Everyday Wisdom: Interreligious Studies in a Pluralistic World by Hans Gustafson (review)

In lieu of an abstract, here is a brief excerpt of the content:

Reviewed by:

• Everyday Wisdom: Interreligious Studies in a Pluralistic World by Hans Gustafson
• Rachel S. Mikva

Hans Gustafson, Everyday Wisdom: Interreligious Studies in a Pluralistic World. Minneapolis, MN: Fortress Press, 2023. Pp. 393. $45.00, paper; $41.99, ebook.

This meticulously researched volume examines the worlds of Interreligious Studies (IRS) and Interfaith Engagement (IFE). Proposing interreligious phronesis—practical wisdom for everyday encounter—as the foundational purpose of such study, "it draws on lived experience, basic religious literacy (know what), and awareness of self and others to efficiently assess (inter)religiously complex situations, empathetically account for the various and often competing needs of the stakeholders involved (know who), and proficiently discern and act with skill, craft, art, and technique (know how) in the moment toward the right outcomes for the right reasons (know why) for the common good of all parties involved" (p. 4). [End Page 281]

Gustafson first explores the landscape of religious identities, grappling with their dynamism, cultural intersections, mutual influence, and general complexity. This analysis—accompanied by helpful summaries of terms, concepts, and ongoing debates in the academy about how we should even study this thing called religion—leads him to focus on lived religion. It serves as a strategy to avoid the essentialization that so often plagues our efforts to understand or describe life stances, especially those different than our own. In promoting religious and interreligious literacy, the author acknowledges both that we cannot know everything about the vast spiritual diversity of our world and that knowledge about religion by itself cannot address the profound societal challenges in which religion is implicated. Actual encounters with difference and cultivation of wisdom to shape them are required.

This leads to the second part of the book, focused on Interfaith Engagement and leadership, with a delightful transitional chapter exploring the relationship between this civic enterprise and the academic field of Interreligious Studies. Gustafson investigates various responses to diversity; the impacts of the secular, theological approaches to religious difference and encounter; and the importance of relationship in this work. In the final chapters, he fully explicates his conception of interreligious phronesis and its potential value in cultivating personal growth and professional leadership.

Gustafson's broad familiarity with existing scholarship and his insatiable intellectual curiosity provide a marvelous introduction to both Religious and Interreligious Studies. There are not many books that do both so well. Some might find the rich assortment of sources, concepts, themes, and debates to be overwhelming at first, but—especially embedded in a graduate or undergraduate course—they serve as essential guides to the discourse. He also offers frequent associations with popular culture (Sneetches and Other Stories is my favorite), providing memorable anchors for the themes under discussion.

Recognizing the idiosyncratic nature of each reader's experience, what might I wish this excellent volume did even better? It acknowledges a "circle of praxis" that reflects the reciprocal learning relationship between IRS and IFE, but I hungered for an analysis that did not seem to privilege the ways in which the academy hones knowledge generated in the field. And, as an inductive learner, I would have loved to see more concrete examples from the universe of encounters to illustrate, apply, and deepen the theoretical analysis.

I found particularly interesting the thick discussion of secular, secularity, and secularization—a topic often ignored in IRS. Gustafson explores the [End Page 282] evolution of thought about these multifaceted concepts as they shape the global religious landscape. He also begins to excavate the ground in which "secular" is not used as an agonistic antonym for "religious" but, rather, as a context in which religious ideas productively engage with other ways of thinking and knowing, and none of them can claim a monopoly on meaning. I believe this text will prove to be invaluable in the rapidly developing field of IRS and IFE.

Rachel S. Mikva Chicago Theological Seminary, Chicago, IL Copyright © 2024 Journal of Ecumenical Studies ...