David Gregory (9) (1970–)

David presents a spiritual autobiography about growing in faith and the lessons he learned along the way. During his time as a White House reporter he had the unusual experience of being asked by President George W. Bush “How’s your Faith?”. Raised by a Catholic mother and a Jewish dad, he had a strong sense of Jewish cultural and ethnic identity, but no real belief – until his marriage to a Protestant woman of strong faith inspired him to explore his spirituality for himself and his growing family. His journey has taken him inside Christian churches and into the heart of Orthodox Judaism. During the course of his Bible study he has asked tough questions of America’s most thoughtful Jewish, Christian and Muslim religious leaders. In this book, David investigates his own deepening Jewish belief and seeks to discover why spiritual journeys are always worthwhile. He encourages all of us to live a more spiritually engaged life.… (mehr)

How's Your Faith by David Gregory, seemed shallow and fairly uninspired. It is well-written but has an emotional distance and lack of heft that was surprising given that it is about faith. The parts of the book that explore his family dynamic and what it was like to live with his mother, a recovering alcoholic, was moving but his forays into describing religious concepts fell flat. I understand that George Bush inspired but his chapter on him seemed naive. I do think President Bush's faith impacted his policies on a whole host of issues.

As a person who is Jewish I did understand Mr Gregory's struggle in finding ways to find more spirituality in mainstream Judaism. As practiced, Judaism is often based on taking "right action" and caring about social justice. It is about doing good not necessarily feeling good. It doesn't have a whole lot of ecstasy attached to it and sometimes, for me, it can feel empty.

Thank you to Netgalley and Simon and Schuster for giving me the opportunity to review this book.… (mehr)