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.
See No Stranger
See No Stranger is one of my very favorite books and this month, I wish that the whole world could hear and respond to its message.
The world is so desperately in need, so many fractures, so much brokenness, so many hurting in all possible ways. Valerie Kaur gives us hope and offers us a way to begin repairing our fractures and healing together.
Rather than seeing strangers, this book asks us to see every person we meet with the attitude that “you are a part of me I do not yet know.” Ms. Kaur believes that this practice can transform relationships, communities, and even the whole world. Herself an activist working with individuals and communities recovering from racial and religious hatred, sexual assault, and police violence, she gives practical insight into the ways we can create new possibilities in the world. her method of teaching through storytelling is particularly accessible and non-threatening.
I particularly enjoyed that this book is written from the point of view of a devout Sikh, a religion I didn’t know much about. It was fascinating learning about her upbringing and the grounding in her religion that contributed to her perspectives about changing the world. She and I are, in many ways, so different, but we also have so much in common. –Ann Carlson
What is God Like?
This month’s featured book is by Rachel Held Evans and Matthew Paul Turner, with Illustrations by Ying Hui Tan.
God is like a shepherd. God is like the stars. God is like a gardener. God is like the wind. And so much more…
The late, beloved Rachel Held Evans answers a child’s first questions about God in this gorgeous picture book, fully realized by her dear friend Matthew Paul Turner and illustrated by Ying Hui Tan.
This is a great read-aloud book and I get goose bumps whenever I read it. The text speaks straight to the heart of young and old, imparting a message of wisdom, comfort, and strength. The illustrations themselves inspire reflection and conversation. – Tom Julius
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.