Hearing the Call Across Traditions

by Davis, Adam

• ISBN13: 9781594732645
• ISBN10: 1594732647
• Edition: 1st
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2009-06-30
• Publisher: Skylight Paths Pub

Summary

This unique collection of prose, verse, and sacred texts from different religious perspectives explores faith, service and social justice through the lens of literature. Drawing from diverse literary genres, religious and philosophical perspectives, and historical periods, these short and provocative readings are organized thematically to provoke reflection on these three questions: Why do I serve? Whom do I serve? How do I serve? Contributions come from across the world¿s faith traditions¿Christianity, Buddhism, Confucianism, Hinduism, Islam, Judaism, Taoism, and more. Contributors¿young and old, contemporary and ancient, male and female¿include such spiritual and literary luminaries as: Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., Rabindranath Tagore, Flannery O¿Connor, Rabbi Harold M. Schulweis, Dorothy Day, Chuang Tzu, Rumi, Thich Nhat Hanh, Mary Oliver, George Orwell, and more. Includes discussion questions, guides to readings by genre and tradition, and resources on how to form interfaith groups and engage them in service.

Table of Contents

Preface: The Heavens Of Faith, The Harlem Of Life	p. ix
Editors' Introduction	p. 1
Why Do I Serve?	p. 9
The Drum Major Instinct	p. 13
Why the Buddha Had Good Digestion, from Avad&abar;naśataka	p. 25
In Praise of Generosity, from the Rig Veda	p. 30
Solidarity, Reciprocity, and Sanctity, three selections from Who Is Man?	p. 32
A Handful of Dates, in The Wedding of Zein and Other Stories	p. 37
The Subjective Necessity of Social Settlements, in Twenty Years at Hull-House	p. 42
Action and Non-Action	p. 51
Isaiah 58:2-12	p. 53
Three Poems	p. 55
Luke 10:25-37	p. 57
Miserliness, from Purification of the Heart	p. 59
The River, in A Good Man Is Hard to Find and Other Stories	p. 65
Compassion, from The Essential Dalai Lama: His Important Teachings	p. 83
The Joy of Giving Joy, from On the Genealogy of Morality	p. 92
Selfless Service, from the	p. 95
Surahs 93 and 107, from the Qur'an	p. 100
Church, in The Things They Carried	p. 102
Section 50, from Gitanjali: Song Offerings	p. 106
Between	p. 107
The Base of All Metaphysics, in Leaves of Grass	p. 109
Whom Do I Serve?	p. 111
A Good Traveler Has No Fixed Plans, in the	p. 115
The Faces of Poverty, in Loaves and Fishes	p. 117
The Difference Between	p. 121
The Man to Send Rain Clouds	p. 126
If Not Higher	p. 131
The Same Inside, in Talking to My Body	p. 135
The Problem of Old Harjo	p. 137
Meditation on Compassion and Not Two, from Peace Is Every Step	p. 145
The Legend of the Lowly Devotee, in The Tiruva&ccidle;agam	p. 149
Ruth 1-4:22	p. 153
The Mexican-American and the Church	p. 160
The Walk, from Leaving Yuba City	p. 165
The Shopping-Bag Lady, in Alma	p. 168
The Camel Driver and the Adder	p. 170
A Rich Young Man on the Road, from Salvation: Scenes from the Life of St. Francis	p. 173
Say Yes Quickly	p. 183
His Grace	p. 185
How Do I Serve?	p. 193
God's Grandeur Gerard	p. 196
The Secret of Work, in The Complete Works, I:3	p. 197
Reb Yozifl and the Contractor, in Inside Kasrilevke	p. 206
First Days of Spring	p. 214
Sitting with the Dead, in A Bit on the Side	p. 216
Mercy: The Stamp of Creation	p. 228
Yajna, Welfare, and Service, from a letter to Narandas Gandhi, October 28, 1930	p. 238
Reflections on Gandhi, from the Partisan Review	p. 241
Levels of Giving, in Mishneh Torah	p. 243
The Buddha's Last Instruction, in House of Light	p. 245
North Light-A Recollection in the Present Tense, in Ellis Island and Other Stories	p. 247
Come Out and Give Something	p. 252
The Pure in Heart, in Revelation	p. 254
The House	p. 275
Proclamation of a National Fast-Day	p. 277
The Yogi Dyes His Garments	p. 279
Why I Make Sam Go to Church, from Traveling Mercies: Some Thoughts on Faith	p. 280
Toward Action: The Interfaith Youth Core Model for Interfaith Reflection and Service	p. 285
Questions for Discussion	p. 302
Guide to Readings by Faith Tradition and Genre	p. 328
About the Supporting Organizations	p. 332
Permissions	p. 334
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