Saffron Cross: The Unlikely Story of How a Christian Minister Married a Hindu Monk

Dana Trent grew up in small-town Baptist churches and was ordained as a minister at the age of 21. She sometimes struggled with her faith, but her experience and worldview were solidly Christian. When she signed up with an online dating site, she could hardly imagine being matched with someone from a different background, and was astonished to be introduced to a former monk--a Hindu monk, at that.

Saffron Cross is Trent's account of the early years of her relationship with her husband, Fred, who had learned that while the monastic life didn't suit him, the spiritual practices of Hinduism certainly did. Learning to communicate across the gulf between their belief systems adds another layer to the everyday challenges of newlywed life, and at times Dana wonders whether they can make their interfaith marriage work without compromising their respective values. Eventually she realizes that her Christian spiritual journey is enriched, not diminished, by the influence of her husband's Hinduism.

Trent's story is one in which the personal is not so much political as it is interdenominational, and in the widest possible way. In Saffron Cross, she introduces readers to the Hindu beliefs and practices she has learned through Fred, and explores how they have reshaped and strengthened her own Christianity. Saffron Cross is not an interfaith marriage handbook, but as Trent relates how she and her husband have made their relationship work, it develops into a genuinely inspiring and enlightening story. --Florinda Pendley Vasquez, blogger at The 3 R's Blog: Reading, 'Riting, and Randomness

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