Opening the Doors of Wonder: Reflections on Religious Rites of Passage

by Arthur J. Magida

This bold, pioneering book explores rites of passage in America by sifting through the accounts of influential thinkers who experienced them. Arthur J. Magida explains the underlying theologies, evolution, and actual practice of Jewish bar and bat mitzvahs, Christian confirmations, Hindu sacred thread ceremonies, Muslim shahadas and Zen jukai ceremonies. In rare interviews, renowned artists and intellectuals such as Nobel laureate Elie Wiesel, holistic guru Deepak Chopra, singer Yusuf Islam (Cat Stevens), actress/comedienne Julia Sweeney, cartoonist Roz Chast, interfaith maven Huston Smith, and many more talk intimately about their religious backgrounds, the rites of passage they went through, and how these events shaped who they are today.

Magida compares these coming of age ceremonies' origins and evolution, considers their ultimate meaning and purpose, and gauges how their meaning changes with individuals over time. He also examines innovative rites of passage that are now being "invented" in the United States. Passionate and lyrical, this absorbing book reveals our deep, ultimate need for coming-of-age events, especially in a society as fluid as ours.

Conversations Bob Abernethy, Huston Smith, Julia Sweeney, Roz Chast, Harold Kushner, Ram Dass, Elie Wiesel, Deepak Chopra, Robert Thurman, Coleman Barks, Yusuf Islam (Cat Stevens), And others

Genres: Religion

304 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2006

About the author

Arthur J. Magida's new book, Code Name Madeleine: A Sufi Spy in Nazi-Occupied Paris, will be published by W.W. Norton in June 2020.
Advance readers call Code Name Madeleine "a thrilling spy story & a moving portrait of Noor Inayat Khan's courage" and "one of the finest & most affecting true stories of espionage I have read."
A former professor at Georgetown University and at the University of Baltimore and a consultant to several PBS documentaries, Magida has been a columnist for the on-line religion magazine, Beliefnet.com; a contributing correspondent to PBS's "Religion & Ethics Newsweekly;" editorial director of Jewish Lights Publishing; senior editor of the Baltimore Jewish Times; environmental reporter for National Journal; writer/editor for Ralph Nader; director of publications for an energy conservation project; & a reporter for Pennsylvania newspapers.
His op-eds have appeared in major newspapers around the country, he has free-lanced for such publications as Conde Nast Traveler, Travel & Leisure, Tikkun & Geo. amd he has appeared on Dateline, the CBS Early Show, Court TV's "Catherine Crier Live," "The MacNeil/Lehrer News Hour," ABC's "World News Tonight," C-Span's "Booknotes," NPR's "Morning Edition" and an A&E documentary.

Reviews

[Justinian]

2014-02 – Opening Doors of Wonder: Reflections on Religious Rites of Passage. Arthur J. Magida (Author) 304 Pages. 2006.

This book is a book I picked up and set down repeatedly, it took about a year’s worth of this to actually get through it. This is not because the content is boring or difficult ... just thought provoking. I would read sections between other books. The author collected through interviews from noted people of various religious traditions the stories of their rites of passage and how it is remembered, what effects it had on their religious life and non-religious life. Together they present a composite of traditions and practices that perhaps have less to do with a particular faith then they do with human development