep and insightful and require a great deal of work to fully understand, ...

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Pious Pledges and Consecrated Keggers

Can Christian fraternities and sororities redeem a campus culture bruised from hazing and drowning in alcohol?

Hours after sunset, the air was still muggy at the house I rented with three other college seniors in Fort Worth, Texas. Several students gathered around a folding table in a citronella-tanged backyard lit by tiki torches, lobbing ping-pong balls at red plastic cups.

Others sat in lawn chairs around a small bonfire, holding koozie-covered cans or cups with their names scrawled in black sharpie. The men sported boat shoes and Greek-letter t-shirts, while the women wore mostly sundresses with cowboy boots. Someone opened the house’s screen door and shouted over the country music to get my attention.

I followed him inside the house, where the air was even hotter. We slid along the wall past a crowd gathered in the kitchen, where two guys were holding up a third in a handstand atop a keg while he drank from the tap. Strings of white Christmas lights glowed in darkened rooms, and the twang of Big & Rich gave way to people jumping to the Black Eyed Peas amid a sea of toppled cups and crumpled cans.

When we reached the front door, a police officer was waiting. “Is this your house?” he asked. Neighbors had complained about the noise. And then: “Is this a frat party?”

“It’s not what you think,” I said. “We’re members of Beta Upsilon Chi, a Christian fraternity. Our letters stand for ‘Brothers Under Christ.’” I pointed back to the keg in the kitchen. “This is a root-beer kegger.”

All Beta Upsilon Chi functions are non-alcoholic. The students in the backyard weren’t playing beer pong; the cups were full of water. The empty cans were Dr Peppers. The officer raised an eyebrow—he clearly didn’t believe me. He told us to turn off ...

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