Being Both: Embracing Two Religions in One Interfaith Family, 10th Anniversary Edition

Being Both is an insightful, thought provoking book showing how interfaith families, after decades of being told no you can't, are demonstrating that yes, they absolutely can raise children dual-faith and do so in a way that is not at all detrimental. Susan Katz Miller's primary research, including surveys and extensive interviews of couples, children, young adults, and clergy, as well as sharing her own personal interfaith experiences result in rich, moving story. As a spouse in an interfaith marriage raising dual-faith children, it was inspiring and comforting to read about others who are trying similar approaches and to know that obstacles can be overcome. I hope that interfaith couples and families as well as their extended families and clergy will read this beautifully written book to enrich their understanding of interfaith relationships and expand their perspectives on what is possible. (Disclosure: my husband and I are the founders of a Philadelphia-area interfaith group modeled after D.C.'s IFFP and Susan Katz Miller has been a strong advocate and supporter of our effort.)

Miller’s book is a self-serving discussion justifying multi-faith religious education of children. This book is not about pluralism, interfaith dialogue or religious tolerance. However, the book is a good read on what interfaith families have to endure. The book is well detailed and document in an attempt to justify the "embracing of two or more religions in one interfaith family". The book provides much source material for the "muddying down" of religious traditional observance by replacing it with interfaith observance by children outside the mainstream of religious observance. The parents of interfaith marriages are being portrayed as being already ambivalent about institutional religion themselves with some being raised in interfaith or religion-less families. The result being that their children are being manipulated into determining which religion or religions by being made to choose for themselves being educated in two or more religions because their parents are unwilling make that choice for their children or themselves. My major concern of the book is that institutional religions are falsely portrayed as being hostile to interfaith families and children. My wife and I in an interfaith marriage of 27 years have attended both mainstream church and synagogue regularly and have been welcomed in both settings. We also raised two children. The book's objective is to have children "cherry pick" their religion or combination of religions of choice in adulthood absolving the parents of responsibility. The book’s real purpose is to portray traditional religious observance as being hostile to interfaith families already struggling to raise children in a religious environment by negating what the traditional religious education and observance has to offer.

Thank you, Susan. This is an excellent book. Well written, well edited and best of all, not apologetic at all! I was so glad to read a book that is so clearly enthusiastic about the experience of raising children in more than one faith. I found myself saying "amen" (silently, in my head, since I was on the plane) almost every page!I really hope that this book gets widely read and distributed. I feel that the interfaith communities where children are educated and families celebrate are still really hidden, so that when people do hear about them they act as if they are part of some crazy, untested theory rather than something that has been going on for years. I was surprised at how old some of the "where are they now?" kids were!I also want to thank you for your honesty in sharing your story. It's not easy. I totally understand the "sighs" you talk about. Good work.

This is a great book. Everyone in an mixed relationship should read it. Or better yet, everyone should read it. It is amazing how it portrays the natural course of the future of relationships not only in America, but in the world (that's me extrapolating, by the way, but it's true). In a global era we can't expect for things to be the same and to just be involved with people the same as we are. This book sheds some light over the way these relationships work and the many ways people have to make it work for them.

Engaging and informative for those families who would choose to raise their children with knowledge of more than one religion and tradition. This is a story about faith and belief and move beyond the boundaries of one particular tradition so that children and adults are aware of the sacred through two sets of eyes--and engagement. Most families are learning about Judaism and Christianity--but there are examples of other combinations as well.

As my husband and I discussed the idea of marriage 21 years ago, we read every book about interfaith relationships we could find. There weren't many available but they helped guide us get to where we are now. Susan Katz-Miller's book is so comprehensive and honest and hopeful. It has reaffirmed for us that the choices we made were the right ones for our family and that we are not alone. This book is great for everyone whose lives are touched by interfaith relationships at any stage of life...interesting, helpful and easy to read, it's a great resource for this day and age. Don't miss this one!

Not as story based as I'd hoped . More about the author & less about other faiths. Not enough stories about non Jewish families.

I'm Catholic and my partner is exploring converting to Judaism, from previously identifying themselves as agnostic or atheist. This has brought up many questions about the future of our relationship such as how to continue to practice our faiths, how we should married and how to bring up our future children.In looking for resources online I found many which said that you would have to pick a religion and bringing your children up in two religions wasn't possible. I knew I definitely wouldn't feel comfortable bringing my children up completely in Judaism, but my partner is keen on educating them and celebrating Jewish traditions with them in the home. Equally I would want to teach them about Catholicism and take them to Mass.When I stumbled on this book, it seemed perfect as the author is interfaith, with both Christian and Jewish connections. Suddenly there was someone saying that other people had done what we were thinking of doing and that it had been successful.The book itself I found to be an interesting but easy-going read. It covers many different aspects and a variety of relationships and ways of doing things. It is primarily focused on Christian-Jewish relationships, but for us this was good as it was what we were looking for.It contains excerpts from the author's original research into interfaith families and their children, with many insightful quotes. A chapter is dedicated to some of the clergy who work with interfaith families, and I found this to be very inspiring. One of the worries I have is facing opposition from clergy and communities so reading this gave me some hope.A lot of the book is understandably very US-centered, mainly around some of the interfaith family programs based in US cities which seem amazing. It makes me hope that we are able to find or build a similar community around us. As we're based in England there are some cultural differences, some of which are briefly alluded to in the book, but we could still empathise with and be inspired by so many of the stories. There are also some links to UK and other country resources at the end of the book,which I'm sure we will find helpful.This book has opened my eyes to the ways in which it is possible to navigate and interfaith relationship and family. It has helped me to understand how our two faiths can coexist and how we can educate our children in both faiths. It has helped me feel more comfortable with practicing Jewish ritual in the home and has been a good introduction for encouraging me to learn more about both of our faiths.I am sure this is a book we will be reading and going back to over the years as it's such a wonderful and inspiring resource.