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95 of 102 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Wonderful wonderful!, November 7, 2006
This review is from: The Faith Club: A Muslim, A Christian, A Jew-- Three Women Search for Understanding (Hardcover)
As a wonderful pastor once said from the pulpit, you can't deal with a forty year old's problems with a belief system that you learned when you were twelve. This book is a definite help in growing that faith; but growth is sometimes painful and what you started with may not be what you wind up with.
A first I was a bit skeptical; the book appeared to be a group of wealthy highly educated ivy league women sitting around the table discussing religion, but did I underestimate! This book is truly a profound exposure of the beliefs, prejudices, hopes, fears, and foundations of three major religions without the theologians. These women may live in expensive houses, but faith, lack of faith, or misunderstanding of faith is universal. They say the things that many of us think but are either embarrassed or too confused to express, and they say them to the very people that share a similar confusion but from a different perspective. Through that often painful exposure comes understanding, or the acceptance that some things cannot be understood. Someone in the book makes the statement that the opposite of faith isn't doubt, it is certainty. That makes a ton on sense.
It would be wonderful to follow up the reading of this book with discussions in such a faith club as the book suggests; however, I would warn that such open discussions probably cannot happen randomly or quickly. These three women spent more than a year coming to the stage that they could openly take their ideas outside of their group even to their own families and friends. Understanding your own faith much less someone else's, isn't quick; I greatly admire the perservance it took these women to "walk the walk" and then to have the courage to share it with the world. This book has provided me with enough food for thought to last a long time, not just in regard to my own Christian beliefs, but also in regard to my role as a citizen and how I would hope our nation deals with the rest of the world and with other issues what are affected by religious beliefs. Highly recommended
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47 of 48 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Thought Provoking Tour de Force, October 31, 2006
This review is from: The Faith Club: A Muslim, A Christian, A Jew-- Three Women Search for Understanding (Hardcover)
This book does more than put a band-aid on the uneasy co-existence of the three Abrahamic faiths in America and over the world. The authors here confront stereotypes about their own and each others' faiths, and they don't pull any punches. The Jewish woman, Priscilla, confronts Christian Suzanne, challenging her claim that she'd never heard Jews being blamed for Christ's death. But that's nothing compared to the discussion that emerges when the Israel-Palestine situation comes up.
I strongly recommend this book for Americans who simplistically wonder "Why don't the Arabs just take care of the Palestinian problem?" The Muslim, Ranya, whose parents lost their ancestral home when Israel came into being, offers the little-heard (in this country) story of
Palestinian dispossession. She is quite clear in her condemnation of Muslim extremists, and it is wonderful to read how she has become an important figure in uniting the American Muslim community, which is overwhelmingly moderate, and represents a sort of diaspora from around the world. I learned that most Muslims in the world aren't even Arabs, many do not wear head dress, and that the faith itself is much closer to my personal beliefs (raised Catholic, married to a Jew) than I would have guessed. Ich bin ein Muslim -- who knew?
While, unlike Suzanne, I had a thorough education in the horror Christians have inflicted on Jews, I was taught next to nothing about Muslims -- just the oft-repeated story about the thousand virgins who are the reward for those who self-annhiliate in the name of Allah. Americans need to have this, and the many other negative stereotypes of Arabs and Muslims, corrected.
The authors encourage readers to begin their own faith clubs -- I'd like to see the discussions expanded to include Mormons, Buddhists, Hindus, etc. America ought to be a leader in easing the tensions between the various faiths, as we often have. In Northern Ireland the Catholics and Protestants are still fighting -- that argument and those prejudices sunk here long ago. We need to follow our own example today.
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41 of 42 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Check It Out, October 16, 2006
This review is from: The Faith Club: A Muslim, A Christian, A Jew-- Three Women Search for Understanding (Hardcover)
The Faith Club arose out of the rubble of 9-11, as three young mothers living in New York City - a Muslim, a Christian, and a Jew - agreed to meet together to discuss their differing faiths and how they might learn to live together in peace.
They could not have imagined what was in store for them.
At a minimum, it meant hours of gut-wrenching, painful, honest self-disclosure, as they explained to each other, as best they could, what they believed and why, and as they challenged each other with the obvious ambiguities and inconsistencies of their different faith perspectives.
It also meant a lot of personal growth as, through the process of interfaith dialogue - and we're talking about a period of over two years here - the women grappled with what they really believed, as opposed to what they had always been taught - and as they seriously considered the faith and understanding of each other.
No holds were barred. They talked openly and honestly about everything you can imagine: The Christian understanding of Jesus' crucifixion and whether or not the Jews were to blame; the Jewish claim to a Promised Land and what that meant for Palestinians; the suspicion that all Muslims are terrorists-in-waiting, versus the fact that the majority of Muslims are as peace-loving as everyone else.
Out of their dialogue, the women came to appreciate and accept each other as individuals who share a common humanity and a common quest for peace, albeit from different faith perspectives. More than that, they came to love each other, and that love helped them bridge the gap between their different religious traditions.
What I appreciated most about The Faith Club is its raw, often brutal, honesty. Here are three women who are willing to let you in on their often down and dirty efforts to come to grips with each other.
What I found myself struggling with was the often simplistic way in which the women were able to resolve fundamental differences of religion by stressing such commonalities as their love of God, generally, while, for example, ignoring the critical issues of such Christian beliefs as the Incarnation and the Atonement.
But, to be fair, the authors never claim to be theologians, and that may be the most compelling reason to read the book: It doesn't seek to answer all your questions about Islam, Judaism or Christianity, and it doesn't pretend to offer a panacea about how our differences can be resolved; rather, it offers a first-hand look at how three women from these differing religious perspectives found, through the process of interfaith dialogue, a better understanding of themselves and each other, and how people of differing faiths can live in peace and harmony in love with each other.
I recommend the book highly. Whether, in the end, you agree or disagree with their conclusions, you'll be enriched by their journey of faith.
- Philip W. McLarty, Pastor, First Presbyterian Church, Hope, Arkansas
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