With the Best of Intentions: Interrogating Interfaith Mistakes

A discussion with contributors to “With the Best of Intentions: Interrogating Interfaith Mistakes,” edited by Lucinda Allen Mosher, Ellie Pierce, and Or N. Rose, to be published by Orbis Books in 2023. The volume features personal essays on the mistakes, disappointments, conundrums, and failures we have experienced over the years in our attempts at engaging in or crafting transformative interreligious encounters. We believe that such reflections can be very helpful to others interested or involved in this sacred and often complicated work. Further, as the field of Interreligious Studies continues to grow, we need more (self) critical discussion of the times and places that interreligious efforts go awry. Why did a particular program, initiative, or relationship falter? What was our part in it? Could it have worked under different circumstances? Were the conditions just not right for such an undertaking? Did something unexpected emerge? What have we learned from these experiences?