Book 2, Post 2

 REVIEW FINAL

For Book 2, I would like to read Holy Envy: Finding God in the Faith of Others. At this point in my life, I have myself questioning what the next steps into my religious journey look like, and this book stood out to me. While looking at the list, I actually had a challenging time deciding what I wanted to read as everything from the self guidance books to ancient wisdom seemed fascinating and could apply to what I am looking to learn more about myself. Holy Envy stood out as I feel like Spiritual guidance is something I am missing in my life, and this book covers the experience of undoing what we already knew and learning what “God” means to us. 

I grew up Roman Catholic, was baptized in a Polish church, and raised under the Polish Religion for a large portion of my life. I didn’t understand it much, nor align with it. Eventually going into middle and high school, I joined my childhood best friends christian youth group, continuing my religious experience through there. The youth group was in fact very christian, and very white; I left once the 2020 BLM movement struck as I became the token speaker and educator and couldn’t understand what I was doing in the space anymore. Since then I have been left to my own religious practices at home, moving away from the colonized and systematic structure of religion we know today. I have a strong curiosity for spirituality, and have been feeling a sense of FOMO from seeing the community of other religions such as muslims and African spiritual christians. My own religious curiosity and envy is drawing me towards this book, so I am excited to learn and hear about this feeling through another author. 

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I read through about 75% of this book, and I did it very quickly. I LOVE this book. I honestly wasn’t sure how I would feel originaly when I started, as a former christian and catholic, I do not like the way that they treat other religions and find myself sensitive or opposed to the topic of religion. I really appreciated this book as the author gave an honest perspective of her and her students experience learning about other religions. The book goes into what it was like entering other religious spaces, discussing the feelings of discomfort, excitement and newness. Earlier in the book, the author mentions one of her christian students who had a hard time opening up to the idea of understanding other religions, stating, “I remembered meeting people like him when I was in college. They had fallen in love with Jesus and set out to prove their loyalty by dismissing any truth that did not hinge on him. Their job, as they saw it, was to come up with solid Christian answers to every important question and then to defend those answers against all rivals.” At least in America where majority fall under christian/catholic belief systems, many are close minded to the understanding of other religions. I would highly recommend this book to everyone, even those not as much interested in religion as it applies to everyday life and how we can better understand other individuals. 

Quote from the book I liked:

“When trying to understand another religion, you should ask the adherents of that religion and not its enemies. 

Don’t compare your best to their worst. 

Leave room for holy envy.”

The book also is great at connecting religions, and showing how it overlaps, overall going into that feeling of envy of another religion. I sat down to read the book and ended up going through a large portion of it very fast. In the book, the author says, “Religions are treasure chests of stories, songs, rituals, and ways of life that have been handed down for millennia—not covered in dust but evolving all the way—so that each new generation has something to choose from when it is time to ask the big questions about life,” which I felt was a great way to break down the concept of following a specific religion. She then ends up breaking up each chapter by one of the main 5 religions, each time describing the experiences held entering a temple or reading scripture different than the traditional christian bible. I felt like the book was an easy read as well, it followed the authors thought process which allowed me to reflect on my own as well as I read through her experiences. 

At one point, she breaks down the students experience going through a hindu temple. She explains how when she first had introduced the topic of hinduism, it felt really complex and difficult to comprehend. She writes, “When I bring the image of Shiva to class on the first day, the students have no frame of reference for what they see. A few know he is the Hindu god of destruction, but that does not help. Why would anyone worship a god who destroys? He is dancing in a ring of fire on the back of a small creature that looks like a child or a dwarf. He has swinging dreadlocks and twice too many arms, some of which are holding things impossible to identify. A cobra uncurls from his top right arm, while another swirls around his waist. This is entirely too many snakes for someone raised on the Garden of Eden story.When we take the symbols one at a time, however, the image becomes less fearsome. The ring of fire is the eternal cycle of creation and destruction. Dancing inside of it, Shiva reminds the viewer that the god who presides over death clears the way for new life. ” This quote resonated with me, as the overall idea of religion can feel really overwhelming and scary (we attach it to our afterlives; whats more intense than that right?). Breaking it down and looking at things part by part, we realize each religion has its own histories and characteristics that are very similar to counterparts, and there is nothing to be afraid of simply because we do not understand it. 

10/10 so far, will finish the book very soon.