Arthur J. Magida

Website : www.arthurjmagida.com
Residence : Baltimore MD

Biographical information
Arthur J. Magida’s forthcoming book, Opening the Doors of Wonder (Fall 2006), addresses rites of passage in a variety of religions – Judaism, Hinduism, Islam, Buddhism and Christianity. Magida not only explains these events – their underlying theologies, how they evolved, how they really affect people – but also interviewed such people as Deepak Chopra, Elie Wiesel, Rabbi Harold Kushner, Yusuf Islam (aka Cat Stevens), Julia Sweeney and spiritual teacher/psychedelic pioneer Ram Dass about their rites of passage and what they meant to them.

Harvard Professor Henry Louis Gates Jr, says Opening the Doors of Wonder “goes far toward helping us understand one another –a much-needed venture in our 9/11 age.”

Magida’s other books include The Rabbi and The Hit Man, the true story of a New Jersey rabbi who hired a hit man to kill his wife, and Prophet of Rage, the only biography of Nation of Islam leader, Louis Farrakhan.

Writer-in-residence at the University of Baltimore, Magida has been a columnist for the on-line religion magazine, Beliefnet.com; a contributing correspondent to PBS's "Religion & Ethics Newsweekly;" a consultant to the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum; editorial director of Jewish Lights Publishing; senior editor of the Baltimore Jewish Times; and a staff writer for Ralph Nader. He is listed in Who's Who in America, Who's Who in Religion, Who's Who in the East, International Authors and Writers Who's Who, and has appeared on Dateline, the CBS Early Show, Court TV's "Catherine Crier Live," "The MacNeil/Lehrer News Hour," ABC's "World News Tonight," C-Span's "Booknotes," NPR's "Morning Edition" and an A&E documentary.

Discussion topics

• OPENING THE DOORS OF WONDER:
  RITES OF PASSAGE IN AMERICA TODAY

  Based on his new pioneering book, Magida explores rites of passage by sifting through the accounts of influential thinkers who experienced them, all in a quest to sort out their differences, similarities, theologies and how they really affect people. Comparing bar and bat mitzvahs, Christian confirmations, Hindu sacred thread ceremonies, Muslim shahadas and Zen jukai ceremonies, Magida gauges their ultimate meaning and purpose, and how this may change with individuals over time. He also examines innovative rites of passage now being "invented" in the United States. Ultimately, he reveals our deep, ultimate need for coming-of-age events, especially in a society as fluid as ours. Artists and intellectuals Magida interviewed on this topic include Nobel laureate Elie Wiesel, holistic guru Deepak Chopra, authors Rabbi Harold Kushner and Letty Cottin Pogrebin, singer Yusuf Islam (Cat Stevens), actress Julia Sweeney, cartoonist Roz Chast, Buddhist expert Robert Thurman, world religion expert Hustion Smith and spiritual teacher Ram Dass. ”

• WHEN A RABBI GOES WRONG:
  A TRUE TALE OF MURDER, PASSION AND SHATTERED FAITH
  

  Magida spent three years investigating one of the more notorious murders of our time: a New Jersey rabbi hiring a hit man to kill his wife. Magida brings the same skills to his talk that critics discerned in his book, The Rabbi and The Hit Man -- "compelling”, "measured," "stately" – all in an effort to determine the role of clergy in our society today, how we are diminished when they misbehave, and the responsibility we all bear for our personal conduct. More than a discussion of a sensational murder, Magida examines ethical and moral issues that are pivotal to contemporary society.

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