Oct 28, 2010

Book Review: Acts of Faith by Eboo Patel

Acts of Faith is a gripping odyssey of a young man’s rite of passage, a truly American spiritual pilgrimage as Patel, the son of immigrant Indian Muslims who insisted on the Islamic value of service to those in need, recounts growing up in the American Midwest and his journey from infatuation with American materialism into the heart of the American spiritual landscape, and out to the world.

Who could believe a book such as this would be a page turner? It is. In this inspiring story of American religious pluralism and the coming of age of an American Muslim man, Eboo Patel leads us on a sacred journey past the obvious differences into the heart of our religious traditions. He does not avoid the serious questions, such as the recruitment and investment in youth by fundamentalist groups with divisive and violent agendas, or the failure of mainstream people of faith, and the interfaith movement itself, to equal that investment. But he doesn’t get stuck in those failures either, he moves us on.

Patel traces the life of a young man of color from the angst of the American high school scene, through YMCA youth leadership programs, Dorothy Day’s Catholic Worker Houses; from university identity politics to the gripping and powerful American voice, James Baldwin, but we don’t stop there. We get to meet the living people who mentored him from the unknown ordinary soul to the most famous people, from a Catholic monk, an Islamic scholar, the Dali Lama, and his own grandmother, a tower of faith, service and justice.

As a university student practicing Buddhism Eboo travels with a Jewish friend to India, his parent’s country of origin. Like so many Americans who make the journey “home” he discovers his roots in Indian culture, and with that he also discovers his uniquely American identity, one forged in the vision and diversity of the American dream. Through his grandmother he rediscovers the depths of his own Muslim faith.

This is a book in which the voices of the young sing us forward. Beginning in Chicago with the development of an interfaith youth group dedicated to working together in the service of the community, we are taken to the Parliament of World Religions, held in South African in 1999 where the youth delegates begin to forge an identity born out of their own interfaith experience in the pluralistic world of today, “Our generation has to tell the story of interdependence,” and I would add cooperation for the well being of all, a call to lives of action and service, a common imperative in all the major faiths. This is a book that is riddled with respect.

Eboo Patel is the founder and executive director of the Interfaith Youth Core, an international nonprofit building the interfaith youth movement throughout the world. He is a member of the President’s Advisory Council on Faith-based and Neighborhood Partnerships.

If you are young or old, if your skin is dark or light, if you have felt alienated or in despair about the future, this book is for you. In a world of apparent religious division and fundamentalist violence Acts of Faith offers practical hope and a sense of direction for the future. This is a book about destiny and spiritual calling, not only of one man, but perhaps a destiny we all are called to as we forge meaningful life in the wake of 9-11.


No comments:

Post a Comment