The book follows the journey of three young women as they learn about each other’s religions while examining their own faith. They begin meeting as they try to write an interfaith children’s book after September 11.
USA Today says: “The Faith Club reveals how very hard it was when they were spiritual strangers learning to lay down their guards and dredge up their deepest fears and prejudices. Through it all, they found insight into one another's beliefs and greater clarity in their own.”The book will be discussed in three parts: Chapters 1-7 on January 16, Chapters 8-13 on February 20 and Chapters 14-19 on March 19.
Questions, please contact Kim Shindle at kimstamps@comcast.net.
2 comments:
This is an interesting book. The first chapters are less about comparing religions than about finding a denomination or house of worship that fits the three authors'situation and needs. All three women are New Yorkers, well educated and against stereotyping an ethnic group or religious approach, whether conservative or liberal.
Chapter 7 is a particularly insightful one. The Muslim woman feels that her God is "a poetic rationalist who appeals to my mind and heart." She says he challenges her to consider the wonders of the universe and to marvel at the progress of mankind. She believes this proves the existence of a greater force that put it all together. She has not yet found a mosque in which she feels she fits. The Christian woman, who grew up a Catholic, has weathered many of life storms in her young life, which resulted in her spiritual growth. She and her family feel comfortable in an Episcopal Church in New York City. The Jewish woman admits her difficulty in believing in God, but at the end of the chapter determines to abandon her own obsessing and worrying and realized that life is a series of "leaps of faith." She felt a connection to God when viewing the wonders of the universe on an airplane trip and thought "Maybe I could hold God's hand as I leaped."
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