Common Prayers: Faith, Family, and a Christian's Journey Through the Jewish Year - Softcover

Cox, Harvey

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0618257330 ISBN 13: 9780618257331

Publisher: HarperOne, 2002

Synopsis

Harvey Cox, the eminent Christian theologian and scholar of religion, offers an intimate tour through the Jewish year certain to inform and enlighten Jews and non-Jews alike. As a member of an interfaith household, Cox has had ample opportunity to reflect upon the essence of Judaism and its complex relationship to Christianity. Organized around the Jewish calendar from Rosh Hashanah to Yom ha-Atzmaķut, Common Prayers illuminates the meanings of Jewish holidays as well as traditions surrounding milestone events such as death and marriage. Describing in elegant, accessible language the holidays" personal, historical, and spiritual significance and the lessons they offer us, Cox "is instructive and enlightening, revealing the depth and passion of his religious thought and practice" (Boston Herald). As seen through his eyes, the Jewish holidays offer a wellspring of discovery and reflection for every reader.

About this title

Review:

When the Christian theologian Harvey Cox married Nina Tumarkin, a Jewish woman, he plunged into a "crash course in interfaith relations." Cox's Common Prayers reminds readers that there was a literal space in Jerusalem's ancient Temple called the Court of the Gentiles, where Jews welcomed all "strangers and sojourners" to worship alongside them. In an age of interfaith marriage, Cox asserts that the Court of the Gentiles has considerable symbolic resonance. It is, figuratively, a space where thousands of husbands and wives of Jewish women and men find themselves every day. Cox's memoir of family life follows the Jewish calendar, describing Yom Kippur, Rosh Hashanah, Hanukah, and Christmas, as well as events such as death and marriage. Travelers often find wisdom in foreign experiences, and Cox is no exception. His Christian experience of Jewish life has not diluted his faith but made it broader and more nuanced. With candor, wit, and insight, Cox brings readers into the Court of the Gentiles. --Michael Joseph Gross

About the Author:

HARVEY COX is the author of the groundbreaking The Secular City and many other books, including The Seduction of the Spirit, which was nominated for the National Book Award. A professor of theology at Harvard Divinity School, he lives in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

About this edition

• Publisher: HarperOne
• Publication date: 2002
• ISBN 10: 0618257330
• ISBN 13: 9780618257331
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 320