Everyday Wisdom

"""Everyday Wisdom is a unique and creative scholarly addition introducing the recent academic field of interreligious studies in a careful balance with civic interfaith engagement. As a seasoned researcher-practitioner, Hans Gustafson demonstrates a mature understanding of how these two overlapping fields can best reinforce each other 'to advance peaceful relations across diverse religious identities and societies.' Based primarily on a lived-religion experience in the USA, this book is certainly useful for all pluralistic societies worldwide. Diverse audiences of scholars and students in the humanities and social sciences will greatly benefit from its everyday wisdom, whatever their institutional context--secular or religious, private or public. Everyday Wisdom is extremely useful to anyone teaching any kind of courses related to contemporary religions, whether rooted in theology or the critical study of religion. The book also provides practical knowledge for the leadership of religiously diverse professional and civic spaces."" --Patrice Brodeur, PhD, professor of religious studies, Université de Montréal ""In the growing and complex field of interreligious studies, Everyday Wisdom offers a much-needed clarification of terms and orientations. But beyond that, the book also provides a set of principles or virtues for a holistic engagement with religious diversity. Everyday Wisdom is a great guide for anyone entering the field."" --Catherine Cornille, professor of comparative theology, Boston College ""Synthesizing a field of expanding scholarship, packed with data on religious diversity, and charting strategies for engagement, Hans Gustafson's book provides a detailed road map for navigating interreligious studies. An excellent text to sharpen the scholar's understanding, shape the instructor's teaching, and introduce students to the multifarious reality of religious identities, belonging, and encounter. If there's one text you read for orientation to the field and its future, it should be Everyday Wisdom."" --Jeannine Hill Fletcher, author of The Sin of White Supremacy: Christianity, Racism, and Religious Diversity in America ""Timely, smart, and expertly researched and written, Everyday Wisdom is the book for anyone (whether scholar, teacher, practitioner, or the generally curious) looking for a comprehensive analysis of the interreligious studies and interfaith engagement fields. But this work does not stop there. Culminating in Hans Gustafson's four dimensions of 'Interreligious Phronesis' (practical wisdom), it also shows a way forward."" --Barbara A. McGraw, JD, PhD, author of Rediscovering America's Sacred Ground: Public Religion and Pursuit of the Good in a Pluralistic America; founding director of the Center for Engaged Religious Pluralism and professor of social ethics, law, and public life at Saint Mary's College of California ""Religion is so messy! Hans Gustafson's book expertly guides the reader through the complexities of religious/interreligious studies and encounter to discover practical wisdom for our collective journey on the earth."" --Rachel S. Mikva, author of Interreligious Studies: An Introduction and Dangerous Religious Ideas: The Deep Roots of Self-Critical Faith in Judaism, Christianity, and Islam"