BOOKS by Laura Duhan-Kaplan
Cascade Books, 2021
The Hebrew Bible is filled with animals. Snakes and ravens share meals with people; donkeys and sheep work alongside us; eagles and lions inspire us; locusts warn us. How should we read their stories? What can they teach us about ecology, spirituality, and ethics? Author Laura Duhan-Kaplan explores these questions, weaving together biology, Kabbalah, rabbinic midrash, Indigenous wisdom, modern literary methods, and personal experiences. She re-imagines Jacob's sheep as family, Balaam's donkey as a spiritual director, Eve's snake as a misguided helper. Finally, Rabbi Laura invites metaphorical eagles, locusts, and mother bears to help us see anew, confront human violence, and raise children who live peacefully on the land.
The Infinity Inside
Albion-Andalus Books, 2019
Inside each of us, there is a portal to the infinite. We might call it soul, spirit, psyche, intuition, or imagination. As children, we often walk through it easily. But as adults, we might need to re-learn, explicitly, how to do so.
That's why I wrote this short introduction to contemplative spiritual practices. First, I explain what I mean by “religion,” “spirituality,” and "spiritual practice." Then, I present ten different practices that I have learned from various traditions, especially Judaism, Christianity, and Yoga. All are practices I have explored intensively over many years. Finally, I raise questions about the transformative role of spiritual practice, and close with a prayerful theological reflection.
Spirit of Reconciliation
Edited by Rev. Dr. Raymond C. Aldred and Rabbi Laura Duhan-Kaplan
Canadian Race Relations Foundation, 2020
What is Canada’s project of Reconciliation with Indigenous peoples? It is a process of truth, compassion, and justice––spiritual virtues important to the country’s many faith traditions. Each tradition brings its history, stories, symbols and practices to the Reconciliation circle. Together, we can learn to walk forward in a good way.
Are you curious about how faith communities can participate? In this book, leaders from ten communities share their experiences, suggestions, and hopes. They represent Anglican, Bahá’i, Buddhist, Catholic, Hindu, Indigenous, Islamic, Jewish, Sikh, and United Church traditions.
Encountering the Other
Edited by Laura Duhan-Kaplan and Harry O. Maier
Wipf & Stock, 2020
How do religious traditions create strangers and neighbors? How do they construct otherness? Or, instead, work to overcome it? In this exciting collection of interdisciplinary essays, scholars and activists from various traditions explore these questions. Through legal and media studies, they reveal how we see religious others. They show that Jewish, Christian, Islamic, and Sikh texts frame others in open-ended ways. Conflict resolution experts and Hindu teachers, they explain, draw on a shared positive psychology. Jewish mystics and Christian contemplatives use powerful tools of compassionate perception. Finally, the authors explain how Christian theology can hep teach respectful views of difference. They authors are not afraid to discussion how religious groups have alienated one another. But, together, they choose to draw positive lessons about future cooperations.