review: Coming off our trip to Israel, I was interested in learning more about the religious history of the Middle East, which is what drew me to this book.
Feiler makes his journey through Israel, Iraq, and Iran searching for information and answers about religion while examining his own Jewish roots in an Eat, Pray, Love kind of way.
I found his travels more
interesting than his spiritual journey, however, and even that wasn't exactly a "daring adventure, " A great book that got me to rethink religion and the bible, It covers the stories with a mix of archeology, history and current events which makes it surprisingly enjoyable and highly informative,
Definitely recommend thought not for everyone, maybe bible nerds :P I enjoyed this book, as the author visited places where the bible was actually written and the stories happened.
It was okay but didn't come anywhere close to living up to the hype, Feiler strays too far from the topic, for too long, to be considered a good book, and he repeats himself so often and repeats interviews in full, even when they don't add much that, in between talking about how awesome his wife is and how he's searching for his own identity aside from going to an Ivy League school, how many times did I hear that in the book, this book feels very padded.
I learned a few new things, but I was surprised at how much he discovered that even I, not really being that wellversed in the Bible, knew already.
A friend of mine with someone questionable taste in booksloaned me this particular volume to read, and it generally matches with many of the other books I have read from this source.
If this book was interesting and wellwritten, which it was, it was by no means a perfect book, nor did I find the author's perspective to be all that impressive.
This is a book that seeks to understand God and the Bible from the point of view of a selfsufficient human being, and like Henry James falls into the wrong viewpoint of religion as being for people who fancy themselves well rather than admit themselves to be otherwise.
This is a book by a smug person who thinks themselves to be moderate and tolerant and who has insufficient respect and honor for God and a strong and lamentably common tendency to lump together extremists with those who take God's word seriously, having a certainty about scripture that differs in content but is the same in moral result as those extremists whom they view with condescension and contempt.
In short, I found much to annoy me about this book even where I found it wellwritten from the point of view of style.
This volume contains aboutpages of material in three parts, The first part looks at how this Southernraised liberal American Jew examines life in Israel, the second part concerns his travels in Iraq, and the third part looks at his travels with his wife in Iran.
The author's claim to look at the Greatest stories in the Bible focuses, perhaps a bit predictably, on the New Testament, except that the author of course fails to come to grips with the Gospels.
At least somewhat admirably he shows some interest in the Torah and a high degree of skepticism about the value of the Talmud, At least a few of the stories are immensely entertaining and it is clear that the author has developed quite a few connections that allow him to travel to places despite the intense dangers he is sometimes under in the course of his journeys.
Throughout his travels the author meets with other adventuresome people and even attempts to get a grasp for history and theology by talking to scholars, as well as a grasp of culture by talking to various ordinary people.
Even if the author is not really a religious authority, nor certainly wise enough to avoid speaking about that which he does not remotely understand, he appears to be reasonably good as an interviewer and the book has a high degree of excitement and interest.
As might be expected, the title of the book gives away its fundamental failure, As a travelogue it is a reasonably good book, and the author certainly knows how to write, Unfortunately, this is a book that fundamentally fails to give God what He is due, and rather seeks to view God as having been created by man rather than being the creator of man.
And at its heart, this fundamental error makes the book meaningless as theology even if it is at least somewhat entertaining as an account of the author's selfprofessed daring adventures, at least a few of which are against the laws of the lands the author travels to.
This volume is sufficiently entertaining for me to want to know more about the author, but not sufficiently worthwhile for me to think highly of the author's view of the Bible.
Those who fancy themselves to be progressive believers in Christianity or especially Judaism will find much that is congenial here, but those readers who take their faith more seriously will likely find the author's illusion of certainty about various biblical matters and the origins of certain doctrines and beliefs to be woefully inadequate.
See, for example:
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sitelink blog/ I don't agree with all but it is very good I love reading books that allow me to change my mind, This one does just that: following Mr Feller's footsteps allowed me to 'see' the world through his eyes, I appreciate his candor about being Jewish in today's world, I also appreciate how much he put himself and his wife at risk being there,
My wife bought me this book for my recent birthday as a present, What a present it was, Thank you.
This book is SO much more than a travel guide through the Middle East, or even a commentary on Bible geography, It is more of a memoir of the authors spiritual journey, his yearning to reconcile some of his questions of faith with the Bible narratives and striving to resolve them by “being there.
” His “quest” makes him more real and vulnerable, which I admire,
Fifteen years have passed since the author made his journey, I dont know what new insights he might find if he traveled today, as things change so rapidly in that part of the world.
So as I read, that question kept popping up in my mind, It is probable that many of the people he met and engaged with might have different stories to tell today, Curiously the subtitle of this followup to “Walking the Bible” was changed for the paperback edition, Originally it was “A Journey by Land to the Roots of Religion, ” The Scripture featured is actually some of the less familiar, More exciting are the means by which the author gained access to archeologists, biblical scholars amp devotees of theAbrahamic faiths in Israel, Iraq amp Iran shortly after the fall of Baghdad: sometimes via proper channels, sometimes circumventing them, but always at peril to himself amp his guides.
The powerful takeaway from examining these often overlooked texts through the lens of his ontheground experience is that any notion that Judaism, Christianity amp Islam cannot eventually peacefully coexist is an oversimplified view from the cheap seats.
Audiobook. Had the book for years and couldn't motivate myself to read it, Audio got me through, but generally, nice, personal, eh, Maybe what I enjoyed more than the travels to Israel, Iraq and Iran, was watching him evolve from a cultural Jew to a religious Jew.
Well, actually I didn't see fruition, but at least some epiphanies, And my exposure to the Middle East is lacking, so a glance and reminders about ancient civilization of modernday Iraq and Iran and the loving appreciation he has for the land and sites was informative.
But it's stillstars. The last of a series of three and the best! It was a bit dull and long winded in some areas of the book, and there were some questionable perspectives the author provided on his take of the Bible, however, I really appreciate seeing a different viewpoint on the scriptures and the author actually going to the places that Biblical people traversed.
I did enjoy, 'seeing' from the authors description, the lands he visited and he has inspired me to one day visit Jerusalem, Whilst reading the stories along the way, author Bruce Feiler retraces Hebrew Bible narratives in their original locales, As his own faith deepens and broadens, Feiler provides historical, cultural, archeological, and biblical perspectives on how and where the eternal, universal, ubiquitous God of Judaism, Islam, and Christianity began selfrevealing to humanity and entered into covenant relationship with creation.
Feiler's journey though bible lands is both ecumenical and interfaith I especially appreciate his articulating some the typically overlooked and ignored fact of the immense influence Zoroastrianism has had on Judaism and Christianity hey, people in classes I've taught, how many times have I tried to explain that!.
At first I was disappointed, since a total of aboutpages near the beginning are the kind of "I went there he said this I went to another place they said that" narrative of encounters a person remembers with warmth and that provide backstory for the entire experience, but that for anyone who wasn't there are better shortened into about a tenth of the space.
I remember thinking, "despite my interest in the subject, this is going to be astar review" but when I got into Feiler's substantial theological and historical observations, I discovered I'd been very mistaken.
Yes, Yahweh promised the Exodus wanderers a place and a space, promised to accompany them "into the land," but as Feiler points out, ultimately their identity as the people of God living in a covenant of grace, love, hospitality, and peace depended not upon geography or temple, but meant obediently keeping Torah.
Wherever you were, wherever you wandered, any place you were sent, whether in Jerusalem or in diaspora at the furthest ends of the earth, unlike the assorted place gods of the rest of the ancient near east, Yahweh was there.
Page: "Wandering is holy, too, God is not exclusively a figure of the land he's also a figure of the wilderness, He's a figure of all lands, " On page, "With no access to sacred sites, sacred text becomes Israel's lifeline to its past, " And the people of the God of history become people with a story,
I love the author's emphasis on the power of prophecy along with God's call to us to partner with heaven in recreating justice and righteousness in a broken world.
As Martin Buber pointed out, it is not the priest but the prophet who holds true power and authority, Through Yahweh's word spoken by prophets, scripture becomes a voice for and the voice of the broken, needy and vulnerable, Created in the divine image, humans also speak and live a creative, redemptive reconciling word,
Where God Was Born includes an informal bibliography of additional resources and a comprehensive index, If any aspect of Bruce Feiler's journey interests you, I trust you'll enjoy and benefit from this book, A marathon of a book, but a good run, Mr. Feiler explores lands that have a history of religious people, One learns ancient history along with modern day history and traditions, Feiler Quotes Genesis "And God said,'Let us make man in our own image'" His conclusion: "All humans are created in God's image, so disrespecting another human is disrespecting God.
From the earliest days of human existence, God compels us to honor hid creation by respecting it'd diversity, " A few months ago, I began my own journey through the Old Testament to try to understand what I didn't understand, Born and raised Catholic, I felt disconnected from the Old Testament, At that point, I had not heard of Bruce Feiler, I selected this book on a whim and I am so incredibly glad I did,
"Where God Was Born" is incredible, In a very real and very emotional journey, Feiler brings Biblical history to life, And in doing so, he paves the way for religious tolerance and understandingwithout being overly spiritual,
I think I used the highlight feature on my Kindle more on this book than any other book, The people he meets are insightful, The prose is eloquent. The history is fascinating.
I would recommend this book to two types of people:
Those looking to explore ancient history, I felt like I was back in my Ancient World Civilization class in high school, Only this time I was interested! It was fun to follow the path of Biblical history with Feiler as my guide,
Those looking for religious understanding, When I started reading the Old Testament, I started to gain a better understanding but I still didn't understand two things: why the Jewish people been continuously persecuted throughout history and what the heck was really going on in the Middle East.
Feiler filled the gap.
I would not call myself a deeply religious person, But Feiler helped me understand my relationship with religion,
I plan on reading his other books as well!
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