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The Faith Club: A Muslim, A Christian, A Jew-- Three Women Search for Understanding | 
 enlarge | Authors: Ranya Idliby, Suzanne Oliver, Priscilla Warner
Publisher: Free Press
Category: Book
List Price: $15.00
Buy New: $10.20
You Save: $4.80 (32%)
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Avg. Customer Rating:  77 reviews
Sales Rank: 3480
Media: Paperback
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 416
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.8
Dimensions (in): 8.3 x 5.5 x 1.1
ISBN: 0743290488
Dewey Decimal Number: 201.5
EAN: 9780743290487
ASIN: 0743290488
Publication Date: June 5, 2007
Shipping: Eligible for Super Saver Shipping
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Product Description
A groundbreaking book about Americans searching for faith and mutual respect, The Faith Club weaves the story of three women, their three religions, and their urgent quest to understand one another. After September 11, Ranya Idliby, an American Muslim of Palestinian descent,faced constant questions about Islam, God, and death from her children, the only Muslims in their classrooms. Inspired by a story about Muhammad, Ranya reached out to two other mothers to write an interfaith children's book that would highlight the connections between Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. After just a few meetings, however, the women realized that they themselves needed an honest and open environment where they could admit -- and discuss -- their concerns, stereotypes, and misunderstandings. After hours of soul-searching about the issues that divided them, Ranya, Suzanne, and Priscilla grew close enough to discover and explore what united them. A memoir of spiritual reflections in three voices, The Faith Club has spawned interfaith discussion groups in churches, temples, mosques, and other community settings. It will make you feel as if you are eavesdropping on the authors' private thoughts, provocative discussions, and often-controversial opinions and conclusions. As the authors reveal their deepest beliefs, you watch the blossoming of a profound interfaith friendship and the birth of a new way of relating to others. And this new edition provides all the materials you need for forming your own Faith Club, including sections in Hebrew and Arabic. Pioneering, timely, deeply thoughtful, and full of hope, The Faith Club's caring message will resonate with people of all faiths.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 72 more reviews...
 warm, welcoming and thought-provoking discussion December 30, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
This was such a thought provoking book! A small group of moms laying it out there for each other, discussing their respective religions and all of the similarities and unseen prejudices (and political/historical issues) that go with it. I'm still too busy processing the book to be coherent about it, but suffice to say it is a must read for anyone interested in a depth-plumbing discussion of the relationship among the Abrahamic faiths and their impact on life (and parenting) in modern America. When I put this book down I wished I had a faith club, too. I look forward to reading some of their suggestions for further research.
Rodda Award Nomination December 29, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
THE FAITH CLUB by Ranya Idliby, Suzanne Oliver & Priscilla Warner been nominated for the 2009 Rodda Award sponsored by the Church and Synagogue Library Association (CSLA), an international organization serving congregational libraries of all faiths. CSLA's Rodda Award is named for Dorothy Rodda Sargent, a lifetime member and one of the founders of the organization. This award recognizes a book which exhibits excellence in writing and has contributed significantly to congregational libraries through promotion of spiritual growth. The award is given to books for adults, young adults, and children on a three-year-rotational basis. The 2009 Rodda Award focuses on books for adult readers and this year's winner will be announced at the CSLA annual conference to be held at the McKinley Grand Hotel in Canton, Ohio, July 26-28. To learn more about CSLA and the Rodda Award go to www.cslainfo.org.
Highly recommended! November 27, 2008
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
These women come together after 9/11, initially to write a book for children that would teach understanding and respect for their respective religions. Movingly, it is entirely in their voices, drawn from their weekly conversations, their journals and their reflections. They grow in sensitivity, caring and honesty with each other, and I felt as though I made their journey with them.
 A Book Full of Misconceptions & Falsehoods November 24, 2008
1 out of 3 found this review helpful
This book was written by three well intended women of different faiths; however, each of the women was not only ignorant of the other's religions but of their own, too. They write mostly about their own feelings and perspectives. Unfortunately, their perspectives are very limited. All three are totally uneducated in the field of religion. They modify their viewpoints and religion to fit the needs of this book. I bought the book because of the rave reviews and I am shocked that so many people fell for this nonsense. You will learn nothing factual about any of the religions in this book. It is only pure dribble.
Down-to-Earth, yet Profound October 6, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
As someone who considers myself Omni-religious (altho I do belong to one specific church, I can be found at many many others), I think this is an exceptional book about three women -- good friends, who take a long hard look at one another's faith systems, personal religious beliefs and the realities of their life experiences as these experiences relate to or are affected by... religion.....
As the three women authors themselves realized -- this book was not what they had started out to create in the first place. But they certainly achieved and recieved much more in the bargain, by staying together and discussing their belief systems, their concerns and their joys -- and in the process, enlightening and inspiring one another (and the reader).
The book is revealing, profound, and as the discussions continued, the kid gloves come off and feelings. emotions, epiphanies, disagreements, anger, confusion -- all come to the surface.
As a child who was raised as a (First Generation Italian) Roman Catholic, as a toddler I always thought that only Italians could be ROMAN Catholics and all the "other Catholics" were "just plain Catholics" (LOL). As a 13 yr old, who was raised in a Jewish-Italian neighborhood of the Bronx,(back in the Pre-Ecumenical days), I caused my mother to hit the ceiling one day when I went up to her and said "I want to remain Catholic but I also want to become Jewish and I want to be Mitzvahed".
I could never understand why people I repected would favor their religion and say that everyone else was going to hell. So I was VERY happy when the First Ecumenical Council was convened. And many churches now, so it seems, have carried this ecumenism forward and have never looked back. "The Faith Club" is another continuing facet of Ecumenism - an ongoing person-to-person, one friend to another, hearts and souls bared, no holds barred, frank, sometimes very emotional, heart wrenching discussion.
As I read the book, I could identify very much with Suzanne's feelings towards her Catholic religion -- once I realized how little I identified with it (altho I am forever grateful for the beautiful rituals and the ambience of my Bronx neighborhood church, St Lucy's) I too became baptised and confirmed as an Episcopalian (one week before my birthday-- a great gift!!!), and I never looked back.
AS a child of a non-practicing Moslem father, I find great insight and comfort in Ranya's love and knowledge of her religion -- none of which was demonstrated by my Dad. But I owe my Dad a great deal -- because of HIS brand of secular ecumenism, I am able to converse (to a limited extent) with my Middle East neighbors in their language and understand some of their customs, and this too is a way to open the doors of communication -- with a smile.
I also thought Ranya, whose family had lost so much, had the coolest head, the sharpest mind, and was the most "worldly-wise" of the three; I had the utmost respect for her knowledge base.
Because of the many tensions and problems inherent in all of our daily lives today, I feel we need to reach out more to try to understand one another, to opening up constructive dialogue -- and there should be MORE discussion groups like the one that Priscilla, Ranya, and Suzanne have now made so famous.
This book made me wonder -- "How would I have fared in the middle of such discussions?" Would I have been turned off by Priscilla's temper? Would I have been upset by Suzanne's embarassment of being seen in a Temple? (I whave always loved being part of a Temple service). If I had been subjected to Ranya's coming-out-of-nowhere withering attack on my principles, would I have shrunken into the sofa cushion?
These three women bared their very souls and dared one another to reach into their hearts and souls and lay it all on the table, despite temper tantrums, or personal travail, and I think we are all the better for having read this book.
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