Heart Speaks to Heart: Women of the Book in Conversation

Abstract

Muslim and Catholic teenage girls discussing dating and marriage . . . Jewish and Catholic women studying the Bible together . . . Jewish, Christian, and Muslim moms sharing kosher marshmallows. These are just a few snapshots of the conversations taking place between Jewish, Christian, and Muslim “women of the book” in Chicago. “People of the book” (ahl al-kitab) is a Qur’anic term Muslims use to describe religions centered on a revealed text, such as Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. Christians and Jews would not necessarily define themselves in this manner, but I have used the term “women of the book” in my title because it is a convenient way to group these three monotheistic faiths. “Heart speaks to heart” is the famous saying of Cardinal John Henry Newman that, I believe, captures the essence of the kind of dialogue that often takes place between Jewish, Christian, and Muslim women. This article is not intended to be an exhaustive survey of all the dialogues between Jews, Catholics, and Muslims in Chicago. Rather, I will simply use broad strokes to describe some of the incredibly rich conversations that have been taking place here between “women of the book.”