A Day Apart: How Jews, Christians, and Muslims Find Faith, Freedom, and Joy on the Sabbath

by Christopher D. Ringwald

In today's frantic 24/7 world, the Sabbath - a day devoted to rest and contemplation - has never been more necessary. 'A Day Apart' offers a portrait of a truly timeless way to escape the everyday world and add meaning to our lives.

Genres: Religion

336 pages, Paperback

First published January 8, 2006

Reviews

[Jeffrey · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book is the kind of ecumenically feel-good book that sets about to please everyone, in this case about their sacred day of the week. The problem with that approach is that it misses a lot of nuance, and topics worthy of greater exploration don't often get it, that despite a lot of interesting historical tidbits along the way.

Perhaps what interested me most in this book was Ringwald's cleaving to the Jewish faith, and the Jewish observance of shabbat. He may have been a Catholic, but read the book and you'll be left with the distinct impression that he felt had been born into a faith that didn't suit him as well as another might have.

I say "may have been" not because he's now a convert from Catholicism, but because in 2011 he took his own life. I found that out when I was about three-quarters of the way through the book and put it down for three years before finishing it. Fittingly, he quotes T.S. Eliot near the end on "our inability to bear too much of reality." (c)Jeffrey L. Otto, January 29, 2023

[Amy Paget · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a highly readable and erudite study of the history of Jewish Shabbat, Christian Sabbath, and Muslim Juma. Interlaced with the history, the author provides glimpses into his own familt Sabbath practice and to contempoarary Jewish and Muslim practice in America. Highly recommended.

[Parcsen · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a book that explores the holy days of the three major world religions: Christianity, Islam, and Judaism, and how they came to be the way they are - one day apart.