Daughters of Abraham: Women's Interfaith Book Group

Mission
We are Christian, Jewish and Muslim women who have been meeting monthly since 2002 to explore our religious faiths through books. The mission of the Daughters of Abraham is to overcome stereotypes and to foster mutual respect and understanding among Muslim, Jewish and Christian women. Through the discussion, insights and relationships that grow out of regular book group meetings, we hope to: learn about the commonalities and differences found in Islam, Judaism and Christianity; develop an interfaith community of women who can speak intelligently about the Abrahamic faiths.


	"Getting to know them, hearing about their faith and the practice of their faith has been so strengthening of my own faith."
	Mary Martha Thiel

History
The idea for the Daughters of Abraham was born in response to 9/11. We gathered interested women to form a planning group, making sure that the group included Christians, Muslims and Jews.

We met for several months as a planning group, talking about our purpose. We decided that we wanted to learn more about the faith, belief and practice of the Abrahamic faiths. We wanted to understand one another better, learn from each other and deepen our respect for one another. For this reason, we decided to choose readings (books, memoirs, poetry, articles) that spoke about faith and religious practice in our three religions. We decided to avoid readings that were exclusively or mostly related to politics, sociology or current events, although from time to time we varied this rule.

We planned the structure of our meetings. We decided to meet monthly from September through June. We also chose to read alternately in our traditions: one month a Jewish book, the next month a Christian one, the next month a Muslim one. On occasion, we have chosen to read books that treat all three faiths- see e.g. Abraham, by Feiler, The Rock, by Maliya from our book list.

At our first meeting in September, 2002, we read the chapters on Judaism, Christianity and Islam in Huston Smith’s book The World’s Religions. We asked that each woman come to the first meeting prepared to talk about the following questions: How did you respond to the author’s treatment of your religion? Is there anything you would add, nuance or delete in Smith’s treatment of your faith? In regard to the other two faiths, what did you learn, what surprised you and what questions and comments do you have?

At the first meeting, each woman introduced herself, identified the faith tradition she was part of (and where she worshiped, if she wished), and why she wanted to be part of this Daughters of Abraham group. We then discussed the book. After our discussion we chose the book for the next month. Eventually, we began to choose what to read for several months in advance.