Words to Live by: Sacred Sources for Interreligious Engagement

"Words to Live By is a precious gift....These testimonies invite us to go deeper into traditions we know well, and also to visit other traditions perhaps for the first time, and find nourishment there, too." --Francis X. Clooney, SJ

In Words to Live By religious scholars representing many faith traditions present a sacred text they have found transformative in their work as interreligious bridge-builders. Accompanying each text are reflections about its context, its message, and how it inspires or informs their own work in the field. Despite their diverse perspectives, the contributors all believe that such textual study plays an essential part in constructing a "new interreligious ethos."

Among the sources selected are the Torah, the Gospels, the Rg Veda, the Qur'an, the Heart Sutra, the Talmud, as well as texts by Rabbi Abraham Heschel, Swami Vivikenanda, Archbishop Romero, and the Vatican document Nostra Aetate.

Or N. Rose is the founding director of the Miller Center for Interreligious Learning & Leadership at Hebrew College in Newton Center, MA. He is a co-editor of My Neighbor's Faith: Stories of Interreligious Encounter, Growth, and Transformation (Orbis 2012).

Homayra Ziad is scholar of Islam at the Institute for Islamic, Christian, and Jewish Studies in Baltimore.

Soren M. Hessler is associate director of the Miller Center for Interreligious Learning & Leadership at Hebrew College.