Mixed-Up Love

September 23, 2013
This husband-and-wife collaboration (he is Catholic, she is Jewish and a rabbi) attempts to provide a road map for other interfaith couples. Breezy and conversational, it does not live up to its title as an exploration of "relationships, family and religious identity in the 21st century." It may best be appreciated as a story of two people who share a liberal worldview and a professional life steeped in religious learning and ritual. Sweeney's life story is the more interesting of the two: he was reared in an evangelical home and attended Moody Bible Institute before switching to an Episcopal seminary and ultimately converting to Catholicism. Both came from previous marriages. The book is useful in exploring the compromises the couple made. They decide to marry in a civil ceremony, rather than mash up two different traditions (or find clergy willing to marry them). There are harder challenges too; many Jewish congregations are unwilling to hire a rabbi married to a non-Jew, for example. Interfaith marriage is no longer rare, but this book deals a death knell to the old way of marryingâwhere one partner converts to the other's faith. Agent: Greg Daniel, Daniel Literary Group.

November 15, 2013

Interfaith marriages are increasingly common; this book, a kind of personal counterpart to Naomi Schaefer Riley's 'Til Faith Do Us Part, candidly shows how seemingly superficial differences in religion can enlarge the inherent conflicts in marriage over issues of identity, community, and child rearing. Sweeney (editor in chief, Paraclete Press) and Woll, a rabbi, write with the rich experience both of their life together and their deep knowledge of their faith traditions. VERDICT While the authors' professional involvement in religion marks them as a little different, the evidence is strong that many married couples, and the religious leaders who counsel them, should get a great deal out of this honest work.

Copyright 2013 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

September 15, 2013
What are the odds that a female rabbi would marry a divorced Catholic scholar trying to raise two teenagers? Probably better than many people might think. According to Rabbi Woll and her husband, Sweeney, interfaith marriages are on the rise. Though one well-known study prophesies doom for such unconventional unions, it seems that more couples are falling into this fold. Communication and shared beliefs regardless of faith tradition are essential for making such relationships work, the married coauthors assert. Early chapters read a bit like a comparison of two r'sum'sSweeney at one time worked as a marketing director for Jewish Lights Publishing, which could have something to do with enabling the couple to operate on common ground. Other chapters read like essays, urging the blending of faith traditions as a unique growth experience. The personal stories begin with two-sided accounts of an unlikely friendship that slowly deepens to love. For those considering marrying outside of their faith tradition, Mixed-Up Love is an inspiring work.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2013, American Library Association.)