Here’s the latest from the crossroads of faith, media & culture: 05/08/25

The Chosen. As it turns out the real-life papal conclave had an ending that was arguably more surprising than the Hollywood movie version. The 267th Roman pontiff is ‘American-born Cardinal Robert Prevost, 69, now known as Leo XIV. I have to say, I’ve been pontificating around my house about how unlikely it would for an American to be chosen. So much for my infallibility.  Here’s EWTN‘s live coverage of the announcement.

As for Leo XIV’s views, it doesn’t look he’ll be a MAGA pope.  Per Wikipedia: Prevost has criticized abortion, contraceptives, and the death penalty, alongside expressing sympathy for George Floyd, and criticizing U.S. President Donald Trump and Vice President JD Vance‘s policies on immigration.

It will certainly be interesting to see how his story plays out and how his papacy shapes the future of the Catholic Church.
_____

Who is Katharine Barnwell? Jordan Monson thinks your should know. In his new book, Katharine Barnwell: How One Woman Revolutionized Modern Missions, the director of the Center for Faith Integration and Vocation at Huntington University, tells the story of a Bible translator whose life – from hiding from Nazi bombings as a child to standing fearless before armed terrorists – almost seems like a cross between Billy Graham and Indiana Jones.

JWK: Who was Katharine Barnwell and what drew you to her story?

Jordan Monson: Katharine Barnwell is one of the most influential missionaries who’s ever lived – and, at 86, is still living and working full-time! She is the primary reason Bible translation shifted from a Western-led to a Global-Church led process. Today, hundreds of millions of people follow Christ because of her work on the Jesus Film or the 3,000 full or partial Bible translations that have grown from her revolutionary methods.

JWK: Why do you think her story has remained largely unknown?

JM: We only know what we see. In the West, we conflate influence with celebrity. Influence, she has in droves—celebrity, she does not. All of her work happened overseas. She never published popular-level works, never spoke at popular-level conferences. So, within Bible translation, she’s a mega star. But outside Bible translation, nobody knows who she is. But I hope with this book, that will begin to change. She’s more than 100 times as influential as Billy Graham if you go by the number of people who became Christians because of her work.

JWK: How did she come to her mission of Bible translation?

JM: At St. Andrews University in the late 1950s, she came to a deep faith. Not just belief, but a true counting-the-cost and sold-out faith. She also loved literature and linguistics. As she blossomed in linguistics, it just so happened that the president of Wycliffe Bible Translators, George Cowan, came to speak to her Christian student group about the need for Christian linguists to translate the Bible all over the world. That was it for her then. She knew it was her calling.

JWK: How have her Bible translations revolutionized how the Gospel is spread around the world?

JM: Katy was the major reason Westerners got out of the pilot’s seat and welcomed the Global Church to lead the work. The West, not just in Bible translation but most missions, has been stepping aside into more equipping, training, and financing roles across the world as they carry out the Great Commission among their neighbors. Katy fought a hard battle to transfer the pen, and then the typewriter and computer keyboard, into the hands of the Global Church.

This greatly accelerated the pace of Bible translation because native speakers were doing their own translations instead of outside Westerners. It also revolutionized community involvement and Scripture use, since the community felt engaged and excited about it. Both the pace and use of Scripture translation exploded.

The reason this is so impactful is that the Bible is the headwaters of mission. In order for the Global Church to carry out effective and healthy church and mission work, they need Scripture. As Scripture becomes available, it’s like steroids for local missional outreach. Accelerating and improving Bible translation is the rising tide that lifts all boats.

JWK: Can the message sometimes be altered – or, at least, perceived differently – in translation? Can that cause problems?

JM: Yes, absolutely, just as much in the West as anywhere else. Translators all have certain biases and worldviews, including our own. And readers all have biases and worldviews that are different from the original audiences of the Bible’s letters and books.

First-generation Christians around the world, and hundredth-generation Christians, continue to wrestle with faithfully translating and understanding Scripture, which was written for us, but certainly not written “to” us. We need to have a deep understanding of the people, culture, languages and times of the original audiences if we hope to do the best translations and interpretations.

The good news is, with tons of checking, revision, multicultural translation teams, and community testing, most issues are caught. But there’s always a tiny bit of room for improvement!

JWK: Has the West gone from being the primary spreaders of the Gospel to often being the receivers of it from people of other parts of the world?

JM: That is certainly in process. From about 1492-1960, missions was nearly a universally From the West to the Rest sort of endeavor. Though early Christianity was Middle Eastern and Turkish and North African, most of those people were killed, forcibly converted or slowly overcome by Muslim armies and societies in the 7th century and onward. So, by the time you get to 1492, the vast majority of the only Christians left are European.

Mission then spread outward from Europe and eventually, North America. But in the last 30-40 years especially, the fruits of that mission work are returning to re-evangelize an increasingly secularized West. Descendants of Pagan and Animist converts to Christianity are now traveling to Northern Europe and North America to share the Gospel with the secularized descendants of the missionaries who reached their ancestors. I think it’s a truly beautiful development.

JWK: Are there theological differences between how people of the West view the Gospel as opposed to people of other regions?

JM: Absolutely. The good news of Jesus contextualizes very well and that means that it puts on culturally fitting clothing wherever it goes, though it remains the same.

There are safer answers to this. Westerners view sin, one of the major things we’re saved from, quite differently from East Asian people, for example. For a Westerner, sin is a moral failure and it’s quite individual. For somebody outside the West, as in East Asia, it’s much more tied in with community shame. Sin brings shame on our family, our ancestors, etc. The Gospel is big enough to accommodate both of these, and of course, the biblical idea of sin belongs in neither camp. It involves shame aspects that we’ve forgotten but also individual moral aspects that other cultures are less likely to highlight.

Then there are more dangerous answers, more likely to wrankle readers: Western Evangelicals tend to overly spiritualize the Gospel as “how to get saved when you die” and often don’t consider what the good news of the Kingdom means for them here, during this earthly life. Basically, the Gospel matters when you die, but now??? I suppose read your Bible and go to church?

All this business of Jesus preaching good news to the poor, healing, lifting up the downtrodden, and so on is taken as nice, but kind of extra. It is good to be reminded by poor Christians and other branches of Christianity that this is a serious mistake. Jesus is overturning the curse of sin and death even now. We can end slavery and human trafficking in the name of Christ because he’s reversing the curse of sin and death now. Evangelicals are comfortable up to this point. But what does this say about other evils, like abject poverty, mass incarceration, the drug crisis? Many Global Christians would say the Gospel of the Kingdom means we fight to heal those wounds as well, because Jesus is overturning the curse of sin and death even now. Though Bible-reading Christians were on the front lines of abolition, women’s suffrage and child labor laws, we now find ourselves uncomfortable with this. It has to do with our polarization. But the Good News of God’s Kingdom calls us to more than praying a prayer for the end of our lives.

JWK: What do you hope readers take from Katharine Barnwell’s story?

JM: That God is still doing amazing things in this world. After the Christianity Today cover story on her, we heard from many that they wept while reading her story. For those in ministry for decades in the West, it’s been a trying season. They’ve watched as their friends, kids, or grandkids leave the faith. They watch as their heroes fall from grace, one after another after another. It’s been hard. But here is a story like the missionary greats we were all raised on.

God is the one carrying out his Great Commission. He is still doing amazing things in the world, even if we’re not in the center of those amazing things here.

JWK: Has her story in any way changed the way you live out your faith?

JM: She’s what I refer to as pathologically humble. I simply aspire to have her unified focus and determination to serve God without an ounce of consideration for myself.

JWK: How can readers connect with you online?

JM: You can subscribe to my newsletter at jordanmonson.com. I send only a handful a year with new articles or writing around the internet, so I won’t spam you.

Great American Media President & CEO Bill Abbott adds “This imaginative series sparks wonder and imagination while teaching children about faith, courage and compassion. Kirk’s dedication to faith-filled storytelling is a perfect fit for our mission to provide families with content that inspires, encourages, and uplifts.”

* Book of Joshua: Walls of Jericho premieres on major VOD streaming platforms beginning June 3. Filmmaker Amir Kovacs calls his animated film the biblical Lord of the Rings. He explains the story resonates with him “because it’s a story of courage, leadership, divine promise and conquest. I felt spiritually led to explore these themes through a modern storytelling medium like film. I wanted to create and relate this ancient biblical story to current issues—faith in times of uncertainty, courage in leadership or the pursuit of purpose against great odds. I did a lot of deep research and worked with both theologians and screenwriters to stay true to the message but, through creative interpretation, craft a captivating cinematic journey.”

John W. Kennedy is a writer, producer and media development consultant specializing in television and movie projects that uphold positive timeless values, including trust in God.