Strangers, Neighbors, Friends: Muslim-Christian-Jewish Reflections on Compassion and Peace

From 9/11 to Israel-Palestine to ISIS, the fear of the religious stranger is palpable. Conservative talk show hosts and liberal public intellectuals are united in blaming religion, usually Islam, for the world’s instability. If religion is part of the problem, it can and should be part of the solution. Strangers, Neighbors, Friends—co-authored by a Muslim, a Christian, and a Jew—aims to inform and inspire Abraham’s children that God calls us to extend our love beyond family and fellow believer to the stranger.

Kelly James Clark is Senior Research Fellow at Grand Valley State University's Kaufman Interfaith Institute. He is editor of Abraham's Children: Liberty and Tolerance in an Age of Religious Conflict (2012), and author of Religion and the Sciences of Origins (2014), Return to Reason (1990), The Story of Ethics (2003), When Faith Is Not Enough (1997), and 101 Key Philosophical Terms and Their Importance for Theology (2004). Aziz Abu Sarah is an entrepreneur, speaker, peace builder, and author. He is the recipient of the Goldberg Prize for Peace in the Middle East, the Eliav-Sartawi Award, and was named one of the 500 most influential muslims in the world by the Royal Islamic Strategic Studies Centre. Rabbi Nancy Fuchs Kreimer is Associate Professor of Religious Studies and the founding Director of the Department of Multifaith Studies and Initiatives at the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College where she was ordained in 1982. She co-edited Chapters of the Heart: Jewish Women Sharing the Torah of Our Lives (Wipf and Stock, 2013).

Aziz Abu Sarah is an entrepreneur, speaker, peace builder, and author. He is the recipient of the Goldberg Prize for Peace in the Middle East, the Eliav-Sartawi Award, and was named one of the 500 most influential muslims in the world by the Royal Islamic Strategic Studies Centre.

Rabbi Nancy Fuchs Kreimer is Associate Professor of Religious Studies and the founding Director of the Department of Multifaith Studies and Initiatives at the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College where she was ordained in 1982. She co-edited Chapters of the Heart: Jewish Women Sharing the Torah of Our Lives (Wipf and Stock, 2013).