Strangers to the Tribe: Portraits of Interfaith Marriage

Rating:
Summary: Informing, Interesting and Entertaining
Review: A realistic portrait of the struggle between love, family and religion. If you are looking for an in-depth account of how various couples have dealt with these intermingled issues, this is the book for you. Glaser, a dedicated journalist, tells her own story, and unbiasedly offers the reader several glimpses at how others have struggled with clashing beliefs. It is richly written, frank, and interesting. It is not, however, a "how-to" manual and one should approach each case with an open mind---as this author had intended for her audience.

Rating:
Summary: I threw it away after a few pages
Review: I happened on a copy of this many years ago. I'm Catholic and my wife is Jewish so I thought it would be interesting to read. A few pages into the book, the author describes the Bris cermony performed on her newborn son. The auhtor related that since her son had already had a medical circumcision at the hosipital, the cermony consisted of sticking (...)with a pin until blood was drawn and he cried. I thought about that for a few seconds' this woman let someone stick her newborn son (...)until he cried. I then concluded that this woman must be clueless and can't have anything useful to say. I threw the book away. It's been 10 years and I still stand by my conclusion that the rest of the book couldn't have been worth reading.

Rating:
Summary: Fascinating stories, but biased selections
Review: This book should be enjoyable reading to anyone with an interest in the subject of interfaith marriage. The storytelling approach -- focusing exclusively on individual couples' personal and family stories -- is both its strength and its weakness. It makes for interesting reading, as one meets and learns about each of the couples, their Jewish and Christian family backgrounds, the difficulties they have faced, and the choices they have made. However, the selection of couples and subject matter is biased and limited. As a child of Holocaust survivors choosing to raise my children in the Methodist faith in which my wife was raised, I kept waiting in vain to read of other couples who chose to actively practice Christianity (not just baptism, christmas trees and easter eggs). Ms. Glaser basically focused only on couples who chose Judaism or some very watered-down compromise. She also completely avoided the big faith issues: who was Jesus? does Christianity offer salvation not available through Judaism? can a Jew accept Christ, yet remain a Jew? how can intermarried partners choose to focus on the substantial theological and historical common ground between Judaism and Christianity, not the theological, cultural and historical differences? Notwithstanding these drawbacks, I found it well-written and well worth reading.