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.
How local communities can work to solve national political divisions
Recommended by Tom Julius
This month we are featuring The Upswing: How America Came Together a Century Ago and How We can Do it Again, by Robert Putnam with Shaylyn Romney Garrett (2020, Simon and Schuster).
Americans today seem to agree on only one thing: this is the worst of times. We are experiencing historic levels of political polarization, economic inequality, social fragmentation, and cultural narcissism. And by nearly every measure, each of these conditions has been getting steadily worse for more than half a century.
The Upswing offers a broad statistical and historical analysis of these seemingly disparate phenomena and exposes the deeper cultural tendencies that underlie our current cultural crisis. By presenting a new, evidence-based story spanning the past 125 years of our nation’s history The Upswing bridges many lines of fracture and offers a hopeful vision for a future that “we” can all work toward together.
Co-author Shaylyn Romney Garrett lives in the Monadnock region and is a regular participant in MIP, representing the Keene congregation of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. This PBS program with Judy Woodruff features members of our local community responding to the central challenge of this book one person — one human interaction — at a time. It also features commentary by Shaylyn about how grass-roots work in local communities may be the answer to national political divisions.
Holiday Feature Items
Recommended by: Ann Carlson
As we move into the holiday season, don’t forget that MIP’s Interfaith Bookshelf has a section of books for young readers, any of which would make great holiday gifts.
Our two newest additions to this section are both books by Jewish authors. I recommend them not just for those who observe Hanukkah; but also for those who celebrate Christmas, Bodhi Day, the winter solstice, Kwanzaa or any of the other myriad gift giving opportunities that come at this time of year, these books would be a great way to expose your children to another faith’s culture and symbols.
Nina Nechama’s book, What if Famous Artists Lit the Hanukkah Candles? invites children and families to imagine how painters like Van Gogh, Basquiat, and O’Keeffe might have approached the ritual of lighting Hanukkah candles—through color, rhythm, and emotion.
The idea of artists—from any faith or background—“lighting” candles metaphorically or literally taps into universal themes: creativity overcoming darkness, the human impulse to shine, and collective renewal.
A short timeline of the artists and their background is included in an appendix, should you wish to teach your child a little about art history while enjoying the sure-to-please illustrations.
Elijah’s Tears: Stories for the Jewish Holidays, by Sydelle Pearl, is a charming collection of five original stories where, in the tradition of Jewish folklore.
The prophet Elijah appears to good and faithful children and leaves miracles in his wake.
Each of these simple, relatable and compelling stories clearly shines with the beauty of faith and the blessings of caring for others. This little book stole my heart. My only complaint… it has only five stories. Like a little child at bedtime, I wanted to beg for “just one more!” Stories like this need to be told over and over, to people of all ages.
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.