When One Religion Isn't Enough

The Lives of Spiritually Fluid People

By: Duane R. Bidwell

Narrated by: Thom Rivera

An exploration into the lives of people who embrace two or more religious traditions, and what this growing community tells us about change in our society.

Named a best book of 2018 by Library Journal.

In the US, we often assume religious and spiritual identity are pure, static, and singular. But some people regularly cross religious boundaries. These “spiritually fluid” people celebrate complex religious bonds, and in the process, they blur social categories, evoke prejudice, and complicate religious communities. Their presence sparks questions: How and why do people become spiritually fluid? Are they just confused or unable to commit? How do we make sense of them?

When One Religion Isn’t Enough explores the lives of spiritually fluid people, revealing that while some chose multiple religious belonging, many more inherit it. For many North Americans, the complicated legacies of colonialism are part of their family story, and they may consider themselves both Christian and Hindu, or Buddhist, or Yoruban, or one of the many other religions native to colonized lands.

For some Asian Americans, singular religious identity may seem an alien concept, as many East Asian nations freely mix Buddhist, Confucian, Taoist, and other traditions. Some African American Christians are consciously seeking to reconnect with ancestral spiritualities. And still other people are born into religiously mixed families. Jewish-Christian intermarriage led the way in the US, but religious diversity here is only increasing: almost four in 10 Americans (39 percent) who have married since 2010 have a spouse who is in a different religious group.

Through in-depth conversations with spiritually fluid people, renowned scholar Duane Bidwell explores how people come to claim and be claimed by multiple religious traditions, how spiritually fluid people engage radically opposed truth claims, and what this growing population tells us about change within our communities.

©2018 Duane R. Bidwell (P)2018 Random House Audio

Critic reviews

“Will appeal to spiritual readers seeking an understanding and affirmation of the growing multireligious movement. Strongly recommended for libraries of all types.” (Library Journal)

“The book operates with great sensitivity and awareness, addressing the difference between spiritual fluidity and spiritual bypassing or cultural appropriation...inspiring reading for anyone interested in enlivened spirituality or seeking permission to embrace their complexities.” (Foreword Reviews)

“This groundbreaking book is essential for anyone who wants to understand the contemporary religious landscape. Duane Bidwell’s work will now become a touchstone for academics, clergy, therapists, journalists, and all of us who participate in more than one religion. Bidwell offers up richly detailed personal stories told with great sensitivity. In telling these stories, this book documents spiritual fluidity as transgressive yet also life-giving, and as important and surprisingly common rather than marginal and exceptional.” (Susan Katz Miller, author of Being Both)

repetitive

An important topic. Regardless, I gave up on listening to this book in chapter 2 due to my sense of the book's lack of concision and frequent repetitions. I don’t know if both problems were ameliorated in later chapters.