In this unique book about the major religious traditions of the
world, a practitioner from each tradition—Hinduism, Judaism,
Buddhism, Christianity, and Islam—introduces the basics of his or
her faith and participates in a conversation about the challenges
of being faithful in the modern world. Each essay and conversation
is followed by a list of suggestions for further reading. Written
for the non–specialist, Five Voices Five Faiths is an accessible
book in which neighbors honor both our differences and our common
bonds.
Some may say that my only obligation to other non-Christian
believers is to preach the good news of God in Christ Jesus. They
may also believe that participating in interfaith dialogue and
relationship, by the very nature of the task, causes me to disobey
the gospel mandate to go into the world and make disciples of all
people. I understand the position, and for much of my life
subscribed to it. But today, as a middle-aged woman, with grown
children and aging parents, another line from the Christian gospels
compels me. Today, I reflect more deeply on the new commandment
Jesus gave, to love one another as he has loved us. In order to be
obedient to that commandment, I understand myself to be required to
participate in conversations in which I am not afforded the last
word or the luxury of full agreement, compliance, or conversion.
This love requires that I involve myself in the lives of others,
even when my most basic human instinct is to run, to hide, and to
avoid the unfamiliar. The love that Jesus commands of me requires
that I, as he has done before me, kindle and engender deep
relationships with those others: the outcast, the unfamiliar, the
different, and the very ones that we presume constitute the
greatest threat to our institutional and cultural norms.
—from the Introduction, by Amanda Millay Hughes
This erudite paperback offers a fine example of the virtues of the spiritual practice of hospitality in interfaith adventures.
The reader is left with the delightful feeling of having been gently and warmly introduced to something of personally deep, enduring, and intimate value.