The Faith Club: A Muslim, A Christian, A Jew-- Three Women Search for Understanding

The Faith Club

A Muslim, A Christian, A Jew-- Three Women Search for Understanding

By Ranya Idliby; Suzanne Oliver; Priscilla Warner
(Free Press, Paperback, 9780743290487, 416pp.)

Publication Date: June 5, 2007

Other Editions of This Title: Google eBook, Hardcover, Paperback

Categories: Comparative Religion, Faith, Spirituality - Women's

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.

When an American Muslim woman befriends two other mothers, one Jewish and one Christian, they decide to educate their children about their respective religions. None of them guessed their regular meetings would provide life-changing answers and form bonds that would forever alter their struggles with prejudice, fear, and anger. Personal, powerful, and compelling, The Faith Club forces readers to face the tough questions about their own religions.

Pioneering, timely, deeply thoughtful, and full of hope, The Faith Club’s caring message will resonate with people of all faiths.

About the Author

Priscilla Warner grew up in Providence, Rhode Island, graduated from the University of Pennsylvania, and spent many years in Boston and New York as an advertising art director, shooting ads for everything from English muffins to diamond earrings. Priscilla co-authored The New York Times bestselling memoir The Faith Club, then toured the country for three years, hyperventilating her way through an extended book tour. Finally, in the skies over Oklahoma, she vowed to find her inner monk, and began meditating her way from panic to peace.

Conversation Starters from ReadingGroupChoices.com

1. How did the book's format (a three-way memoir written in first person) contribute to the overall feel of the book? At what points did the women write different versions of the same event? (One specific example can be found when Ranya confronts Priscilla about the Israel/Palestinian conflict.) How does each woman's individual prejudices and religion color her interpretations of the discussions?

2. How does each woman's role as a mother influence the direction and tone of the Faith Club? Would the club have been different if it had included mothers as well as women with no children? How did the children play a role in the challenges to each woman's faith?

3. To which woman did you most relate, and why? Was it the one you expected when you began the book? If you identified with one of the women because you share her religious beliefs, did you agree with her presentation of your faith? What did you disagree with, and why?

4. Much of the first half of the book deals with Suzanne's and Priscilla's struggles to define anti-Semitism and to confront their prejudices about the other's faith. Did you feel that Ranya was unfairly relegated to the role of "mediator", or did she welcome it? "For months, I had to bide my time patiently." Why do you think Ranya waited to bring up her own struggles with Suzanne's and Priscilla's faiths?

5. Ranya says, "The more that science unravels about the wonders of life and the universe, the more I am in awe of it." Do you think this combination of science and faith is realistic, or must one ultimately take precedence over the other?

6. Suzanne's first sentence speaks of the "cozy, homogeneous community" at her Episcopal church. What is Priscilla's "comfort zone"? What is Ranya's? How does each woman step out of her individual, cozy and homogeneous comfort zone, and in what ways does each remain there?

7. Priscilla wonders if worrying is "a form of gratefulness." What do you think she means by this? Does Priscilla's worry ultimately strengthen her faith? How does each woman show gratitude in her life and in her faith?

8. Craig Townsend tells Suzanne, "The opposite of faith is not doubt, it's certainty." What does he mean by this? Is doubt necessary for true faith?

9. In Chapter 12, "Intimations of Mortality," the women discuss their differing views about death and the afterlife. Which understanding of death was most comforting to you? Which image of the afterlife was most comforting? Are they from the same religion?

10. When Priscilla confronts Suzanne about her confession that she was uncomfortable being mistaken for a Jew, Ranya says, "She wouldn't want to be a Muslim, either." Do you agree? Why or why not? Is Suzanne's discomfort an inevitable result of being a member of the majority, of "not [being] forced to accommodate [herself] to the culture, religion, or even friendship of minorities"?

11. Ranya provides a vivid description of her own method of prayer: "My prayer is essentially a form of meditation in which I singularly apply my limited human physical capacity to try to connect with that omnipresent universal unknown force: God." (Suzanne's description of her prayer is on page 162; Priscilla's is on page 175.) How is each woman's method of prayer different? How is it similar? How do Suzanne's, Ranya's, and Priscilla's prayer styles reflect the differences and similarities in their childhoods?

Praise For The Faith Club…

"Millions of Americans crave a way to have interfaith conversation but have no idea where to begin. This book is a great place to start. The Faith Club is unfailingly honest, always engaging, and even suspenseful. The authors have set a path that many more will want to follow. I raced to the end to see how it all turned out. Hurrah!" -- Bruce Feiler, author of Walking the Bible and Where God Was Born

"I loved The Faith Club because it provides hope for mothers of all backgrounds that it is indeed possible to create dialogue among us in a post-9/11 world. The book is a brilliant blueprint for creating peace among diverse people everywhere. And if there's one thing about The Faith Club I have faith in, it's that it will catch fire among women's groups and book clubs across America." -- Donna Dees-Thomases, author of Looking for a Few Good Moms and founder of the Million Mom March

"Violent conflict, painful contradiction, and heated controversy make up the headlines on religion today. But a deeper story is unfolding as well: Three contemporary women -- Jew, Christian, and Muslim -- search together across the divides of prejudice and fear. Their honesty becomes a path to connection; their courage leads into the ranges of the heart opened by their own religions. Working together, they each arrive where alone they could not go. Read this important book." -- Dr. William F. Vendley, Secretary General, World Conference of Religions for Peace

"This book is the real thing: three tough, strong women take on each other's religious differences. Achieving a true sisterhood in faith that crosses the religious traditions, these sassy moms will knock you out." -- Asma Gull Hasan, author of Why I Am a Muslim and American Muslims: The New Generation

"Three mothers' engaging account of their interfaith dialogue. . . . The three charming narrators transform potentially dry theological discourses into personal, intimate heart-to-hearts. . . . An invitation to discussion that's hard to turn down -- and a natural for book groups." -- Kirkus

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