THE MIP INTERFAITH BOOKSHELF
(An online resource for building a resilient and engaged interfaith community)
Why an Interfaith Bookshelf?
We in MIP deeply believe that spirituality is an essential component of our humanity. The wisdom and insights of diverse religions and philosophies contribute great depth and resilience to human societies.
MIP’s mission fosters interfaith community, understanding, and social justice from a position of deep respect and reverence for each other’s religious traditions, as well as for those whose spirituality is not specifically religious. Our Interfaith Bookshelf highlights books we have found to be consistent with MIP’s positive perspective on religious plurality and interfaith collaboration.
Not all books about religion, religious experience, or spiritually-motivated social action share our perspective. Google searches, online reviews, and the many shelves of books about religion in bookstores or libraries give readers little guidance for selecting from among the vast array. Each book listed here is one that a friend of MIP has personally loved and referred to our bookshelf curators for consideration (see our selection criteria and submission form below to suggest books to us).
Enjoy browsing our Interfaith Bookshelf as you grow in faith, hope, and love.
A Special Request
We hope to add books in our selected themes that are appropriate for children of all ages, and would love to receive your thoughtful suggestions.
What’s New on our Bookshelf?
Roughly monthly, or when whenever we have something exciting and new to share, we post on our ongoing bookshelf blog. Check back regularly to see what’s new.
It’s Spring! Read “The Blessing Seed”
Recommended by Ann Carlson
The Blessing Seed: A Creation Myth for the New Millennium, by Caitlin Matthews and illustrated by Alison Dexter (1998, Barefoot Books) is a charming retelling of the Hebrew Bible’s story of “Creation” (rather than “the Fall”), a story shared in essence by all the world’s Abrahamic religions. This retelling makes room for hope, good stewardship of the earth, and equal value of both men and women. The illustrations are bold and original.
This is a nurturing book written for children, but appealing to all. The Woman ate the unripened fruit of knowledge from the Tree of Life, but God was not angry. God said humans were created “for their longing to know.” He encouraged the man and woman to walk the 4 paths of wonder, emptiness, making and coming home. “These 4 paths of life will help you to learn and to care.” (book jacket)
“And God blessed them both, saying, ‘I will ripen your gift as you walk the paths of light. Your gift will be a blessing seed. It will leap from your hearts into the hearts of others. Go now and spread my blessing throughout the Earth.”
Creating True Peace
Recommended by Ann Carlson
Creating True Peace: Ending Violence in Yourself, Your Community, and the World, by Thich Nhat Hanh.
Our globe’s epidemic of social malice and distressing news challenges us. Should we respond? What needs to change? Where to turn for guidance? Where do we have power and where are we powerless? What can we do individually and collectively to heal our world ?
“Creating True Peace is both a profound work of spiritual guidance and a practical blueprint for inner and global change. It is the Venerable Thich Nhat Hanh’s answer to our deep-rooted crisis of violence and our feeling of helplessness, victimization, and fear. … Thich Nhat Hanh uses a beautiful blend of visionary insight, inspiring stories of peacemaking, and a combination of meditation practices and instruction to show us how to take Right Action. A book for people of all faiths, it is a magnum opus — a compendium of peace practices that can help anyone practice nonviolent thought and behavior, even in the midst of world upheaval” – book jacket
Click on the links below to access each subject’s dedicated section of our online bookshelf
BOOKS ABOUT FAITHS (RELIGIOUS LITERACY)
BOOKS ABOUT SPIRITUALITY
AND THE
EXPERIENCE OF FAITH
BOOKS ON PEOPLE
OF FAITH
WORKING TOGETHER
BOOKS ABOUT
SOCIAL JUSTICE
(IN A FAITH CONTEXT)
BOOKS FOR YOUNG READERS
Noted as Child+ (ages 3 +),
Middle+ (ages 9 +) or
Young Adult+ (ages 13 +)
Guidelines for Submission
Please fill out THIS SUBMISSION FORM in as much detail as you can (but please try to limit your remarks to the suggested word limits). We are particularly interested in the following:
- Why you loved this book.
- What the book is about.
- How this book promotes interfaith understanding, community building, or collaboration for social justice.
Criteria for Submission
The Interfaith Bookshelf is a resource for books in five categories related to MIP’s mission.
- BOOKS ABOUT FAITHS (RELIGIOUS LITERACY): Books that introduce one religion (or multiple religions) to others who are not of that (or those) faiths. These books promote religious literacy: presenting the basic beliefs, practices, history and contexts of the faith without presenting any one faith as superior to others or attempting to prostelytize.
- BOOKS ABOUT SPIRITUALITY AND THE EXPERIENCE OF FAITH: Books appropriate for an interfaith context that present a religion or spirituality from the point of view of the faithful, often as a memoir: what is it like to be this relisious or spiritual person in a particular time and social context? (e.g. Threading My Prayer Rug: One Woman’s Journey from Pakistani Muslim to American Muslim.) Books might present difficulties or misgivings about aspects of a religion from the individual’s perspective, but should not be blanket criticisms of the whole faith.
- BOOKS ON PEOPLE OF FAITH WORKING TOGETHER: Books that are oriented towards the attitudes and interactions of religious persons or organizations working together in collaborative effort — for interfaith understanding, community building, and/or for social action.
- BOOKS ON SOCIAL JUSTICE (IN A FAITH CONTEXT): Books that deal with issues of working for social justice from a faith, or spiritual, perspective, either comprehensively (ways to collaboratively effect change) or relative to specific issues (hunger, homelessness, justice, etc.)
- BOOKS FOR YOUNG READERS in any of the above categories, grouped as child+ (ages 3 and up), middle+ (ages 9 and up), of young adult+ (ages 13 and up).
If you have any misgivings about, or objections to, any of the books listed on our site, please let us know what concerns you via monadnockinterfaith@gmail.com. We’d like to talk to you about it.