"I certainly never write a review about a book I don't think worth reviewing, a flat-out bad book, unless it's an enormously fashionable bad book." --
says, John Gardner in Conversations with John Gardner
Quoted from 'Dictionary of Library and Information Science Quotations'     Edited by Mohamed Taher & L S Ramaiah. ISBN: 8185689423 (New Delhi , Aditya, 1994) p.150. Available @ Amazon.com

Saturday, July 14, 2007

Interfaith Minister's Manual


About the bookThis book is a labor of love. When I was ordained as an interfaith minister, I looked for a minister's manual which would have ceremonies and prayers appropriate for people who had been raised with a particular religious background but who now did not want to be affiliated with any religious organization. Initially the only purpose for doing this was for my own ministry but there is an obvious need for a single manual in which the major religions (Christian, Jewish, Hindu, Buddhist, Yogi, and Native Medicine people) are represented. This book is my effort and has been very well received. It is now in its fourth edition [source: Yahoo! shopping see also: Angela Plum's home page]
What do others say:
Other Christian traditions are ignored. The complete lack of anything from the Anglican/Episcopal Book of Common Prayer, for example, seems a glaring omission.

Non-Christian traditions comprise perhaps 10-15% of the book. There are brief descriptions of some Jewish, Buddhist, and Islamic holy days, two paragraphs from an Aztec baptism, the traditional Jewish prayers for the dead, a description of Kwanzaa, and two Native American prayers. That's about it, except for some very brief references in the definitions section.

If you're looking for a fusion of New Age and Catholic Christianity, this might be the book for you. Otherwise, look elsewhere. I was truly disappointed that this book did not live up to its "Interfaith" title or the positive reviews given by others. source: Andrew Shults (Chicago, IL USA)

  • Much more on Interfaith Dialog
  • A section of my book for an article on interfaith dialogue:
    So much of visual literary genre, so little time to categorize it
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