CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION
The Kaleidoscope ix
CHAPTER ONE
Claiming My Interfaith Identity 1
CHAPTER TWO
A Grassroots Social Movement 20
CHAPTER THREE
The Case for Choosing Both: Benefits of Dual-Faith Life 40
CHAPTER FOUR
Facing the Objections: “But You Can’t Be Both!” 54
CHAPTER FIVE
Meet the Parents: “Both of Our Religions, Both of Our Histories”
84
CHAPTER SIX
Radically Inclusive Clergy 107
CHAPTER SEVEN
Baptism, Bris, and Baby-Welcoming 126
CHAPTER EIGHT
Coming of Age 138
CHAPTER NINE
Dual-Faith Education 156
CHAPTER TEN
Interfaith Children Grow Up: What Do They Believe? Where Do They
Go? 178
CHAPTER ELEVEN
Muslims, Hindus, Buddhists: The Next Interfaith Wave 204
CONCLUSION
Ambassadors for Peace 222
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS 227
SELECTED AND ANNOTATED RESOURCES 229
INDEX 235
Susan Katz Miller is a former reporter for Newsweek and New Scientist. She lives with her interfaith family outside Washington, DC.
“An insightful examination of one way that religious beliefs are
shaping American families.” —Kirkus Reviews
“Positive, hopeful…. Miller’s enthusiasm and exhilaration at the
prospect of a new generation of interfaith Americans ‘healing
the world’ is cause for celebration. Recommended to faith
practitioners of all stripes.” —Library Journal
“A gorgeous and inspiring testament to the power of love to not
only transcend the divides of faith and tradition, but to bring
faiths together and create wholly new traditions.” —Reza Aslan,
author of No god but God and Zealot: The Life and Times of Jesus of
Nazareth
"Hallejullah! This is the book interfaith families like mine
have been waiting for! Susan Katz Miller serves as a wise,
well-informed, progressive, steady, and plainspoken guide to the
challenges and benefits--yes! benefits!--of raising children
with two faith traditions. Reading this book I dropped tears
on the pages because I felt for the first time my family was
affirmed and understood and, most importantly, not alone.
This is a singular contribution to the conversation on the
future of religion in America. Every interfaith family and
every religious leader who works with interfaith families should
read Being Both." —Joanna Brooks, author of The Book of Mormon
Girl
“Religion is never static, and always reflects the needs and mores
of those who adopt and adapt it. In Being Both, Susan Katz Miller
brings us into the emergent world of interfaith families, families
who seek to blend traditions that others find mutually exclusive.
Whatever your thoughts on religion and interfaith marriage, this
book will help you think more clearly. And if you are in an
interfaith marriage yourself, it may help you live more
courageously.” —Rabbi Rami Shapiro, author of The Sacred Art
of Lovingkindness
“Interfaith families are transforming the face of religion today.
People are marrying others from different religions—and they are
celebrating the two traditions! For anyone who cares about families
or about religion—or both—Susan Katz Miller’s Being Both is a must
read.” —Sheila C. Gordon, PhD, President, Interfaith
Community
“A moving, personal story that opens new dimensions of life in
general and religious life in particular that rise out of an
interfaith family. Susan Katz Miller writes with the passion
of experience and with the integrity of being authentic. Its
insights moved me deeply.” —John Shelby Spong, author of The
Fourth Gospel: Tales of a Jewish Mystic
“Engaging, comprehensive, nourishing: Being Both will
serve as both guidebook and inspiration for a new generation of
interfaith families.” —Mary Heléne Rosenbaum,
co-author, Celebrating Our Differences: Living Two Faiths in
One Marriage
“Beginning with the story of her family of origin, Miller surveys
the burgeoning phenomenon of families who observe two religious
faiths. Her Jewish father married an Episcopalian who, though
agreeing to raise the children as Jews, still informally baptized
little Susan in the kitchen sink (her mother and sister each did
the same, though it was years before they dared tell even one
another). So began a multigenerational interfaith reality, which
Susan continued as another Jew married to a Christian, this time in
a ceremony that honored both religions. Four years later, the
couple joined the Interfaith Families Project (IFFP) of Washington,
D.C., whose mission is to raise member families' children as Jewish
and Christian. From the members, clergy, and teachers of IFFP and
similar organizations elsewhere, Miller gathered the stories of how
these families successfully raised children who are happily
interfaith and intend to raise interfaith children themselves.
Miller concludes this fine resource with a look at the next wave
of, this time, Christian-Muslim and Christian-Hindu interfaith
families.” —Booklist
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