ABSTRACT
Religious leaders often guide their followers to turn their attention away from competing religious doctrines. Yet the philosopher Charles Taylor, in A Secular Age, writes that for believing people or those involved in religious communities, “faith that confronts alternatives (alternative faiths, including unbelief) can be deeper and stronger.” Religious leaders and scholars committed to the value of interfaith engagement are exploring the implications of a two-year series of interfaith conversations and study between two faith communities that was based on engagement with Hebrew Scripture and the New Testament. The chapter explores the ways each community became cognizant of their rootedness in their own faith tradition, while engaging with religious ‘others’ to explore the insights that ultimately deepen ties across communal lines in the complex, urban world of Brooklyn, New York. The authors argue for the importance of listening to and hearing many voices, in contrast to the single viewpoint of the ‘public’ expert or faith leader.
