Author Shoichi Kimura Discusses Latest Novel

On Saturday, June 11, the New York City Family Church, in collaboration with Kodan New York, hosted a lecture by Mr. Shoichi Kimura called “True Parents and the Tears of Jesus” at 4 West 43rd Street in New York City. Twenty-five participants attended Mr. Kimura’s lecture, in which he shared about the inspiration behind his recently published novel, Tears of Jesus.

The inspiration behind the novel, which deals with the controversy surrounding Jesus’ crucifixion, was a $100,000-prize sponsored by the Unification Church in the early ’70s. This prize was promoted in some of the world’s prime newspapers, including The New York Times. Even though he learned about the contest some decades after its conclusion, Mr. Kimura was moved to respond to the call to create literature from a Unificationist perspective.

After Mr. Hiroshi Inose introduced him, Mr. Kimura began his lecture by sharing his own upbringing as a Roman Catholic. Mr. Kimura was pursuing a theology major at a catholic university when he became a Unificationist. As a student, he witnessed to the truth of True Father’s message but was eventually discovered and expelled. His testimony of the struggles faced on his path of faith moved the audience.

Mr. Kimura’s presentation lasted about two hours, including 20 minutes of question-and-answer. During an intermission, and even after concluding his message, attendees continued to dialogue with Mr. Kimura. The main point of his presentation was the challenge of bringing the core truth of Unification beliefs to the world while also engaging our current secular culture in proactive and compassionate way.

After the presentation, his two books, Tears of Jesus and Tears of Mary, were made available for purchase. Mr. Kimura will travel to other Unificationist communities throughout the country to share his insights and testimony.