IN ONE STRENGTH

Glassey shares his divine revelation of interreligious unity in this nonfiction book.

In 2013, during a pilgrimage to Dharamshala, India—home of the exiled Dalai Lama—the author experienced a divine revelation while meditating at a Tibetan Buddhist retreat. “God came to me and gave me this explicit instruction: ‘Make all religions one,’” he writes. Upon subsequent encounters with God, Glassey claims to have been given instructions to help pave the way for a “new order” that will replace “the brokenness of what was before.” In this religious commentary, the author offers spiritual insights that blend Eastern mysticism with Christianity (and a sprinkling of Islam and Judaism). Glassey generally eschews the doctrinal peculiarities that drive many theological studies, instead taking a broadly inclusive approach to spirituality that reaches out to faiths across the spectrum by focusing on their commonalities. He notes, for instance, the ubiquity of the Christian maxim, “Do not judge, or you will be judged,” encouraging readers to reject judging others “by gender, skin color, sexual orientation, religion, or anything else.” Blended with the book’s spiritual advice are memoir vignettes from Glassey’s lifelong spiritual journey. Many of these stories are explicitly religious in nature, such as accounts of his experiences in a Catholic parochial school as a teenager; others touch on the importance of human connection. A lifelong volunteer in various philanthropic causes that include Georgia’s Koinonia Farm, Project Head Start in the 1960s, and orphanages in Mexico and soup kitchens in the United States, Glassey asserts that some of the most rewarding spiritual experiences occur when engaging with fellow humans. The author’s welcoming writing style avoids the jargon and complicated philosophical discursions often found in religious writings—he instead opts for a conversational approach that will be accessible to readers who may not have any background in religious studies. The text’s endnotes and citations reflect Glassey’s emphasis on inclusivity, citing religious thinkers ranging from Dietrich Bonhoeffer and St. Teresa of Avila to Eknath Easwaran and Jiddu Krishnamurti.

An engagingly written case for interfaith unity that centers interpersonal connections.