Korb, Scott 1977(?)-

PERSONAL:

Born c. 1977. Education: Graduated from University of Wisconsin, Union Seminary, and Columbia University.

ADDRESSES:

Home—New York, NY. E-mail—[email protected].

CAREER:

Writer.

WRITINGS:

(With Peter Bebergal) The Faith between Us: A Jew and a Catholic Search for the Meaning of God, foreword by Stephen J. Dubner, Bloomsbury (New York, NY), 2007.

Contributor to periodicals, including Harper's, Gastronomica, Revealer, Commonweal, and Killing the Buddha. Author of the Scott Korb blog.

SIDELIGHTS:

Scott Korb is the author, with Peter Bebergal, of The Faith between Us: A Jew and a Catholic Search for the Meaning of God. In a review by Denise J. Stankovics in Library Journal, Bebergal describes himself as a "failed Jewish mystic" who teamed up with Korb, "a former wannabe Catholic priest," to tell of their two very different paths to faith. They met after reading each other's articles in online magazines about their similar quest. Bebergal, who once abused alcohol and drugs, and Korb, who suffered from his own demons, offer alternate single-narrator stories, each with an epilogue by the other, on various topics that include music and religion, drugs as a medium for seeing God, and prayer. A Publishers Weekly contributor wrote that "they represent a little bit of all of us in this thoughtful, engaging debate about the virtues of faith and the existence of God."

In a review for Street Prophets online, Matthew Krell wrote: "What became abundantly clear in Bebergal and Korb's evolutions was that if one believes in progressive values, that implied in that is moderation in faith. … This sort of faith can be, and for Bebergal and Korb is, incredibly intense in its own practice and belief. But it is remarkably tolerant of other practice and belief, and is willing to seek meaning in any practice that it sees as reasonable, and, more importantly, seeks to moderate its practice when necessary to make it meaningful to outsiders who participate." Margaret Flanagan commented in Booklist that The Faith between Us "speaks volumes about positive expressions of faith in the here and now."

In the introduction to their interview with Korb and Berbergal for BustedHalo.com, Robert Siegel and Bill McGarvey call the pair "a kind of spiritual Odd Couple, separated by religion and life experience but bound together by a thirst for God and a deep trust in one another. The book they have written is funny, heartbreaking, thought-provoking, unsparingly honest and ultimately thrilling in its refusal of easy answers." Korb noted in the interview that he and Bebergal had "been able to be vulnerable with each other and really unpacking and discovering what it might mean to search for the meaning of God, in the book and in our friendship we hold each other accountable now. And in the way that the book is structured, to have an essay followed by an epilogue, you know that in a sense what you've just read has been peer reviewed."

Astrid Storm observed in SoMA: A Review of Religion and Culture that the "contrast between the two men's stories gives the book a nice momentum. Unfortunately, I wasn't sure whether it held it together. More than a few times I wondered, Are these guys really talking to each other?" Storm summed up by saying "[The Faith between Us] is not a book about answers. It's a book about questions—questions that many of us are afraid to ask, precisely because they may have no answers. And so, I'll leave you with a question: Isn't it only through inquiry—the more passionate, the better—that we stand a chance of arriving at our own truths?"

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

PERIODICALS

Booklist, October 1, 2007, Margaret Flanagan, review of The Faith between Us: A Jew and a Catholic Search for the Meaning of God, p. 22.

Library Journal, November 1, 2007, Denise J. Stankovics, review of The Faith between Us, p. 73.

Publishers Weekly, August 27, 2007, review of The Faith between Us, p. 80.

ONLINE

BustedHalo.com,http://www.bustedhalo.com/ (April 12, 2008), Robert Siegel and Bill McGarvey, "Reflections on God from a Spiritual Odd Couple," author interview.

Faith between Us Web site,http://www.thefaithbetweenus.com/ (April 12, 2008), author profile.

SoMA: A Review of Religion and Culture,http://www.somareview.com/ (April 12, 2008), Astrid Storm, "The Faith between Them," review of The Faith between Us.

Street Prophets,http://www.streetprophets.com/ (December 18, 2007), Matthew Krell, "The Fluff between Us: A Book Review," review of The Faith between Us.