Donna E. Schaper, a United Church of Christ minister, and her husband Warren Goldstein, a Jewish professor of American history, decided to raise their three children both ways — fully Jewish and fully Christian. In this persuasive work that is playful and practical, the author presents the benefits and challenges of raising children to honor Torah, Testament, and Sunday School. This is one of the finest resources available for those who are pioneering interfaith marriages. And it is filled with tips on ways to pass to children spiritual wealth — namely a high regard for "God's love of diversity."
Schaper sees interfaith families as nests within nests. Here is a place to cultivate respect for rights and rituals. Here is a divine milieu where hospitality can be practiced on a daily basis. The author presents some of her own suggestions for growing together in faith, such as talking about bad things and living within a schedule that is family friendly.
"Institutions have and need identities and loyalties, but people have spiritually and economically gone beyond brand loyalty. We shake and bake, mix and match, sift and blend. We take a little of this and a little of that, and we make ourselves as we go." Schaper takes a long hard look at the ways in which fundamentalism and monotheism are problems for interfaith living. Then in a touching and theologically rich letter to her grandchildren, the author summarizes the bounties of raising children fully Jewish and fully Christian.