Practical Interfaith
How to Find Our Common Humanity as We Celebrate Diversity
With a world in spiritual turmoil, Interfaith, as a faith, can bring us together.
That was the message of Rev. Steven Greenebaum’s first book, The Interfaith Alternative.
But many have asked: How? How is this possible?
Practical Interfaith guides us with clear, understandable, and very practical steps. Why do we need Interfaith? From the Preface of Practical Interfaith:
“One of most ancient and destructive divisions has to do with our spiritual paths. The truth of it is, we have been hating and slaughtering each other over differences about God (or no God) for millennia.”
One response to these destructive divisions has been the interfaith movement. More and more of us are exploring it. Yet at the same time interfaith finds itself at a crossroads. Where do we go from here?
Practical Interfaith explores an answer to that difficult question—a way to move past preaching about love and compassion to actually practicing them. And people are listening.
Readers are saying...
Rev. Steven Greenebaum’s Practical Interfaith is new and potentially revolutionary. While most of us talk about inter-faith as a dialogue among faiths, he talks of inter-faith as a faith in and of itself. This is a faith without an “us” or “them.” This is a faith without “my truth” and “your heresy.” This is a faith as inclusive and as rich as life itself. Practical Interfaith invites you into this world without enemies. I ask you to read it. I challenge you to live it.
At a time when the evening news is full of stories of humanity struggling with conflict, polarity and divisiveness, Steven Greenebaum offers some practical solutions for coming together around one of the most enduring sources of that conflict – religion. His vision for creating interfaith community first examines big patterns of language, history, context and culture. Then he offers practical tips, personal experiences and the voices of real people as a guide to bringing this noble experiment to communities everywhere. Steven’s humanity, humor and honesty make Practical Interfaith both grounded and inspiring.
Whether the reader is interested in starting an Interfaith church or simply in contributing to a community where true interfaith dialogue can take place, Greenebaum provides a guide for bringing people together across boundaries. The “common sense” nature of his advice belies the deep insights he has to this age-old problem. As a Baptist pastor, I am deeply indebted to Steven Greenebaum for his profound understanding of our diverse faith paths and the potential of relationship between them.
This book is a wise and compelling guide to living the truth that Interfaith is not about conversion but about completion- becoming a more fully developed human being. Highly recommended!
Practical Interfaith is an inspiring must-read both for students of interfaith and those who might want to explore interfaith. Not only does Greenebaum give us some valuable interfaith basics, he also provides us with a generous sharing of tools and resources for building interfaith community.
Right under our noses, we are seeing the emergence of a new religious consciousness--as important as any major world religion. Practical Interfaith is an education for those who practice one faith tradition and an affirmation for those who are, often intuitively, growing into and claiming a spiritual identity that is specifically "interfaith." Steven Greenebaum has done a laudable job of piloting between the Scylla of syncretistic anarchy and the Charybdis of a new "interfaith" dogma. Both are temptations to be avoided in this pioneering work, and Greenebaum outlines an approach that is sensible, balanced, and yes, practical.
