Where God Was Born
A Daring Adventure Through the Bible's Greatest Stories
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4.8 • 5 Ratings
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- $12.99
Publisher Description
“Feiler brings to life the birth moment of Western faith and seeks to use the past to understand the present climate of religious extremism.”—Washington Post
At a time when America debates its values and the world braces for religious war, Bruce Feiler travels 10,000 miles through the heart of the Middle East—Israel, Iraq, and Iran—and examines the question: Is Religion Tearing Us Apart . . . Or Can it Bring Us Together?
Where God Was Born combines the adventure of a wartime chronicle, the excitement of an archaeological detective story, and the insight of personal spiritual exploration. Taking readers to biblical sites not seen by Westerners for decades, Feiler’s journey uncovers little-known details about the common roots of Judiasm, Christianity, and Islam, affirms the importance of the Bible in today’s world, and offers a rare, universal vision of God that can inspire different faiths into a united allegiance of hope.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
The third of Feiler's books on the Bible and the Middle East, this is another absorbing blend of travelogue, history, Bible commentary, memoir, current events and passionate preaching. In Walking the Bible (2001), Feiler surveyed the Torah. This sequel picks up with Joshua, first of the prophetic books, and follows Israel's story through the Hebrew scriptures: from the invasion of Canaan through the reigns of David and Solomon to the Babylonian captivity and the Diaspora. What differentiates Feiler from most other Bible commentators is that he actually visits the places he describes, despite Palestinian suicide bombers, Iraqi insurgents, Iranian fundamentalists and his very worried family back home. Readers will almost effortlessly learn a lot about antiquity thanks again to his travel companion, archeologist Avner Goren and also about recent history, today's headlines and Feiler's own spiritual journey. Enlarging on his vision of unity in Abraham (2002), he contends that the Bible's moral vision transcends land, power and nationality. "The only force strong enough to take on religious extremism," he concludes, "is religious moderation." For Feiler, now ready to affirm his Jewishness, this means "willingly asserting your faith in public, not with raging fire but with a single, quiet flame."
