Twelve Gates Interview – Thomas Block, author of Shalom/Salaam

By Frank Kaufmann
October 16, 2020

Thomas Block is author of five books, a playwright, is a 25-plus year exhibiting visual artist, and Founding Producer of New York City’s International Human Rights Art Festival (ihraf.org). Thomas was the Founding Producer of the Amnesty International Human Rights Art Festival (2010), a Research Fellow at DePaul University (2010), LABA Fellow (NY, 2013-14), Hamiltonian Fellow (2008-09) and recipient of funding and support from more than a dozen foundations and organizations. He has spoken about his ideas throughout the United States, Canada, Europe, Turkey and the Middle East. His books include the non-fiction works Shalom/Salaam: A Story of a Mystical Fraternity, A Fatal Addiction: War in the Name of God; Machiavelli in America, Prophetic Activist Art: Handbook for a Spiritual Revolution and a novel, The Fool Returns. tomblock.com.

This particular interview is dedicated to discussing together Shalom/Salaam: A Story of a Mystical Fraternity. Over the course of the interview we learn that this study is unique (one of a kind), and we learn why. An engaging and encouraging journey.

Please find Shalom/Salaam on Amazon., but also look to see abundant and helpful details about Shalom/Salaam on the site of Fons Vitae, the book publisher.

Tracy Corchran of Parabola Magazine begins her review of Shalom/Salaam in this way:

In a world where so many writers of nonfiction illustrate facts and figures in black and white, Thomas Block illuminates the history of Jewish and Muslim mysticism in a vividly-hued portrait. Shalom/Salaam: A Story of Mystical Fraternity is a well-researched and carefully drawn masterpiece. In this culmination of more than ten years of sustained interest and thorough research, Block has created an impressive manual for his readers to explore the connections between these mystical traditions.