There's a recent book out by Benyamin Cohen called My Jesus Year: A Rabbi’s Son Wanders the Bible Belt in Search of His Own Faith which details his journey into another faith. Cohen, who is Jewish, took one year and went church-hopping throughout the Bible Belt to learn more about Christianity and perhaps to see how Christianity might influence him as a Jew.He states, "I want Jesus to make me a better Jew." Interestingly, when he attended these many churches in the South, he went wearing a yarmulke and without any hint of hiding the fact that he was Jewish. Surprisingly, he wasn't driven away with pitchforks or anything. There were certainly interesting conversations that surely involved stereotypes, confusion, and misunderstanding, but this is all part and parcel of interfaith encounter. He ultimately comes to an understanding that people of faith come in all shapes and sizes and that we have much to learn from one another through dialogue and mutual participation in each other's practices.
I think this is a decent model for anyone interested in learning more about another's faith and transforming one's own. It's always good to start with reading about other beliefs, cultures, practices, etc. but we can't stay there. To really delve deep into another faith we must practice with the other, worship with the other, pray and meditate with the other, otherwise we're only scratching the surface of the wisdom and truth that could be disclosed in that encounter.
Read a book review by Benjamin Weiner, "A Jew in Church? No Big Deal."
Image from Religion Dispatches.
